[Tex/LaTex] Tikz externalize not working when jobname is specified for main document

currfiletikz-externaltikz-pgf

I'm not sure if it's a well known fact or not, but using the tikz externalization library does not work very well if a LaTeX document is compiled with a jobname that is different from the filename of that document.

For example, if the following MWE is compiled using pdflatex (note the -jobname output parameter), it won't work unless the file is named output.tex (for convenience, let's say it's called main.tex):

%& -jobname=output
\documentclass{book}

\usepackage{tikz,pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{external}
\tikzset{external/only named=true}
\pgfplotsset{compat=newest}

\tikzexternalize

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}[h]
  \tikzsetnextfilename{sample_tikz}
  \begin{tikzpicture}[scale=1.50]
    \begin{axis}\addplot {x^3};\end{axis}
  \end{tikzpicture}
  \caption{Sample tikz picture.}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

If compiled without the -jobname parameter, it works just fine, whereas with the parameter, I get an error that looks something like this:

===== 'mode=convert with system call': Invoking 'pdflatex -shell-escape -halt-o
n-error -interaction=batchmode -jobname "sample_tikz" "\def\tikzexternalrealjob
{output}\input{output}"' ========

! Package tikz Error: Sorry, the system call 'pdflatex -shell-escape -halt-on-e
rror -interaction=batchmode -jobname "sample_tikz" "\def\tikzexternalrealjob{ou
tput}\input{output}"' did NOT result in a usable output file 'sample_tikz' (exp
ected one of .pdf:.jpg:.jpeg:.png:).

From the error message, it is also quite obvious what goes wrong. The default externalization system call looks something like this:

pdflatex \tikzexternalcheckshellescape -halt-on-error -interaction=batchmode -jobname "\image" "\texsource"

where the macro \texsource is \edef'd as

\string\def\string\tikzexternalrealjob{\tikzexternal@realjob}\string\input{\tikzexternal@realjob}

and \tikzexternal@realjob is set based on the value of \jobname used when compiling main.tex. When main.tex is compiled with -jobname output, \texsource expands into

\def\tikzexternalrealjob{output}\input{output}

which is problematic, because main.tex isn't called output.tex.

A possible solution

I've tried to look at the tikz external source code, and experimented with how to approach this problem.
My reasoning has been that I want the \texsource somehow to expand to

\def\tikzexternalrealjob{output}\input{main}

instead (note that \tikzexternalrealjob must still be \def'd to the actual \jobname, because it's used in the tikz externalization code to decide whether the current job is for the main document or for the externalization of a tikz image).

I was inspired by this post to use the currfile package (thanks @martin-scharrer) to retrieve the name main automatically.

What I've come up with so far (which seems to work) is the following:

Change the MWE to:

%& -jobname=output -recorder
\documentclass{book}

\usepackage{tikz,pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{external}
\tikzset{external/only named=true}
\pgfplotsset{compat=newest}

\input{externalize-hack.tex} % <---- THIS WAS ADDED

\tikzexternalize

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}[h]
  \tikzsetnextfilename{sample_tikz}
  \begin{tikzpicture}[scale=1.50]
    \begin{axis}\addplot {x^3};\end{axis}
  \end{tikzpicture}
  \caption{Sample tikz picture.}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

and let the file externalize-hack.tex be defined as the following:

\usepackage{currfile-abspath}
\getmainfile

\usepackage{xpatch}

\makeatletter

\AtEndDocument{%
  \newwrite\maindeffile%
  \immediate\openout\maindeffile=\jobname.maindef%
  \immediate\write\maindeffile{%
    \noexpand\ifcsname mymainfile\noexpand\endcsname\noexpand\else%
      \noexpand\gdef\noexpand\mymainfile{\mymainfile}%
    \noexpand\fi%
  }%
  \immediate\closeout\maindeffile%
}

