NotebookEvaluate with InsertResults -> True from the command line

Question

Suppose I have a notebook template.nb like this:

and I want to evaluate this notebook from the command line. So I wrote this Mathematica script:

UsingFrontEnd[NotebookEvaluate["C:\\Users\\delfinog\\Desktop\\template.nb", 
                               InsertResults -> True]]

And I run the script like this (Windows 7):

C:> "C:\Program Files\Wolfram Research\Mathematica\10.2\wolfram.exe" -script C:\Users\delfinog\Desktop\mma-script.wl

My expectation is that I should be getting this:

but instead, I get this:

This is the complete output cell

Graphics[{{{}, {}, {Directive[Opacity[1.], RGBColor[0.368417, 0.506779, 0.709798], AbsoluteThickness[1.6]], Line[{{2.040816326530612*^-8, 2.040816326530612*^-8}, {0.000306717908041361, 0.000306717908041361}, {0.0006134154079194566, 0.0006134154079194566}, {0.001226810407675648, 0.001226810407675648}, {0.002453600407188031, 0.002453600407188031}, {0.004907180406212797, 0.004907180406212797}, {0.009814340404262328, 0.009814340404262328}, {0.01962866040036139, 0.01962866040036139}, {0.040908355415730624, 0.040908355415730624}, {0.060777881089422996, 0.060777881089422996}, {0.08025764554305448, 0.08025764554305448}, {0.10138846501985709, 0.10138846501985709}, {0.12110911515498282, 0.12110911515498282}, {0.1424808203132797, 0.1424808203132797}, {0.16346276425151565, 0.16346276425151565}, {0.18303453884807477, 0.18303453884807477}, {0.204257368467805, 0.204257368467805}, {0.22407002874585835, 0.22407002874585835}, {0.24349292780385082, 0.24349292780385082}, {0.2645668818850144, 0.2645668818850144}, {0.28423066662450114, 0.28423066662450114}, {0.305545506387159, 0.305545506387159}, {0.32647058492975595, 0.32647058492975595}, {0.34598549413067603, 0.34598549413067603}, {0.36715145835476726, 0.36715145835476726}, {0.3869072532371816, 0.3869072532371816}, {0.40831410314276706, 0.40831410314276706}, {0.42933119182829166, 0.42933119182829166}, {0.4489381111721394, 0.4489381111721394}, {0.4701960855391582, 0.4701960855391582}, {0.49004389056450015, 0.49004389056450015}, {0.5095019343697813, 0.5095019343697813}, {0.5306110331982336, 0.5306110331982336}, {0.550309962685009, 0.550309962685009}, {0.5716599471949555, 0.5716599471949555}, {0.5926201704848412, 0.5926201704848412}, {0.6121702244330499, 0.6121702244330499}, {0.6333713334044297, 0.6333713334044297}, {0.6531622730341328, 0.6531622730341328}, {0.6725634514437749, 0.6725634514437749}, {0.6936156848765882, 0.6936156848765882}, {0.7132577489677245, 0.7132577489677245}, {0.7345508680820321, 0.7345508680820321}, {0.7544338178546627, 0.7544338178546627}, {0.7739270064072324, 0.7739270064072324}, {0.7950712499829733, 0.7950712499829733}, {0.8148053242170373, 0.8148053242170373}, {0.8361904534742725, 0.8361904534742725}, {0.8571858215114467, 0.8571858215114467}, {0.8767710202069441, 0.8767710202069441}, {0.8980072739256126, 0.8980072739256126}, {0.9178333583026043, 0.9178333583026043}, {0.937269681459535, 0.937269681459535}, {0.9583570596396369, 0.9583570596396369}, {0.978034268478062, 0.978034268478062}, {0.9783774827142147, 0.9783774827142147}, {0.9787206969503675, 0.9787206969503675}, {0.9794071254226728, 0.9794071254226728}, {0.9807799823672838, 0.9807799823672838}, {0.9835256962565057, 0.9835256962565057}, {0.9890171240349493, 0.9890171240349493}, {0.989360338271102, 0.989360338271102}, {0.9897035525072548, 0.9897035525072548}, {0.9903899809795602, 0.9903899809795602}, {0.9917628379241712, 0.9917628379241712}, {0.994508551813393, 0.994508551813393}, {0.9948517660495457, 0.9948517660495457}, {0.9951949802856985, 0.9951949802856985}, {0.9958814087580039, 0.9958814087580039}, {0.9972542657026149, 0.9972542657026149}, {0.9975974799387677, 0.9975974799387677}, {0.9979406941749204, 0.9979406941749204}, {0.9986271226472259, 0.9986271226472259}, {0.9989703368833786, 0.9989703368833786}, {0.9993135511195312, 0.9993135511195312}, {0.999656765355684, 0.999656765355684}, {0.9999999795918367, 0.9999999795918367}}]}}}, {DisplayFunction -> Identity, AspectRatio -> GoldenRatio^(-1), Axes -> {True, True}, AxesLabel -> {None, None}, AxesOrigin -> {0, 0}, DisplayFunction :> Identity, Frame -> {{False, False}, {False, False}}, FrameLabel -> {{None, None}, {None, None}}, FrameTicks -> {{Automatic, Automatic}, {Automatic, Automatic}}, GridLines -> {None, None}, GridLinesStyle -> Directive[GrayLevel[0.5, 0.4]], Method -> {DefaultBoundaryStyle -> Automatic, DefaultMeshStyle -> AbsolutePointSize[6], ScalingFunctions -> None}, PlotRange -> {{0, 1}, {0., 0.9999999795918367}}, PlotRangeClipping -> True, PlotRangePadding -> {{Scaled[0.02], Scaled[0.02]}, {Scaled[0.05], Scaled[0.05]}}, Ticks -> {Automatic, Automatic}}]

