[OS X TeX] ifthenelse in or for engines

[Herbert Schulz]

On Feb 26, 2007, at 8:06 AM, Alain Schremmer wrote:

> Friedrich Vosberg wrote:
>
>> Morning.
>>
>> I want to use different engines depending on the name of the file.  
>> For example:
>>
>> IF filename CONTAINS *-copy.*
>> USE %!TEX TS-program = copy.engine
>> ELSEIF filename CONTAINS *-draft.*
>> USE %!TEX TS-program = draft.engine
>> ELSE
>> USE %!TEX TS-program = final.engine
>
> For a couple of months now, I have seen "engines" mentioned on this  
> list but I thought they had to do with installing this or that  
> esoteric piece of program and didn't mind not understanding. The  
> above though seems different. Could you elaborate on what the above  
> engines, "copy.engine Â… , draft.engine Â… , final.engine Â… "  
> would be doing and maybe also on what an engine IS?
>
> Regards
> --schremmer
>

Howdy,

First, as Peter Dybala said, that can't be done in either an engine  
file or the source. The best thing is to write a single engine that  
does the searching (using grep?) and executes the correct commands  
depending upon the search results.

Second, an engine is a set of commands in a script (usually a shell  
script) for doing special processing; it is a way of extending the  
possible commands that are found in TeXShop's Typeset menu. One  
example that comes with TeXShop is the xelatex engine which will run  
xelatex on a file. Another example that can be installed is the  
pdflatexmk engine (this must be installed with several other files to  
make it work) which will run latexmk in pdf mode: latexmk will  
automatically run pdflatex, then bibtex and/or makeindex if necessary  
and then pdflatex the correct number of times to resolve all (cross) 
references.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest.com)



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