\@input{\jobname.maindef}

\ifcsname mymainfile\endcsname%
  \ifx\mymainfile\@empty%
    % Make a second attempt at extracting the real file name
    % (necessary because currfile needs two runs on MiKTeX..)
    \filename@parse{\themainfile}%
    \let\mymainfile\filename@base%
    \ifx\mymainfile\@empty%
      % If still empty, fallback to default behavior
      \def\mymainfile{\tikzexternal@realjob}%
    \fi%
  \fi%
\else%
  % First attempt at extracting real file name
  \filename@parse{\themainfile}%
  \let\mymainfile\filename@base%
\fi%

\xpatchcmd{\tikzexternal@assemble@systemcall}%
  {%
    \edef\texsource{%
      \string\def\string\tikzexternalrealjob{\tikzexternal@realjob}%
      \string\input{\tikzexternal@realjob}%
    }%
  }%
  {%
    \edef\texsource{%
      \string\def\string\tikzexternalrealjob{\tikzexternal@realjob}%
      \string\def\string\mymainfile{\mymainfile}%
      \string\input{\mymainfile}%
    }%
  }%
  {}
  {}

\let\old@tikzexternalize@opt@withname\tikzexternalize@opt@withname%
\def\tikzexternalize@opt@withname[#1]#2{%
  % Suppress externalization as long as \mymainfile is empty
  % (This will only be the case the one or two first compilation runs!)
  \ifx\mymainfile\@empty\else%
    \old@tikzexternalize@opt@withname[#1]{#2}%
  \fi%
}

\makeatother

Also note the -recorder option that was added, as required by the currfile package.

However, to me this hack feels somewhat clumsy. Hence, I would greatly appreciate any input from you guys!

Best Answer

You got that tikz uses \jobname to compose the command line that generates external pics. So redefining \jobname and at the same time using tikz externalization is too much touble.

A possible work-around:

use \tikzsetfigurename{something} to set basename for external tikz pictures;
call pdflatex without -jobname output everytime you change a tikzpicture, so it correctly generates figures;
with external figures gerenated, you can change everything in your text at will and call pdflatex -jobname output because only checksums are computed without need of real jobname.

It worked with my MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{external}
\tikzexternalize
\tikzsetfigurename{something}

\begin{document}

\tikz \draw (0,0) -- (1,0.5);

\tikz \draw[red] (0,0) -- (1,0.5);

\end{document}

with call sequence:

pdflatex -shell-escape main (here figures somethingN are generated)
pdflatex -shell-escape -jobname output main

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to get the pgfplots external tutorial to work in TeXnicCenter

Updating the MikTeX installation would solve the issue as I'm using the same configuration

enter image description here And the result is

enter image description here

[Tex/LaTex] Problem combining tikzexternalize, tikzscale and external graphics

Ok, I've found a workaround for this. As this has been bothering me for a long time and also includes some other issues to consider, I'll answer this step by step.

Task: Create a tikzpicture consisting of an external graphics (.png,.jpg,.pdf) that will not result in an error when used with tikzscale and \tikzexternalize.

Questions: Why a tikzpicture and not just \includegraphics?
-Because I want to add some elements to the picture, which is easy to do in tikz.
Why using tikzscale?
-Because I like to have my figures to have the same width as the text while keeping the fontsize of axes, nodes etc. independent of the figure's width. tikzscale is the tool for this.
Why \tikzexternalize?
-Not using \tikzexternalize means that every tikzpicture is recompiled every time, the document is compiled. Depending on the tikzpicture's complexity, this will take a lot of time.

The first approach:
The first approach can be seen in the original question. I placed a node in a tikzpicture and filled it with \includegraphics. This results in an error. The document is produced correctly, but the tikzpictureis not externalized i.e. saved in a separate .pdf.