So the figure is there, but it is not being displayed. Is there a way to make this work? I was thinking that the UsingFrontEnd command should avoid this situation but there seems to be something else missing.

Motivation: I am developing a report generation system that should be running automatically late at night. As the built-in template system does not work well from MathematicaScript (CASE:3432062) and using ScheduledTasks on my interactive Mathematica session has been unreliable, I am exploring using NotebookEvaluate with the InsertResults -> True option as an alternative template system.

Answer 1

This is because the default format type is OutputForm when running on the command line. Add this to the beginning of your script to change it to StandardForm:

SetOptions[First[$Output], FormatType -> StandardForm]

References:

• $Output is the list of streams the output goes to, typically having a single entry.
• Streams and Low-Level Input and Output (we can use Options and SetOptions on streams)

Answer 2

I have found a solution. Just adding a CellPrint makes the plot visible. In fact this also makes the version 10 templates work from command line scripts.

Anyway, it would still be good to know why the CellPrint is needed. I discovered this by pure luck.

Answer 3

The template notebook can be run as-is in Windows using a batch file.

template.nb

Plot[x, {x, 0, 1}]

runTemplate.m

NotebookPauseForEvaluation[nb_] := Module[{},
  While[NotebookEvaluatingQ[nb], Pause[0.25]]] 

NotebookEvaluatingQ[nb_] := Module[{},
  SelectionMove[nb, All, Notebook]; 
  Or @@ Map["Evaluating" /. # &, Developer`CellInformation[nb]]] 

UsingFrontEnd[nb = NotebookOpen[FileNameJoin[
     {$InitialDirectory, "template.nb"}], Visible -> True];
  SelectionMove[nb, All, Notebook]; SelectionEvaluate[nb]; 
  NotebookPauseForEvaluation[nb]; NotebookSave[nb];
  NotebookClose[nb];
  DeleteFile["C:\\Temp\\wait"]]

runTemplate.bat

@echo off
setlocal
PATH = C:\Program Files\Wolfram Research\Mathematica\11.0\;%PATH%
echo running template.nb %TIME%
break > "C:\Temp\wait"
start /min WolframKernel -noprompt -initfile runTemplate.m
:Label
ping localhost -n 2 > nul
if exist "C:\Temp\wait" goto Label
ping localhost -n 1 > nul
echo Terminating WolframKernel %TIME%
taskkill /f /fi "IMAGENAME eq WolframKernel.exe" > nul
ping localhost -n 3 > nul
endlocal

Note. Terminating the WolframKernel in this way on a network licence leaves the licence held until it expires five minutes later. So if this used for batching and the jobs run in under five minutes the licence pool will be depleted.

On a standalone licence there is no problem though. Once it is terminated it can be relaunched immediately.