Re: Problem displaying user-created .cdf files
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg122985] Re: Problem displaying user-created .cdf files
- From: Gary <gpalmerlv at gmail.com>
- Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 06:47:15 -0500 (EST)
- Delivered-to: l-mathgroup@mail-archive0.wolfram.com
- References: <ja2pvl$mak$1@smc.vnet.net>
I took John's suggestion and added SaveDefinitions --> True to the
Manipulate[] options. This seemed to solve the problem, in that I was
able to save a notebook as a cdf file and display it in both the CDF
Player and on a web page on a remote server where I have an account
<faculty.unlv.edu/gbp/mma/rotate_on_arbit_axes.html>. I won't
guarantee to leave that page up indefinitely, but I will leave it for
a week, but you may not be able to access it anyway for reasons that
follow in (1).
But solving this problem seemed to lead to other problems, to wit:
(1) The site mentioned above does not always work. It worked for me
the first couple of times and it worked for a friend. But I now find
that it somes up with a dialog and a button which disappear before I
can read or select them, leaving me with a gray square. I tried
deleting cookies and history in Firefox, with the result that opening
the cdf web page now produces a solid black page in that browser. Is
it possible that in creating a very large display (width = 1400 height
= 1100) I exceeded the capacity of the browser or the Player? I have
reduced the display dimensions in the web page now to 600 x 400, and
it tries to display, but leaves only the gray panel after the
permissions dialog flickers twice.
(2) On opening Mathematica Home Edition 8, I now find that the Open...
link on the opening panel doesn't work. This is not a big deal,
because I can still open files from the File menu, but it is a
nuisance. The Wolfram CDF Player functions properly.
(3) More problematic, I find that the Open Option Inspector button in
the Preferences --> Advanced panel is now grayed out and
dysfunctional. Since the file I was working with had the brackets
hidden with Display Options --> ShowCellBrackets --> False, that file
is now practically uneditable because I need the brackets to profile
the cell boundaries. Furthermore, I have no way of setting other
options or of knowing which options are set. Is there a way to restore
the function of this important button?
In attempting to fix these problems, I repaired disk permissions with
the Disk Utility and reinstalled Mathematica 8 from the diskette. That
produced no improvement. The Open... and Open Option Inspector buttons
still don't work. The browsers appear to be working well on all other
sites that I use. What now? Have these problems been seen before or am
I uniquely talented at unintentionally disorganizing a perfectly good
computer program?
Mathematica Home Edition 8, iMac, OS X 10.6.8, Chrome, Firefox
On Nov 17, 6:08 am, John Fultz <jfu... at wolfram.com> wrote:
> Does the content appear in a *fresh* session of Mathematica, after you've newly
> opened the notebook and have evaluated no cells at all (including initial ization
> cells)?
>
> One common failure that happens in this regard is that the CDF relies on some
> state in the kernel which is not automatically established, but requires
> Shift+Enter evaluations to establish. Here's a very simple example:
>
> (* Bad!! *)
> f[x_] := Sin[x]
> Manipulate[f[x], {x, 0, 10}]
>
> The definition of f will be lost in any new session of Mathematica or Player.
> But, of course, it will appear to have worked while you were authoring it.
>
> In the specific case of Manipulate, there are generally two ways to resolve
> this. You can use the "automatic" method...the SaveDefinitions option:
>
> (* Good example #1 *)
> f[x_] := Sin[x]
> Manipulate[f[x], {x, 0, 10}, SaveDefinitions->True]
>
> This works quite nicely, but for very complex examples (particularly when
> packages need to be loaded), SaveDefinitions automatic methods can either fail
> or produce an unnecessarily large (in terms of file size) result.
>
> The other method involves making sure that you properly localize everything.
> Depending upon your code, this might involve the use of DynamicModules,
> Initialization options, or other devices. In this case of the example I
> provide, it's a fairly straightforward Initialization option:
>
> (* Good example #2 *)
> Manipulate[f[x], {x, 0, 10}, Initialization:>(f[x_] := Sin[x])]
>
> I am guessing a bit as to the exact nature of your problem based upon your
> description. It's possible that it might be some other sort of issue which I
> didn't describe, like for example a limitation of the sandbox environment that
> the web browser plugin runs in. If my explanation above didn't help, then what
> you really need to send for people to help debug your problem is the CDF itself.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> John Fultz
> jfu... at wolfram.com
> User Interface Group
> Wolfram Research, Inc.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:46:46 -0500 (EST), Gary wrote:
> > The cdf. files that I create do not display properly. They can be
> > opened, viewed, and manipulated with Mathematica, but CDF Player is
> > able to display them only partially, even after enabling Dynamics. The
> > same problem occurs when they open in a web page.
>
> > I get the right size box and properly labeled axes, but a tan
> > background (the intended one is light yellow). The four sliders appear
> > properly labeled above the display window, but none of the real
> > content (a disk, three arrows, and a sphere) of the demonstration
> > appears. The slider buttons slide, but since there are no objects in
> > the display, they can't do anything.
>
> > To the best of my knowledge, I followed all the instructions for
> > preparing the .cdf file: close unwanted cells, hide brackets, enable
> > Deployed in Cell Options --> General Properties --> Deployed, making
> > sure that the file "rotate_demo.cdf" was selected in the menu of the
> > Options for Global Preferences dialog. I saved the file as .cdf using
> > the menu choice in the save dialog. I tried each of the following two
> > html tags in a web page.
>
> > <script src="http://www.wolfram.com/cdf-player/plugin/v1.0/
> > cdfplugin.js"
> > type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">// <=
!
> > [CDATA[
> > var cdf = new cdf_plugin();
> > cdf.addCDFObject("rotate_demo_applet", "rotate_demo.cdf", 800, 800);
> > // ]]></script>
>
> > <embed src="rotate_demo.cdf" width="1000" height="1000">
>
> > Files downloaded from Wolfram's demonstration .cdf files and opened in
> > in either a browser or the CDF Player display and operate properly, so
> > it seems the error must occur when the files are created. Any ideas?
>
> > Mathematica 8, iMac, OS X 10.6.8, Chrome, Firefox