Hello everyone,

I am a structural engineer and use SMath a lot for my job.

I create my calculations and then save them as pdf files to import them into my overall document (well actually it does all that automatically). Whether the "save as" or "print" function is used doesn't seem to matter.

And I noticed some very odd behaviour. I think it is a bug, but am not sure.

Here's the thing:

If I add text near the bottom of a page, the pdf document will be saved with an empty page (or not) depending on the document layout settings (bottom right corner, not the page layout). If set to "Pages view" no extra page will be created. If set to "Printing bounds" it will create an extra page, that is completely empty. The position of the text on the page (either as viewed in SMath or the pdf file) does not change. Problem is that I really dislike pages view for multipage calculations (and I often need the margins).

I use SMath build 0.99.7822 and hate to produce lots of empty pages.

Actually I have been aware of this for some time and tried to compress my calculations so that I do not use the last lines on the last page, but just decided, that is no solution.

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Sam

Wrote

Any suggestions?

Experiment your document with and w/o header/footer.
That will guide you how many empty lines up/down page breaks
to produce perfect *.PDF
Cheers ... Jean

... from some times ago.

Geoff Auckland.pdf (105 KiB) downloaded 62 time(s).

Hello Jean,

thank you for your suggestion. Since I expected it to be about header/footer (and margins), I actually tried that beforehand (but forgot to tell).

But my issue is more diffcult than that. How I view the document whilst editing influences the publishing of an empty page in a pdf document. As far as I have found, nothing else.

Thanks, Sam

Hello Sam,
If not confidential, attach the document.
Collabs that have "Save as PDF" Smath versions
may be able to doctor, specify your SS version.
My SS 6179, print virtual CutePDF.
Adobe Reader open 1/1 original Smath document.
Cheers ... Jean.

File not found.File not found.File not found.

Hello Jean,

I did attach. There is nothing confidential it is just "asd" at the bottom of the page :-).

I attached the smath file and both pdf files.

I actually don't understand, what you mean by SS Version? SMath? 0.99 build 7822.

I did try both "save as" and print via pdfcreator. Both turned out the same way. But thank you I just noticed it is doing it in print preview as well. So it seems to just be SMath, I think.

Can anyone reproduce?

Thanks, Sam.

Wrote

I did try both "save as" and print via pdfcreator. Both turned out the same way. But thank you I just noticed it is doing it in print preview as well. So it seems to just be SMath, I think.

You may be right wrt SS [SmathStudio] that have PDF option.
On my SS 6179, print preview is by page.
Often web PDF have blank pages in between populated pages.
Damned annoying ... from recollection: late NIST
Just save PdfCreator as 'page view' to eliminate blank pages.
Cheers ... Jean

Same odd behavior with "save as pdf" under Linux using your sample file.
If document layout is set to "Printing Bounds" or "No bounds", a blank page is created.
When layout is set to Pages view, no blank page. Pdf is as it should be.

Regards

Hello Jean, hello Overlord,

thank you for your replies. Although I must admit, I do not gain much from them.

Overlord seems to be able to replicate the problem - but does not seem to be able to pinpoint the issue.

And Jean seems to have an older version of SS and it seems to function correctly.

So, is it a bug? I think so. It is very odd behaviour, that the amount of pages produced is dependent on how I view a document. Is there a solution? So far, it doesn't seem so.

Overlord, if you create a new file, does it happen too?

So any help?

Thanks Sam

Wrote

So, is it a bug? I think so. It is very odd behaviour, that the amount of pages produced is dependent on how I view a document. Is there a solution? So far, it doesn't seem so.

1. Visit late Samples,
2. Select one of those Smath documents,
3. Try to PDF up until you find the trick
not to interlace blank pages.
Maybe some Collab will do it.
Cheers ... Jean.

Wrote

Overlord, if you create a new file, does it happen too?

Yes, doesn't matter if I create a new file and wrote to last available area.
Probably bottom of region boundaries overflow the current page and cause the additional blank page.
Or length for bottom of page in page setup does not taken into account correctly. This is a bug indeed.

Regards

Wrote

And Jean seems to have an older version of SS and it seems to function correctly.

If the bug is wrt some Smath save as *.PDF ....
that is is a bug not reported. It takes two /three
weeks to test new version of per say 3000 documents.
Help yourself step by step:
1. download Symbolic COMPENDIUM Appendix.
2. accept created SS 6179
3. open/run
4. select the two first pages between separators
5. copy/paste in your actual Smath version
6. print as virtual your PDF Creator
7. save as ... read back Adobe reader
......
If you have blank pages, download/install CutePDF
repeat [6, 7]
PDF creator(ssssssss) are WYSISWYG.
What they see is what they create.
My CutePDF is same in Smath that I used Mathcad 20 years ago.

Hello Jean,

thank you for the suggestion! I tried a clean install on another pc (latest version), same result.

However, if I download examples and open them, it depends on who posted them. Your's all work correctly, some others work too. I found at least one with the same behaviour I described. And I also found one with an even stranger behaviour - the position of the text on the page in page preview changed, depending on view layout. SO I think there is definitely something off with view layout and export.

Sam

My dear friend,
At this point, doctoring is for Designers.
I have recollection for save as PDF feature request,
once implemented nobody reported problem.
Hope for better news ... Jean.