Questions on Notebooks (*.nb, *.ma in earlier versions), structured interactive documents produced by Mathematica that can contain text, graphics, sound, calculations, typeset expressions, and user interface elements.
33
votes
3answers
1k views
Using the Mathematica front-end efficiently for editing notebooks
Background:
I have used Vim for 15+ years. There is a certain "one"-ness with the editor one achieves. Emacs users also experience this. Notepad users do not.
My current interaction with the ...
27
votes
2answers
675 views
Is there a way to separate variables between multiple notebooks?
I often correct homework by checking the calculations in Mathematica. Sometimes you would like to have two solutions open at once. However often defined symbols such as ...
24
votes
5answers
1k views
Can the banner in the Home Edition be removed?
The Mathematica Home Edition shows a banner at the top of every notebook:
Is there a way to (permanently) get rid of it, without violating the EULA?
Edit
Yesterday, I sent this message to WRI ...
24
votes
2answers
574 views
Good ways to organize and document collections of mathematica notebooks?
I've now been using Mathematica for about a year, and am starting to get a somewhat unwieldy collection of notebooks. Sometimes I've figured out how to do a particular task in one of them, and want ...
24
votes
1answer
305 views
Tool to locate bloat in a notebook?
In developing a notebook, I often find I have created a very boated file that takes a long time to save. I would like to slim it down. It is usually the result of graphics and images, but they may be ...
22
votes
2answers
472 views
How can I set an image to be the Notebook's background?
Is it possible to set a notebook's background to a nonscrolling image?
21
votes
3answers
617 views
How to place an image inside a notebook, with the minimum memory footprint?
When creating a notebook with images, like photos, the file tends to quickly get big, which makes it difficult to use the notebook format for training material containing a lot of images.
Are there ...
20
votes
4answers
649 views
Saving data inside a notebook so that I don't have to run it again?
Piggybacking on this, I am somehow not fully convinced that I can't save data generated by a calculation in a mathematica file so that when I re-launch said file, I wouldn't have to run my ...
20
votes
1answer
309 views
Open two copies of the same notebook
Is there a way to open one notebook in two (or more) different windows? This can be helpful when working with a long notebook and one wants to edit one part of it while looking at a different part. ...
19
votes
2answers
360 views
Programmatically copy code so that all output is commented out
UPDATE: The final palette has a new home here! Please test and provide feedback (usability, suggestions, bugs)
A note to the readers and voters: This is intended for community use, so please test the ...
17
votes
2answers
340 views
When to make (file.nb) instead of (file.cdf)?
I started with File > New > FreeCDF so I can save my work in a format compatible with the CDF Player. I can use Mathematica to make new cells, evaluate input and so in the CDF file. What are the ...
16
votes
3answers
324 views
How to get complete Documentation Center graph of guide pages?
On the very last image below you can see a typical path of walking through Documentation Center guide pages. What is the best way to get the graph data and visualize the whole structure of these ...
16
votes
1answer
220 views
Saving my code before cell evaluations: Insurance against front end hanging
I guess my programming working style is not unique. I develop programs one cell at a time, and when I have some confidence about what I did, I put all my mess together refining the code, building up ...
16
votes
1answer
330 views
NotebookFind and String Pattern Expressions
Is there a way that NotebookFind can be used to match string pattern expressions rather than just strings?
The documentation for ...
14
votes
3answers
470 views
Are there suitable versioning systems for Mathematica notebooks?
I am considering a project using Mathematica and openCL. I know that the openCL C source code can be tracked.
Has anyone used a versioning site or software so multiple developers can modify a common ...
14
votes
0answers
429 views
How would I improve this Karaoke machine code?
I was looking at a large collection of Import/Export user suggestions the other day and it dawned on me that we finally have MIDI import in Mathematica 9, which is rather interesting since MIDI ...
13
votes
2answers
462 views
Is it possible to embed the Mathematica editor?
Is it possible to embed a Mathematica window into a .NET application? I mean not just the interop, but actually making the notebook editor window part of a .NET form. Is this possible?
13
votes
1answer
208 views
Problems with images caused by which stylesheet is used
Update
This looks now like it was a bug in Mathematica version 8, because
everything works as expected - at least for this minimal example - in
version 9. (As an aside, I couldn't seem to find ...
12
votes
1answer
104 views
Exclude Sections/Subsections/… from evaluation
I'm working on a large notebook and I want to exclude some sections and subsections from being evaluated when I evaluate the whole notebook.
Is there a way to exclude specific sections or ...
12
votes
2answers
1k views
Pasting $\LaTeX$ into a Mathematica notebook
I have read that $\LaTeX$ source can be directly pasted into a Mathematica notebook. However, I have been unsuccessful in this regard. An example of the errors received are:
...
12
votes
1answer
286 views
CDF, Player, PlayerPro, or something else?
I have a notebook, which contains a dozen or so custom functions all leading to the production of a simple static report, something like this:
I want to distribute this to a single user who will ...
12
votes
2answers
336 views
How to export to HTML and not lose Grid Frame in the generated HTML?
This is a known issue for me with Mathematica. When I export a notebook to HTML, Mathematica loses some decorations such as Grid Frame lines (in grid and like objects).
For example, creating this ...
11
votes
1answer
200 views
How to make an unremovable modal window?
Is there any way to securely stick a notebook window (e.g. a dialog) on screen that it cannot be closed/removed/hidden by any of the standard OS shortcuts, like AltF4 or AltTab under Windows? The ...
11
votes
1answer
247 views
Saving a notebook as a $\LaTeX$ file, with syntax highlighting preserved
How can I save a notebook as a $\LaTeX$ file, while preserving the syntax highlighting (such as input/output boxes)?
