Thanks Andy. This was exactly what I was looking for. <br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Jun 7, 2009 at 2:19 PM, Andy Farnell <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:padawan12@obiwannabe.co.uk">padawan12@obiwannabe.co.uk</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><br>
<br>
Scripts are a great answer. For my textbook I eventually<br>
developed a build script (Make or Perl are useful component choices)<br>
to process every source, regenerating data if something changed.<br>
This part is essential to avoid long build times that revise<br>
data even if it hasn't changed.<br>
<br>
The idea is to keep the authorative sources of data at the root of<br>
the build process and eliminate every manual step you can.<br>
<br>
Many popular packages like Matlab, Octave, R<br>
can export latex table forms with a suitable function/plugin.<br>
<br>
If you're building a large document, thesis, report, or textbook<br>
then the time spent writing a little script is quickly repaid.<br>
<br>
Exporters<br>
<br>
<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2009/02/msg00425.html" target="_blank">http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2009/02/msg00425.html</a><br>
<a href="http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/authors/30876" target="_blank">http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/authors/30876</a><br>
<br>
Make<br>
<a href="http://www.cs.indiana.edu/classes/c304/Makefiles.html" target="_blank">http://www.cs.indiana.edu/classes/c304/Makefiles.html</a><br>
<a href="http://www.manpagez.com/man/1/make/" target="_blank">http://www.manpagez.com/man/1/make/</a><br>
<a href="http://www.cs.duke.edu/~ola/courses/programming/Makefiles/Makefiles.html" target="_blank">http://www.cs.duke.edu/~ola/courses/programming/Makefiles/Makefiles.html</a><br>
<br>
Use Make with LaTeX<br>
<a href="http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~bsd/tex/" target="_blank">http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~bsd/tex/</a><br>
<a href="http://web.mit.edu/~jcrost/www/latexmake.html" target="_blank">http://web.mit.edu/~jcrost/www/latexmake.html</a><br>
<br>
Sed, Awk<br>
<a href="http://www.grymoire.com/Unix/Sed.html#uh-0" target="_blank">http://www.grymoire.com/Unix/Sed.html#uh-0</a><br>
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/sed/manual/sed.html" target="_blank">http://www.gnu.org/software/sed/manual/sed.html</a><br>
<a href="http://www.vectorsite.net/tsawk.html" target="_blank">http://www.vectorsite.net/tsawk.html</a><br>
<a href="http://www.cs.hmc.edu/tech_docs/qref/awk.html" target="_blank">http://www.cs.hmc.edu/tech_docs/qref/awk.html</a><br>
<br>
May be useful to you<br>
<a href="http://www.lafferty.ca/software/pbook/" target="_blank">http://www.lafferty.ca/software/pbook/</a><br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
On Sun, 7 Jun 2009 22:16:19 +0200<br>
Reinhard Kotucha <<a href="mailto:reinhard.kotucha@web.de">reinhard.kotucha@web.de</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
> On 7 June 2009 Sam Albers wrote:<br>
><br>
> > Hello all,<br>
> ><br>
> > I have a general methodology question concerning tables in LaTeX and I was<br>
> > just wondering what the collective wisdom of the list thought.<br>
> ><br>
> > Currently I am making tables using a spreadsheet then saving the file as a<br>
> > .csv file, replacing commas with an ampersand and then formatting the table<br>
> > to include in a .tex file. The problem I am running into is that if I want<br>
> > to modify the table after this process (say add a column) I have to start<br>
> > from scratch at the spreadsheet level which can be fairly time consuming. I<br>
> > just wondering what other people do to make this more efficient. That is,<br>
> > how do people go about making tables and modifying then after some edits<br>
> > have been made.<br>
><br>
> I'm not using spreadsheets, but I often have the need to do something<br>
> more than once. I usually write a little Perl script, but every other<br>
> scripting language is fine as well.<br>
><br>
> There is also an experimental package on CTAN, but I don't know<br>
> anything about it:<br>
><br>
> <a href="http://dante.ctan.org/CTAN/macros/latex/exptl/delimtxt/" target="_blank">http://dante.ctan.org/CTAN/macros/latex/exptl/delimtxt/</a><br>
><br>
> Regards,<br>
> Reinhard<br>
><br>
> --<br>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
> Reinhard Kotucha Phone: +49-511-3373112<br>
> Marschnerstr. 25<br>
> D-30167 Hannover mailto:<a href="mailto:reinhard.kotucha@web.de">reinhard.kotucha@web.de</a><br>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
> Microsoft isn't the answer. Microsoft is the question, and the answer is NO.<br>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>*****************************************************<br>Sam Albers<br>Geography Program<br>University of Northern British Columbia<br>3333 University Way<br>Prince George, British Columbia<br>
Canada, V2N 4Z9<br>phone: 250 960-6777<br>*****************************************************<br>