Re: color bitmaps saved in idraw format aren't right postscript

[John D. <js...@re...>]

I wrote:

>>In an effort to find a workaround for the problems in the previous 
>>paragraphs, I created a new drawing, bar.ps.  I tried to import the valid 
>>color postscript (foo.ps2).  That did not work. This is a bug.

Then at 01:00 AM 4/7/01 -0700, Scott Johnston wrote:

>Can you forward a copy of foo.ps2?

Help yourself to
   http://www.monmouth.com/~jsd/foo.ps2
which is the version created with the P (print) command.  Alas it cannot be 
imported back into drawtool.

Contrast this with
   http://www.monmouth.com/~jsd/foo.ps
which is the version created with the ^X (export) command.  It can be 
imported into drawtool.  Alas it doesn't look right when sent to an 
ordinary postscript interpreter such as ghostscript.


>>It did however print an error message on the terminal, namely
>>         "unknown graphical object ColorRast"
>
>
>Ok, it sounds in this case pstoedit is not getting invoked for some 
>reason, either the file is falsely detected as idraw format, or you don't 
>have pstoedit in your search path.

1) It depends on what you mean by "falsely".  With one obvious exception, 
when I prepare a file using the P (print) command, I can import the file 
into idraw and drawtool just fine, and it is correctly (not falsely) 
recognized as idraw format.  The imported object has all the structuring 
information.

The exception is that print-files containing color bitmaps cannot be 
imported at all.

Obviously it would be preferable for all such files be *correctly* detected 
as idraw format.

2) It is true that I don't have pstoedit in my $PATH, or anywhere else.  I 
don't see why it should be needed for what I want to do.
  -- Drawtool and idraw can import bitmaps from foo.ps just fine;
  -- Why can't they import bitmaps from foo.ps2?  There's not any obscure
     or tricky decoding involved.

3) If the lack of pstoedit is relevant, the import command should detect 
this and print a more-informative error message.

4) Note that color is only part of the story in the print-files.  Importing 
grayscale bitmaps fails, rather like the color case.  The error message in 
this case is
         unknown graphical object GrayRast
However the problem is less significant in this case, because the 
export-file has a usable representation of the grayscale image and (unlike 
the print-file) is importable.

>Perhaps when you see flatten things you mean everything is grouped into 
>object?  Try the Structure/Ungroup command a few times when that one thing 
>is selected, to see if decomposes into constituent graphics.

Huh?  I didn't ask about "flattening" or "grouping".  When the import 
command fails, there is no object to select or ungroup.   When it doesn't 
fail, grouping and ungrouping work normally.  I don't think flattening or 
grouping is relevant in the present context.  If you think this is 
relevant, perhaps you could clarify the question.