Print macro output instead of executing

Question

I am attempting to debug a Tikz/PGF script. I have a STY file that generates Tikz/PGF scripts, but the output graphic isn't quite what I want it to be.

In order to debug the problem, I was hoping that I could tweak my code so that the Tikz/PGF script is printed to the LaTeX document (in a verbatim environment, for example) instead of being executed by tikzpicture.

Here is a small example of what I am after:

\documentclass[a4paper]{report}

\usepackage{tikz}

\newcommand\theCommand[1]{%
\node [rectangle, draw, fill=blue!20, text width=5em, text centered, rounded corners, minimum height=4em] {#1};%
}

\begin{document}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
        \theCommand{test}
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

This code would draw a rectangular box with the text "test" inside. However, ideally I instead want this to print out the text:

\node [rectangle, draw, fill=blue!20, text width=5em, text centered, rounded corners, minimum height=4em] {test};

Answer 1

Not sure how useful this is for you, but here are two options. Perhaps you can adapt one for your particular case:

1. showexpl Package:

I would recommend you use the showexpl package, which will typeset the content and also list the LaTeX code:

Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{showexpl}
\usepackage{tikz}
\lstdefinestyle{myLatexStyle}{
    language=TeX,
    basicstyle=\small\ttfamily,
    backgroundcolor=\color{yellow},
    numbers=left, numberstyle=\tiny, stepnumber=2, numbersep=5pt,
    commentstyle=\color{red},
    showstringspaces=false,
    keywordstyle=\color{blue}\bfseries,
    morekeywords={align,begin},
    pos=l
}
\begin{document}
\begin{LTXexample}[style=myLatexStyle, pos=b]
\begin{tikzpicture}
  \node [rectangle, draw, fill=blue!20, text width=5em, text centered, 
         rounded corners, minimum height=4em] {test};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{LTXexample}
\end{document}

---

2. Replace \node macro:

The above solution will only show the code that is within the LTXexample environment. So if you still wanted to use a separate drawing macro, the above would only show \theCommand{test}; in the output, which does not provide much information. An alternative is if you replace:

\newcommand\theCommand[1]{%
    \node [rectangle, draw, fill=blue!20, text width=5em, text centered, 
           rounded corners, minimum height=4em] {#1};%
}

to use \ShowAndExecuteNode instead of \node:

\newcommand\theCommand[1]{%
    \ShowAndExecuteNode[rectangle, draw, fill=blue!20, text width=5em, text centered, 
           rounded corners, minimum height=4em]{#1}%
}

then you get the output:

Commenting out the \AtEndDocument{\TikzCodeList} will eliminate this output.

Notes:

• This adapts Herbert's solution from How keep a running list of strings and then process them one at a time to print the macro's options at the end of the document.
• Not sure how useful this is as it depends on how the rest of the picture is drawn.

Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\newcommand\TikzCodeList{}%
\newcommand\AddTikzCode[1]{\xdef\TikzCodeList{\TikzCodeList#1\endgraf}}%
\AtEndDocument{\TikzCodeList}%
\newcommand{\ShowAndExecuteNode}[2][]{%
    \node [#1] {#2};
    \AddTikzCode{node [#1] #2}%
}%
\newcommand\theCommand[1]{%
    \ShowAndExecuteNode[rectangle, draw, fill=blue!20, text width=5em, text centered, rounded corners, minimum height=4em]{#1}%
}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \theCommand{test};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}