1

I defined a command masterTriangle to put inline a triangle created using the tikz library. I use this command many times in my document, which is actually a big book and thus for which I need to use the externalize tikz library. I see some strange behavior, since the produced pdf file has 4 instances of the triangle (the compiled external figure, not document). In my actual document there are more than 200 instances of that triangle after compiling the whole book. Can someone explain why this is happening? This is the MWE:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{scalerel} % assembly operator
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{xspace}
\usepackage{scalerel}


\usetikzlibrary{external}
\tikzexternalize[prefix=./]


% define custom inline commands
\tikzset{
    masterTriangleImpl/.pic={
        \draw (0,0) -- (1,0) -- (0,1) -- cycle;
    }}
\def\masterTriangle{\scalerel*{\ensuremath{;\tikzsetnextfilename{masterTriangle}\tikz[x=1em, y=1em, line width=1pt]\pic{masterTriangleImpl};}}{X\rule[-.35ex]{0pt}{1pt}}\xspace}


\begin{document}
This is my \masterTriangle and this is another \masterTriangle.
\end{document}

UPDATE

Following the suggestion of @Qrrbrbirlbel, I just draw the triangle using the pic2e package. This is my solution:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{pict2e}
\usepackage{xspace}

\makeatletter
\newcommand{\masterTriangle}{\ensuremath{\mathbin{\mathpalette\masterTriangle@\relax}}\xspace}
\newcommand{\masterTriangle@}[2]{%
  \begingroup
  \setlength{\dimen@}{\masterElement@width{#1}}%
  \sbox\z@{$\m@th#1\sqcup$}%
  \setlength{\unitlength}{\wd\z@}%
  \raisebox{0.5\dimen@}{%
    \begin{picture}(1,1)
    \linethickness{\dimen@}%
%    \roundcap\roundjoin
    \polygon(0.05,0.05)(0.95,0.05)(0.05,0.95)
    \end{picture}%
  }%
  \endgroup
}


\newcommand{\masterElement@width}[1]{%
  \ifx#1\displaystyle \fontdimen8\textfont\else
  \ifx#1\textstyle \fontdimen8\textfont\else
  \ifx#1\scriptstyle 1.1\fontdimen8\scriptfont\else
  1.25\fontdimen8\scriptscriptfont\fi\fi\fi 3
}


\makeatother


\begin{document}
This is my \masterTriangle and this is another $\masterTriangle$.
\end{document}

which produces the desired outcome without using tikz.

aaragon
  • 3,041
  • Did you see the produced pdf? It has 4 triangles in it instead of only 1. – aaragon Dec 14 '22 at 07:31
  • Ah, yes it does. I see. Without checking the code but I'm sure \scalerel first typesets the TikZ picture in a box to find out its size and then it typesets it again resized. The external library picks both up and externalizes them both. – Qrrbrbirlbel Dec 14 '22 at 08:12
  • \tikz[baseline=+0pt, line width=1pt] \draw (0,+-.35ex) -- +({width("X")*1pt},0) -- +(0,{width("X")*1pt}) -- cycle; gives you almost the same triangle without scalerel. Almost because the linewidth stays at 1pt. – Qrrbrbirlbel Dec 14 '22 at 08:35
  • Do you mean to write the macro as \def\masterTriangle{\ensuremath{\;\tikzsetnextfilename{masterTriangle}\tikz[baseline=+0pt, line width=1pt] \draw (0,+-.35ex) -- +({width("X")*1pt},0) -- +(0,{width("X")*1pt}) -- cycle;}}? That doesn't work for me. – aaragon Dec 14 '22 at 12:09
  • Yes it's supposed to be mainly used for math mode, although sometimes I use it in text as well, so I use the \ensuremath to avoid that error when not using $. Also, AFAIK, the \xspace is used for the end of macros right? In any case I'm still trying to figure out why is it that there are so many triangle instances in the produced .pdf. In my main document that number is in the hundreds. – aaragon Dec 14 '22 at 12:49
  • [tag:xspace] inserts a space unless interpunction follows the macro. It's there to deal with TeX eating spaces after command sequence. Is your triangle an operator or just an ordinary symbol? Since there's nothing mathy inside \ensuremath you already can use it in text and math mode without a problem. (Though width("X") only picks up the normal upright X and not the slanted math mode X → width("$X$").) My solution will not scale properly when used in subscripts but that can be fixed. – Qrrbrbirlbel Dec 14 '22 at 13:02
  • The symbol is supposed to work as well in subscripts (I actually mainly use it for inline text as a full-sized symbol and also for subscripts and for integral limits). That's also the reason I need scalerel I guess? – aaragon Dec 14 '22 at 13:33
  • I just played around with \mathchoice but that has the annoying habit to just typeset all four variants (but only output one) which creates four pages per usage in math-mode. Let's start from the top: Is there a problem with having the externalized PDF double the pages? You could also just typeset these symbols once for every math style and save them in a savebox and/or in a pdf and just include them? – Qrrbrbirlbel Dec 14 '22 at 13:42
  • 2
    If it's just a triangle, it might be faster to just draw it with PGF and forget about externalizing it. If it's that simple, you might be able to just draw it pict2e. – Qrrbrbirlbel Dec 14 '22 at 13:43
  • I ended up drawing the symbol as you suggested in that post above. Thanks! – aaragon Dec 22 '22 at 11:56

0 Answers0