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Re: Notional NotebookOpen Nonplus?

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg22305] Re: Notional NotebookOpen Nonplus?
  • From: Murray Eisenberg <murray at math.umass.edu>
  • Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 03:01:20 -0500 (EST)
  • Organization: Mathematics & Statistics, Univ. of Mass./Amherst
  • References: <88vu1s$mcl@smc.vnet.net>
  • Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

The ">>" command does not write output in the special form that
constitutes a notebook expression; rather, it simply writes to a text
file -- no matter what extension (such as your .nb) that you give to the
file.

To write expressions to what will be understood by the Mathematica front
end as a notebook, you have to use the various Notebook* functions.  For
example, the five expression indicated below, when evaluated, will:  

(1) create a new, open blank notebook and shift the focus to that
notebook; 

(2) after you go back to your original notebook in which you evaluated
that first expression, write into the new notebook the input cell 

   Expand[(a+b)^3]

-- NOT the result of evaluating that expression; 

(3) write into the new notebok cell the output that results from
evaluating the expression Expand[(a+b)^3];

(4) save the new notebook as a file; and

(5) close the newly-saved notebook.

Here are the expressions.  Expressions (2) and (3) were obtained by
actually entering Expand[(a+b)^3] in an input cell in the work notebook
(not the one being created) and evaluating it; then the CELL EXRPESSIONS
for the input and output cells were obtained by using the menu command
Format > Show Expression (or, on the Mac, the equivalent SHIFT-COMMAND-E
shortcut key) for each of those two cells to display them in their cell
expressions; finally, those expressions were copied and pasted into the
NotebookWrite cells.  

There are fancier -- and probably simpler -- ways to do this, but the
steps I'm showing are for the purpose of showing what's really going on. 

Here are the expressions:

(1)

mynb = NotebookCreate[]

(2)

NotebookWrite[mynb, {Cell[
      BoxData[RowBox[{"Expand", "[", 
            RowBox[{RowBox[{"(", RowBox[{"a", "+", "b"}], ")"}], "^",
"3"}], 
            "]"}]], "Input"]}]

(3)

NotebookWrite[mynb, {Cell[
      BoxData[RowBox[{SuperscriptBox["a", "3"], "+", 
            RowBox[{"3", " ", SuperscriptBox["a", "2"], " ", "b"}], "+", 
            RowBox[{"3", " ", "a", " ", SuperscriptBox["b", "2"]}], "+", 
            SuperscriptBox["b", "3"]}]], "Output"]}]

(4)

NotebookSave[mynb, "sample.nb"]

(5)

NotebookClose[mynb]


James Fuite and Tania Nordli wrote:
> 
> Dear Advanced Mathematica Users,
> 
>      I am not able to use the function NotebookOpen in Version 3. on
> MacOS 8.1, and after modest investigations, I have to turn to you for
> advice.  What follows is an example.
> 
> Expand[(a+b)^3] >> "sample.nb"
> NotebookOpen["sample.nb"]
> 
>     $Failed
> 
> !!sample.nb
> 
>    a^3 + 3*a^2*b + 3*a*b^2 +b^3
> 
> So I can look at the file, just not open it.  Yet, further probes
> indicate, at least to me, that everything is in order.
> 
> Directory[]
> 
>    Macintosh HD:Mathematica 3.0 Files
> 
> MemberQ[FileNames[],"sample.nb"]
> 
>    True
> 
> ToFileName /@ (NotebookPath /. Options[$FrontEnd, NotebookPath])
> 
>    {Macintosh HD:System Folder:
> Preferences:Mathematica:3.0:FrondEnd:Palettes:,
>    etc.,
>     :$HomeDirectory:, :$TopDirectory:}
> 
> $TopDirectory
> 
>    Macintosh HD:Mathematica 3.0 Files
> 
> It seems to me that the notebook "sample.nb" should be found and
> opened.  Suggestions?
> 
>   Sincerely,
>   James J. Fuite.

-- 
Murray Eisenberg                     murray at math.umass.edu
Mathematics & Statistics Dept.       phone 413 549-1020 (H)
Univ. of Massachusetts                     413 545-2859 (W)
Amherst, MA 01003-4515


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