I can't be certain, but I think it is actually possible for these features to be strictly GUI-only; I get the impression that much of Maple's current GUI functionality resides in the Java layer, and that the Java code can use the legacy features but of course the legacy code cannot use Java features.  I suspect OpenMaple may alleviate this problem for some tasks, but I have not found documentation to verify this and would probably not be able to make use of it if I did.

I agree that this is an important issue, but I'm not terribly surprised either, and it would appear that there is little if anything to be done about it (and I would rather know that than waste countless hours trying to achieve the impossible).  If I do happen to find any useful tricks, I will certainly post them here.

I can't be certain, but I think it is actually possible for these features to be strictly GUI-only; I get the impression that much of Maple's current GUI functionality resides in the Java layer, and that the Java code can use the legacy features but of course the legacy code cannot use Java features.  I suspect OpenMaple may alleviate this problem for some tasks, but I have not found documentation to verify this and would probably not be able to make use of it if I did.

I agree that this is an important issue, but I'm not terribly surprised either, and it would appear that there is little if anything to be done about it (and I would rather know that than waste countless hours trying to achieve the impossible).  If I do happen to find any useful tricks, I will certainly post them here.

Thanks, David; this is useful information, and certainly sheds light on the problem.  In particular, you are correct that the Standard GUI does not generate inaccurate bitmap plots; I had overlooked this fact.  The following sequence generates a good plot in xmaple, but suggests a root near x=0.5 in command-line maple:

plotsetup(gif,plotoptions="width=350,height=250");

plot([x,x^3,x=-2..2],filled=false,x=-2..2,y=-5..5);

The fact that "command line Maple isn't intended for plotting" would appear to be the whole of the problem here; I can certainly try the MapleTA forum, but I think I know what I will find there.  From what I can tell, the MapleTA plot generation functions *ARE* the command-line Maple drivers; in both cases an 'mplotgif' process is spawned, and the output is visually indistinguishable.  If it is indeed the fact that command line Maple is not intended for plotting and if this necessarily means that command line Maple cannot produce full-featured bitmap plots, then the chance that a workaround exists for MapleTA is essentially nil. 

This is why I posted in the general Maple forum, and I think I have my answer; again, the information you've provided is greatly appreciated.  If anybody else has any other creative solutions, I'm all ears.

Phil

Command line Maple output for above:

MapleTA output:

Thanks, David; this is useful information, and certainly sheds light on the problem.  In particular, you are correct that the Standard GUI does not generate inaccurate bitmap plots; I had overlooked this fact.  The following sequence generates a good plot in xmaple, but suggests a root near x=0.5 in command-line maple:

plotsetup(gif,plotoptions="width=350,height=250");

plot([x,x^3,x=-2..2],filled=false,x=-2..2,y=-5..5);

The fact that "command line Maple isn't intended for plotting" would appear to be the whole of the problem here; I can certainly try the MapleTA forum, but I think I know what I will find there.  From what I can tell, the MapleTA plot generation functions *ARE* the command-line Maple drivers; in both cases an 'mplotgif' process is spawned, and the output is visually indistinguishable.  If it is indeed the fact that command line Maple is not intended for plotting and if this necessarily means that command line Maple cannot produce full-featured bitmap plots, then the chance that a workaround exists for MapleTA is essentially nil. 

This is why I posted in the general Maple forum, and I think I have my answer; again, the information you've provided is greatly appreciated.  If anybody else has any other creative solutions, I'm all ears.

Phil

Command line Maple output for above:

MapleTA output:

Good point; I tried a .mla library, though, with similar results (a different error message), so I'm afraid that may not be a solution.

Altering the Maple installation is not desirable, either; the goal is to streamline future course materials development by making commonly used functions available for future course modules without, and unfortunately modifying the core Maple libraries would be likely to do as much harm as good (since the system administrator is then required to intervene directly to update libraries, and also because problems with these libraries could then affect other courses and would most certainly affect future system upgrades).

Thanks anyway; both worthwhile thoughts.

Good point; I tried a .mla library, though, with similar results (a different error message), so I'm afraid that may not be a solution.

Altering the Maple installation is not desirable, either; the goal is to streamline future course materials development by making commonly used functions available for future course modules without, and unfortunately modifying the core Maple libraries would be likely to do as much harm as good (since the system administrator is then required to intervene directly to update libraries, and also because problems with these libraries could then affect other courses and would most certainly affect future system upgrades).

Thanks anyway; both worthwhile thoughts.

That is unfortunate indeed; thanks for the information.  Maybe grep & sed will help make maintaining the code a bit easier.

Thanks again...

Phil

That is unfortunate indeed; thanks for the information.  Maybe grep & sed will help make maintaining the code a bit easier.

Thanks again...

Phil