[texworks] Project Management type stuff

[Paul A Norman]

Dear Stefan,

> PS: Originally, with "project support" I meant the support of a
> multi-file document, possibly with figures, etc. I did not originally
> target multi-user, multi-platform cooperation (similar to what version
> control is often used for in programming). But of course there's no
> reason not to think in that direction, too :).

Nicola Talbot (UK TUG) has prepared java based gui utiltiies and LaTeX
packages to help facilitate magazine and newspaper layouts.
( http://theoval.cmp.uea.ac.uk/~nlct/latex/
  http://theoval.cmp.uea.ac.uk/~nlct/jpgfdraw/ for use with the flowfram package
  http://theoval.cmp.uea.ac.uk/~nlct/jpgfdraw/manual/flowframe.html
  http://tug.ctan.org/pkg/flowfram
http://tug.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/flowfram/ffuserguide.pdf
)

We have been starting projects (NPO) aimed that way and have found
LaTeX surprissingly suited for complex magazines. These are semi
formal and often require the authorinbg tools that LaTeX abounds in -
comprehensive indexing etc..

One of the benefits is the low memory overhead when working with the
source document(s) and in TeXworks the ability to sync between the
preview and the source.

However the tasks are collaberative ones (partly why I have focussed
on help information and utilities to get people up to speed), with
people sometimes needing to "see" their portions rendered during
preparaton, according to the current styles. So my on going intereset
in project / collaberative development areas.

This sort of thing will possibly become a growth area as tools become
available to leverage LaTeX towards this new pool of these kinds of
potential LaTeX users!

Paul

On 15 October 2010 03:31, Stefan Löffler <st.loeffler at gmail.com> wrote:
>  Hi,
>
> Am 2010-10-14 15:51, schrieb Bruno Voisin:
>> Le 14 oct. 2010 à 13:58, Paul A Norman a écrit :
>>
>>> Have you a reference for that please, I want to check if there are any
>>> issues on how the path is named whether its OS dependant or what ever,
>>> does Windows require {{}} type stuff or simillar.
>>>
>>> On 15 October 2010 00:31, Alain Schremmer <schremmer.alain at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> \documentclass[11pt]{book}
>>>>        \usepackage{../StyleSheets/Preamble}
>>>>        \usepackage{../StyleSheets/AssessmentDocumentConstruction}
>>>>        \usepackage{../StyleSheets/QuizConstructionParameters}
>>>>        \usepackage{../StyleSheets/GraphicsPaths}
>>>> \begin{document}
>> That's likely distribution-specific and also platform-specific.
>>
>> Namely, the definition of \usepackage (in latex.ltx) is highly convoluted, it goes through a sequence of cascading definitions involving \RequirePackage and \InputIfFileExists, and in between more obscure stuff like \@onefilewithoptions, \@@input and the like.
>>
>> But it all seems in the end to go down to the \input TeX primitive, which is implemented at the time TeX is built.
>
> Maybe the following environment variable is helpful in this context
> (taken from the tex manpage of TL on Linux):
> TEXINPUTS
>              Search path for \input and \openin files.  This  probably
> start
>              with  ``.'',  so  that user files are found before system
> files.
>              An empty path component will be replaced with the paths
> defined
>              in   the   texmf.cnf   file.   For  example,  set
> TEXINPUTS  to
>              ".:/home/user/tex:"  to  prepend  the  current
> directory   and
>              ``/home/user/tex'' to the standard search path.
>
> I'm not sure if the same thing is supported in, e.g., MiKTeX, but if it
> is, you could define a custom tool that sets TEXINPUTS to contain the
> directory of your styles, classes, etc.
>
> HTH
> Stefan
>
>