[Tex/LaTex] Beamer error when using ‘\usepackage{beamerthemeshadow}’

beamer

I'm testing some examples with Beamer, and when I run this example, I have this error message.

> \ProvidesPackageRCS=macro:
->\def \pgfrcs@marshal {\ProvidesPackage {\pgf@rcsfile }}\pgfrcs@parserest .
l.1 \show\ProvidesPackageRCS

I just ignore it, and return to get the pdf file anyway.

This line causes the problem

\usepackage{beamerthemeshadow}

As replacing with this line, I have no error message at all.

\usetheme{Warsaw}

What's wrong with this beamerthemeshadow?
What's the difference between using \usepackage{} and \usetheme{} in Beamer?

I use MacTeX 2009.

Best Answer

Shadow is an old style theme, and the manual suggests using Warsaw instead. The file you're citing is dated 2007, which means maybe the original author was used to the old conventions of \usepackage versus \usetheme.

However, the message you quote is not an error. The first line of whatever file you're actually compiling must have \show\ProvidesPackageRCS in it, and the normal behavior of \show is to interrupt compiling and output the next token's definition. As you note, ignoring the message doesn't cause any further compile problems.

I have MacTeX 2009 installed as well, and my beamerthemeshadow.sty doesn't have that in it, but maybe the one you're reading does.

Anyway, long story short, don't worry about a non-error when using an obsolescent theme. Just use Warsaw and go about your business. :-D

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[Tex/LaTex] Beamer slides and tufte-handout

The problem appears to be related to the \title command. When I compile a document using \title then it hangs, and when I compile it without then it works just fine. There's a bit of a tangled web of definitions and redefinitions going on that is a bit hard to track. One method that worked for me was to copy out the (re)definition of \title from tufte-common.def and stick it in after the call to beamerarticle. Thus my main file looks like this:

\documentclass{tufte-handout}
\usepackage{beamerarticle}

\makeatletter
\renewcommand{\title}[2][]{%
  \gdef\@title{#2}%
  \begingroup%
    % TODO store contents of \thanks command
    \renewcommand{\thanks}[1]{}% swallow \thanks contents
    \protected@xdef\thanklesstitle{#2}%
  \endgroup%
  \ifthenelse{\isempty{#1}}%
    {\renewcommand{\plaintitle}{\thanklesstitle}}% use thankless title
    {\renewcommand{\plaintitle}{#1}}% use provided plain-text title
  \@ifpackageloaded{hyperref}{\hypersetup{pdftitle={\plaintitle}}}{}% set the PDF metadata title
}
\makeatother

\input{tufteMain}

Of course, that means that the title doesn't get "beamerified", but as this is only for the article version, that doesn't matter.

I tried storing the old definition of \title before calling beamerarticle and resetting it afterwards, but that didn't work:

\documentclass{tufte-handout}
\let\tufteTitle=\title
\usepackage{beamerarticle}
\let\title=\tufteTitle

\input{tufteMain}

still hung.

In general, TeX hangs like that when it enters an infinite loop, so my guess is that somehow the definition and redefinition of \title mean that it ends up calling itself again and again. Also, when TeX enters an infinite loop then the logfile contains the last thing that it did okay, so removing stuff that has appeared in the logfile isn't an optimal strategy (you may happen on whatever it was that created the loop, but there's no guarantee).

[Tex/LaTex] Embedding Movies with XeTeX+beamer+movie15 in TeXLive 2011

I used to get same error but it is difficult to remember now what was the reason. There some things to check.

First, I would try to compile same file with pdflatex and standard movie15 package instead of movie15_dvipdfmx.
Second, I would try a different codec. My experience learned me that not every codec is suitable for embedding movie into pdf. After many experiments I stopped at xvid. It for sure works with Adobe Acrobat 10. For Adobe Acrobat 9 I used a different codec which does not work under version 10.

By the way, run|stop botton produced by

\movieref[pause]{movie-label}{Run Video}

is not working in my case if my source file is compiled with XeLaTeX whereas is does work as described in movie15 manual is it is compiled with pdflatex.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Beamer slides and tufte-handout

[Tex/LaTex] Embedding Movies with XeTeX+beamer+movie15 in TeXLive 2011

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