Different behaviour in BaKoMa TeX and MiKTeX

Question

I am trying to use the resume template by David Grant.

I have put both the .tex file and the shading.sty file together in one folder.

When I use BakomaTeX (v 9.83) to convert the .tex file to PDF I get the shading regions perfectly fine

fine

but when I use TeXworks of MiKTeX on the same .tex file along with the shading.sty in the same folder, the output is

bad

Further, when I removed the shading.sty file from the folder, MiKTeX compilation failed indicating that the shading.sty file was being used. I need to get the shading even when I use MiKTeX to convert LaTeX to PDF.

Welcome to TeX.sx! I think we could do with a minimal working example (MWE) for testing. In particular, it would be useful to see what file versions are in use: add \listfiles to the input and edit the results from the two compilations into your answer. — Joseph Wright, Dec 23 '12 at 10:15
I get the desired output if I compile with the DVI > PS > PDF chain on the .tex file in your link. But I would second @JosephWright's suggestion for you to provide an MWE. — hpesoj626, Dec 23 '12 at 10:20
@hpesoj626 That was my other suspicion: difference in drivers due to a different route (not all code works with direct PDF output). — Joseph Wright, Dec 23 '12 at 10:25
I don't use TeXWorks but looking at your second picture, I see that you start with pdflatex. Set up your TeXWorks compiler in this sequence: latex+dvips+ps2pdf. If you use bibtex and makeindex, set up something like latex+makeindex+bibtex+latex+latex+dvips+ps2pdf — hpesoj626, Dec 23 '12 at 12:53
Regarding your words in the end: When you removed shading.sty from compile folder, where did you put it? You must move it into a local texmf root. And did you make a FNDB refresh then? If not, that’s another reason, why MiKTeX failed, because there is no preshipped version of this package file. — Speravir, Dec 23 '12 at 19:10
Can you please elaborate on where does the texmf folder exists or do I need to create one ? — YetAnotherG33k, Dec 23 '12 at 19:12
Regarding installation of custom packages in Windows, you can see How can I manually install a package on MiKTeX (Windows) But regarding your problem, my cheap crystal ball says that it is more of a driver issue. It is even clear in my crystal ball that it says so in shading.sty that you need to call on a \PScommands "before any of the shading routines can be used". This is done by running PostScript. — hpesoj626, Dec 23 '12 at 23:20
Same crystal ball says that your BakomaTeX is configured to run through a DVI > PS > PDF routine. :) — hpesoj626, Dec 23 '12 at 23:29
@hpesoj626 - Thanks for your help...but I am relatively new to latex...Could you please help me understand what does the line "The TeX command \PScommands must be called before any of the % shading routines can be used" mean....Where and how do I use pscommands to achieve what I want ? — YetAnotherG33k, Dec 24 '12 at 10:47
The definition of \PScommands is found at the last part of shadings.sty. But regarding how to set up TeXWorks so that it compiles through the DVI > PS > PDF sequence, I am sorry but I can't help there as I don't use TeXWorks. You can run these commands through the terminal though if you want. Do the sequence: latex resume.tex, dvips resume.dvi and ps2pdf resume.ps — hpesoj626, Dec 24 '12 at 10:52
@hpesoj626 - Thanks a lot....the last 3 commands worked perfect...Did exactly what I wanted...Thanks again!! :) — YetAnotherG33k, Dec 24 '12 at 11:27
AFAIK BaKoMa does not include pdfTeX (I would be quite surprised if it did, since pdfTeX is GPL and BaKoMa is closed source). — Martin Schröder, Dec 24 '12 at 12:44

score 5 · Answer 1 · edited Feb 03 '13 at 08:34

I wrote this answer for the sake of closure. I don't use BaKoMa TeX but with MiKTeX installed, you can compile your document through the latex > dvips > ps2pdf sequence in your terminal. To do this, open your terminal/command line and go to your working directory. Then run the following commands. Change myfile to the name of your file.

latex myfile
dvips myfile
ps2pdf myfile.ps

As mentioned by Joseph Wright in comment, some differences in output are caused by running different drivers. In the case of shadings.sty, the following comment can be seen at the end of the file:

% Here are some simple PostScript routines.
%
% The TeX command \PScommands must be called before any of the
% shading routines can be used.

If you don't want to use the terminal for compiling your document, you can set up TeXWorks to compile your document through the latex > dvips > ps2pdf sequence. I don't use TeXWorks but most text editors can be set up to execute this compiling sequence.

I suspect that BaKoMa TeX follows a similar procedure albeit using proprietary drivers.

Different behaviour in BaKoMa TeX and MiKTeX

1 Answers1