0

This is a very special case, I guess, but it's what I need:

%&Testing
\documentclass{article}
\endofdump
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{external}
\tikzexternalize
\begin{document}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[xlabel=x axis label,ylabel=y axis label]
    \addplot {x};
    \end{axis}
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

I want to be able to switch tikz on or off without having to recompile the preamble, hence the \endofdump. I created the header using MiKTeX and

etex -job-name=Testing -initialize "&pdflatex" mylatexformat.ltx Testing.tex

When I then compile Testing.tex, I get this error message:

! Package tikz Error: Sorry, the system call 'pdflatex -shell-escape -halt-on-e
rror -interaction=batchmode -jobname "Testing-figure0" "\def\tikzexternalrealjo
b{Testing}\input{Testing}"' did NOT result in a usable output file 'Testing-fig
ure0' (expected one of .pdf:.jpg:.jpeg:.png:).

Checking the respective log file (Testing-figure0.log), I find this:

! Undefined control sequence.
<recently read> \endofdump 

l.3 \endofdump

I was wondering how I could fix this. It seems that the externalized tikz job inputs the preamble, but does not use the custom format. Hence, it can't understand \endofdump.

I found that this works (this may already be the answer).

%&Testing
\documentclass{article}
\ifcsname tikzexternalrealjob\endcsname\else\endofdump\fi
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{external}
\tikzexternalize
\begin{document}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[xlabel=x axis label,ylabel=y axis label]
    \addplot {x};
    \end{axis}
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Is there a better way to do this?

bers
  • 5,404

2 Answers2

3

You can change the macro that contains the external pdflatex call to instead call 

etex '&mylatexformat'

I needed the following commandline to make the format

etex --job-name=testing --ini "&pdflatex" mylatexformat.ltx testing.tex

once the format is made, add the following so tikz externalize uses it

\def\zzz#1 #2\relax{%
\expandafter\def\csname pgfk@/tikz/external/system call\endcsname{etex '&mylatexformat' #2}%
}

\expandafter\expandafter\expandafter\zzz\csname pgfk@/tikz/external/system call\endcsname\relax

so this runs without error

%&Testing
\documentclass{article}
\endofdump
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{external}
\def\zzz#1 #2\relax{%
\expandafter\def\csname pgfk@/tikz/external/system call\endcsname{etex '&mylatexformat' #2}%
}

\expandafter\expandafter\expandafter\zzz\csname pgfk@/tikz/external/system call\endcsname\relax
\begin{document}

    \begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[xlabel=x axis label,ylabel=y axis label]
    \addplot {x};
    \end{axis}
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
David Carlisle
  • 757,742
0

What about the generic \ifdefined\endofdump\endofdump\else\fi?

bers
  • 5,404