The second approach:
In some earlier work I learned that pgfplots' \addplot graphics actually works with tikzscale and \tikzexternalize. The idea is now to put the exterael graphic in the axis environment and to hide the axes, ticks and labels. Let's assume we want a tikzpicture containing the following graphics (example-image-16x10.jpg included in the mwe package):

The code then reads as follows (the tikzpicture is written in a separate file test.tikz to load it with tikzscale's \includegraphics). note the ticks=none and axis lines=none options to hide the axes, ticks and labels:

\documentclass[10pt]{scrartcl}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\usetikzlibrary{external}
\tikzexternalize[shell escape=-enable-write18]
\usepackage{tikzscale}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usepackage{mwe}
\usepackage{filecontents}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.10}
\begin{document}
\begin{filecontents}{test.tikz}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
    xmin=0,xmax=1,ymin=0,ymax=1,
    ticks=none,
    axis lines=none,
    ]
    \addplot graphics [xmin=0,xmax=1,ymin=0,ymax=1] {example-image-16x10};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{filecontents}
First we will include the picture as a normal graphics:
\begin{figure}[hb]
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{example-image-16x10}
    \caption{This is the figure without using \textit{tikzpicture}.}
\end{figure}
\newline Next, we include the figure as a \textit{tikzpicture} using \textit{tikzscale}.
\begin{figure}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{test.tikz}
    \caption{This is my figure in \textit{tikzpicture}'s \textit{axis} environment. Unfortunaltely it is stretched into a square shape.}
    \end{figure}
\end{document}

When one compiles this code (twice), one will note, that the graphics in the tikzpicture is streched vertically, as pgfplots' axis environment tends to crate square shaped plots. To keep the original image's aspect ratio, one has to define a new \addplot command that will measure the original image's aspect ratio and scale the axes accordingly as demonstrated in an earlier question \addplot graphics: maintaining image's aspect ratio despite different scaling of axes.
The final code is then:

\documentclass[10pt]{scrartcl}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\usetikzlibrary{external}
\tikzexternalize[shell escape=-enable-write18]
\usepackage{tikzscale}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usepackage{mwe}
\usepackage{filecontents}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.10}

\makeatletter
\newcommand\addplotgraphicsnatural[2][]{%
    \begingroup
    \pgfqkeys{/pgfplots/plot graphics}{#1}%
    \setbox0=\hbox{\includegraphics{#2}}%
    \pgfmathparse{\wd0/(\pgfkeysvalueof{/pgfplots/plot graphics/xmax} - \pgfkeysvalueof{/pgfplots/plot graphics/xmin})}%
    \let\xunit=\pgfmathresult
    \pgfmathparse{\ht0/(\pgfkeysvalueof{/pgfplots/plot graphics/ymax} - \pgfkeysvalueof{/pgfplots/plot graphics/ymin})}%
    \let\yunit=\pgfmathresult
    \xdef\marshal{%
        \noexpand\pgfplotsset{unit vector ratio={\xunit\space \yunit}}%
    }%
    \endgroup
    \marshal
    \addplot graphics[#1] {#2};
}   
\makeatother


\begin{document}
\begin{filecontents}{test.tikz}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
    xmin=0,xmax=1,ymin=0,ymax=1,
    ticks=none,
    axis lines=none,
    ]
    \addplotgraphicsnatural [xmin=0,xmax=1,ymin=0,ymax=1] {example-image-16x10};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{filecontents}
First we will include the picture as a normal graphics:
\begin{figure}[hb]
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{example-image-16x10}
    \caption{This is the figure without using \textit{tikzpicture}.}
\end{figure}
\newline Next, we include the figure as a \textit{tikzpicture} using \textit{tikzscale}.
\begin{figure}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{test.tikz}
    \caption{This is my figure in \textit{tikzpicture}'s \textit{axis} environment. Unfortunaltely it is stretched into a square shape.}
    \end{figure}
\end{document}

This will produce the desired document as well as the externalized figure. I don't know whether there is a more elegant way to do this, but it works.

A possible solution

Best Answer

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