10
votes
6answers
435 views
Annoying display truncation of numerical results
I have a lot of data to inspect. An example of a number in my program is
123.189094
This gets displayed as
123.189
...
10
votes
2answers
754 views
Delete the current notebook cell using the keyboard
Is there another way than pressing Ctrl+. until the whole cell is selected and then pressing Del?
If this is not built in, can I create some sort of a global macro to do this and bind it to a ...
10
votes
3answers
792 views
Programmatically generate packages from notebook files?
Currently, there are two ways I know of to generate a package (.m) file from a notebook file; one is to set the AutoGeneratedPackage option in the Option Inspector, ...
10
votes
2answers
167 views
How can I access a variable in one evaluator from another evaluator?
I have two notebooks, each with a different kernel. Is there a way to grab the value of a variable in KernelA from KernelB?
10
votes
2answers
345 views
Is it possible to insert an animated image into Mathematica notebook?
I find it very convenient to use Mathematica notebooks to organise the codes + results.
I was wondering if it is possible to insert an animated image (say an animated gif) in the middle of a ...
10
votes
2answers
350 views
How to make a parallel auto-generated .m package from Initialization cells?
according to the documentation at ref/InitializationCell,
When you first save a notebook that contains initialization cells, you have the option to make a ...
10
votes
1answer
227 views
Is it possible to colorize brackets in the notebook editor to see matches more easily?
I've seen that if I click on a square bracket [, I can then use "Check Balance" in the right click menu to see where the matching bracket is.
Is there a way to see ...
10
votes
0answers
219 views
Publishing a Mathematica notebook
I am considering publishing a Mathematica notebook, used for analysis of some data, as a “supporting information” file alongside a research paper. What are the common practices for doing so, and what ...
9
votes
2answers
254 views
Saving a notebook without output lines
Is it possible to change the way Mathematica saves so that Out[] lines are never included?
I have a .nb file that processes a ...
9
votes
1answer
141 views
Knowing when a notebook has changed programmatically
Is there any way I can programatically determine whether a notebook has unsaved edits?
Is that asterisk on the right of the notebook name represented in a notebook option or something, like ...
9
votes
1answer
172 views
How to create a notebook element that can replace itself?
I would like to create a notebook element that can replace itself.
Here's an example to illustrate:
...
9
votes
2answers
123 views
How can I set a fixed cell height?
I did this often in previous versions of the Mathematica notebook front end. I would have a cell with lots of raw data, e.g. a very long list. The list might go on for pages. I would set the cell ...
9
votes
1answer
116 views
How to make certain mathematical characters be written as bold by default
In a notebook, when writing \[RightVector] over a variable I always end up bolding it to make it more visible. But it'd be easier if it could be set up to bold that ...
9
votes
2answers
106 views
A notebook created on demand from a main document showing executable input along with output cells
I would like to make Mathematica documents with hidden calculations, such that they can be visualized on demand. In general it can be done in several forms and I actually use some. I would like to ask ...
9
votes
1answer
99 views
Cell brackets on left side?
Is it possible to have the cell brackets on the left? I looked through the options and couldn't find anything, but maybe it's some kind of esoteric style setting or something.
The reason I'm looking ...
9
votes
1answer
164 views
How can I change the style of every newly opened notebook?
I'd like to make Mathematica open a new notebook using the Natural Color template (under the Creative category) by default. Is that possible? If so, how?
9
votes
1answer
119 views
Notebook vs. DocumentNotebook; display a Notebook inline, like a DocumentNotebook
If you evaluate a DocumentNotebook[] expression in the front-end, it nicely displays inline, inside of an output cell in the current notebook:
For my purposes, ...
9
votes
3answers
182 views
Typeset unbalanced brackets
In LaTeX, you can typeset expressions containing unbalanced brackets, by balancing them with an invisible delimiter \left. or ...
9
votes
0answers
73 views
How does the built-in debugger decide what to highlight?
How does the built-in debugger decide which definition to highlight in the notebook when Break on messages" is enabled?
Here's an example to illustrate what I mean. First, enable the debugger ...
8
votes
4answers
205 views
Create horizontal list in notebook
I want to create a multiple choice question paper and list the options horizontally. I am only looking at very simple document with horizontal list. What I want:
What is 1+1?
a) 2 b) 4 c) 3 d) 7
...
8
votes
3answers
202 views
Quickly display a color graphically
When manipulating colors, the output is shown as a textual expression like Hue[1/5], RGBColor[2/3, 1, 1/3], ...
8
votes
4answers
602 views
Automatically counting the number of lines of code in a set of notebooks
How can I automatically count the number of lines of code "Input" existing inside all the notebook files contained in a specified folder?
I know there is the issue of considering or not the automatic ...
8
votes
3answers
322 views
How can I type left (sub)superscript?
I want to type in my variable next to its plot and I'm typing the text in using Inset. However my variable has superscripts to the left. Say it looks like this:
$ ...
8
votes
3answers
549 views
How to set default magnification for all windows
This is certainly a newbie question but I could not find the answer by searching.
I am using Mathematica 8 under Windows 7. I want to use default magnification of 150% for all notebooks and help ...
8
votes
2answers
215 views
How do I automatically evaluate a cell when a notebook is opened?
I'm trying to put together a GUI in Mathematica and need to evaluate one cell to kick that off. Is there a way to automatically evaluate that cell when the notebook is opened? Here is an example of ...
8
votes
1answer
519 views
Relative paths for portable notebooks in Mathematica
I cannot find how to use relative paths in Mathematica. My directory structure is simple.
...
