How do you get high resolution plots in applications using the Mathematica MathService?

Question

This is for Mac users only using MathService (MathService it seems, given that it was created back in 2004, is a power pc code and requires Rosetta to run on Intel).

If I type a plot command in another application (in this case TextEdit):

...and then use Mathematica to evaluate that code within that application using MathService:

...all works fine.

But the problem then arises when you want to print the document because the graphic is at screen resolution. Does anyone know how to use MathService to generate print quality plots within other applications?

Also in MS Word it seem that only the "Evaluate to Text" service is available which (obviously) returns FullForm of the plot rather than the graphic. Why isn't "Evaluate to Graphic" available?

Incidentally using Mathematica this way seems to allow multiple undos of kernel evaluations.

Answer 1

Try this.

1) Open Automator and create a new Service.

2) In the search box, type "Run Apple Script" and drag the action into the workflow space on the right.

3) Replace the sample script (changing MyName appropriately) with:

on run {input, parameters}
set inputResult to (input as string)
set cmd to " -run 'Export[\"~/Desktop/test.pdf\"," & input & "];Exit[]'"
set mathPath to POSIX path of file ((path to application "Mathematica" as text) & "Contents:MacOS:MathKernel")


do shell script mathPath & cmd
set the clipboard to (alias "Users:MyName:Desktop:test.pdf") as «class furl»

tell application "System Events"
keystroke "v" using {command down}
end tell

end run

4) Hit the hammer icon to verify the code, then save the file to give the service a name.

5) In TextEdit try something like

Plot[Sin[x],{x,0,Pi},PlotStyle->{Dashed,Red},ImageSize->500]

or

Style[TraditionalForm[Integrate[Gamma[Pi x]y[x],{x,0,2}]],FontSize->48]

It will embed a high quality PDF, saving the temp file to the desktop.