[R] Merge postscript files into ps/pdf

[Joshua Wiley]

On Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 1:27 PM, Ralf B <ralf.bierig at gmail.com> wrote:
> Assuming I would go into the trouble of messing with the existing R
> scripts that create mentioned postscripts/pdfs, how can I achieve that
> an array of scripts append to a single ps/pdf? I would want the first
> script to create the file if it does not yet exist and all other to
> append to it with new pages. I tried this simple example:

appending to a file is different than generating a single file.  For example:

pdf(file = "mysillytest.pdf", onefile = TRUE)
plot(1:10) # page 1
plot(10:1) # page 2
plot(11:20) # page 3
dev.off()

now the file is created with 3 graphs, each on 1 page, and that is
that.  I felt like there used to be an argument: append = TRUE for
what you wanted to do, but it seems to be gone?  I am not sure how
many scripts you are dealing with; perhaps you could move all graphics
creation to a single script and then push everything to the same pdf()
or postscript() device.  If you're on a *nix system, it may be easier
to just use system() to execute the appropriate command from the shell
to merge all your files through your favorite merger.

>
> #first.R
> pdfFileName <- paste("C:/testfile.pdf", sep="")
> pdf(pdfFileName, onefile=TRUE)
> plot(c(1,2,3))
> abline(v = 2)
> dev.off()
>
> #second.R
> pdfFileName <- paste("C:/testfile.pdf", sep="")
> pdf(pdfFileName, onefile=TRUE)
> plot(c(1,2,3))
> abline(h = 2)
> dev.off()
>
> The second overwrites the first and I cannot accumulate across
> different scripts. I can also not do it if I happen to start different
> pdf file environments in the same script despite it sharing the same
> file and having the 'onefile' set to true. Is it really just limited
> to the a single environment?

AFAIK each time you start a new device you get a new environment.
This is R so I am sure it is possible, but I do not know how to tap
into a device that was opened and closed from another script.
However, as long as it is the same instance of R, I would just start
the pdf() device so the plots from every script were pushed to it, and
then close it once the last script ran.  Something like:

pdf()
source(script1) # (makes 4 graphs)
source(script2) # (make 3 graphs)
dev.off()

pdf file with 7 graphs and pages written.  Then again, this may not be
feasible with your workflow.

Cheers,

Josh

>
> Ralf
>
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 2:28 AM, Joshua Wiley <jwiley.psych at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi Ralf,
>>
>> It is easy to make a bunch of graphs in one file (each on its own
>> page), using the onefile = TRUE argument to postscript() or pdf()
>> (depending what type of file you want).  I usually use Ghostscript for
>> tinkering with already created postscript or PDF files.  To me there
>> is more appropriate software than R to use if you want to
>> edit/merge/manipulate postscript or PDF files.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Josh
>>
>> On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 11:07 PM, Ralf B <ralf.bierig at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I created multiple postscript files using ?postscript. How can I merge
>>> them into a single postscript file using R? How can I merge them into
>>> a single pdf file?
>>>
>>> Thanks a lot,
>>> Ralf
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________
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>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Joshua Wiley
>> Ph.D. Student, Health Psychology
>> University of California, Los Angeles
>> http://www.joshuawiley.com/
>>
>



-- 
Joshua Wiley
Ph.D. Student, Health Psychology
University of California, Los Angeles
http://www.joshuawiley.com/