{automation} is about automating certain tasks when creating a (La)TeX document, e.g., with the help of {packages}, custom {macros} or {tools} for {compiling}.

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5
votes
5answers
415 views

Automation: static array for the sieve of Eratosthenes

I would like to produce one simple array of numbers from 1 to 100 of dimension 10*10, where 1 will not be displayed. In Sieve of Eratosthenes in tikz there are pretty animations, but what I need is ...
7
votes
1answer
464 views

Timeline with automatized hours and minutes

Some time ago I've asked a question about Timelines, many solutions were given, but in the end I decided to go with TikZ and also presented my solution. But I couldn't have done it without Torbjørn ...
5
votes
0answers
132 views

Dynamically applying formatting to regular expressions [closed]

One useful tool I find in InDesign are the Grep styles. With them, one can define character styles (e.g., boldface in small caps) for whatever expression matches the grep pattern. I know this is ...
2
votes
1answer
124 views

Recover TeX source from automatically generated LaTeX files

Maybe the question can not be exactly understood from the title. So, to automate things a bit, instead of rewriting everything when adding different pictures and tables, code was made to add ...
0
votes
0answers
42 views

Creating tables from files [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How typeset a numeric table from a CSV file I use the pgfplots package to add graphics to my LaTeX documents. Usually I have a data set in a .dat (plain text) document ...
3
votes
1answer
100 views

Check if non-empty subsection exists under another section

I'd like to try to make a LaTeX class which enforces a number of (non-empty) sections to exist-- if the user doesn't define them manually, then some default section content will be created. ...
5
votes
2answers
109 views

Automatic linebreaking inside displaymath

Yes, I know of the existence of breqn, and I am very excited about this package. I am trying to write a mathematics paper, that will be typeset in two different styles (different page sizes, and ...
2
votes
0answers
150 views

Large block diagrams with auto positioning

I need to make some (large) maintainable block diagrams. Some small diagrams I already made using Tikz, but I always need to specify the placement of every block. Now for large diagrams this could be ...
10
votes
1answer
379 views

Running several latex processes in parallel

I am working on an experiment running LaTeX on server to compile some documents on the fly. Assuming I want to have several workers waiting for documents to be compiled, are there any access issues in ...
5
votes
1answer
246 views

Include figure (from macro) with underscore in filename

I have a system of where a .tex is generated from a program. The final .tex file has a (simplified) structure like this: \newcommand{\PlotFrame}[1]{% \begin{frame} \frametitle{...} ... ... ...
7
votes
1answer
99 views

How to avoid the need to declare already declared items in \index?

Code: \documentclass{article} \usepackage{index} \usepackage{lipsum} \makeindex \begin{document} \section{\index*{Hello World}} Hello World Some text about \index*{foo}. \lipsum[1-15] Hello ...
5
votes
1answer
95 views

How do I make future equations renumber as extensions of previous equations?

I'm looking to do the following automatically rather than manually \documentclass{article} \usepackage{amsmath} \begin{document} These equations are pretty important. \begin{align} ...
29
votes
1answer
491 views

TeX as the basis for data driven document generation system?

I am in the early stages of trying to replace an existing document generation system based on Microsoft Office apps (Word and Excel). The system runs once a year to generate over 300,000 individual ...
6
votes
1answer
436 views

Create a “yearbook-style” multi-page layout of photos

I would like to create a "yearbook-style" layout of photos in LaTeX. Each photo would have a caption and the objective would be to automatically layout the differently sized rectangular photos to ...
3
votes
2answers
590 views

Automatically run Latex command after saving .tex file in Emacs

How can I have Emacs call the Latex command every time after I save my .tex file? Thanks A solution: while playing with ELisp and looking around, I added this to .emacs and it seems to work quite ...
5
votes
1answer
153 views

Automatically capitalize macro output if used after a period [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Detect beginning of a sentence in a macro for capitalization Is it possible to write a macro that is able to determine if it is used at the beginning of a sentence? For ...
1
vote
3answers
244 views

using AutoHotKey to streamline LaTeX document authoring

Is it possible to use AutoHotKey to facilitate LaTeX document authoring? In which ways? Is there any off the shelf AutoHotKey script for this purpose?
14
votes
7answers
428 views

Automatic generation of pages with variable fields

I need to produce dozens of same pages, except for the part that each page has to have a different person's name on it. Imagine it as an exam, where the content is equal for every page, except that I ...
12
votes
2answers
509 views

Automatically avoid more than one node when drawing a path

Background Andrew Stacey's answer to Automatically connect nodes without overlapping other nodes or connections presents code to make a path avoid a node by going through a corner of that node ...
4
votes
0answers
41 views

makebbx - program similar to makebst? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Is there a style definition helper for creating biblatex citation styles, like makebst for biblatex? There is a "program" called makebst that allows creating of ...
23
votes
4answers
2k views

How to make Latexmk use makeglossaries?

Is there a way to make Latexmk invoke makeglossaries (part of the glossaries package)? Specifically I want to use latexmk to compile a LaTeX document that uses the glossaries package to produce a ...
1
vote
0answers
133 views

Script to import .bib and output HTML based on a style [closed]

I'm able to use various tools (such as pyP2B.py) to generate a BibTex database. I've also successfully created a AMA styled RTF of the database using JabRef and the APAish extension, although this ...
5
votes
1answer
594 views

Auto generate an Index

Is there any way to auto-gererate an index for the makeidx package? I've written ~270 pages and didn't think of adding \index{} everywhere. Do I really need to go over everything and add \index{}?
15
votes
3answers
2k views

How can I avoid compiling twice?

Sometimes I need to run compile twice (eg when I use lastpage). Is there a way to set things so TeX knows that there is need for second run and do it automatically? I use Texmaker.
3
votes
1answer
118 views

How to automatize the creation of arrows in TikZ?

I'm creating yet another graph and I don't have particular problems. I can easily create the nodes, assign IDs and create arrows/paths using these IDs. But when there is a lot of content and there is ...
4
votes
4answers
2k views

Dropbox & LaTeX compiling automation

I'm in the middle of a "drop a file here and compile it using LaTeX" project. I have a Dropbox and I would like to drop a .tex file in a specific folder and have a script that compiles it for me. I'm ...
14
votes
1answer
110 views

Floats shortly after they have been \ref-erenced; Warn otherwise

In my thesis I have a many floating figures which I then reference using \ref. I use flafter to ensure that they do not appear before they are defined in the source code (See Force floats to be ...
8
votes
1answer
344 views

Label automatically positioned so that it doesn't overlap anything

I produce automatically generated LaTeX-files with nodes and links. Is it possible to put the label of the node outside of the node and it is automatically positioned somewhere, such that there is no ...
9
votes
1answer
200 views

Automated placement of text and graphics within presentations

The beamer package creates very professional presentations. Are there any additional packages which can be used with beamer which allows users to focus on content, while leaving TeX to decide where to ...
1
vote
0answers
99 views

How to treat specific words formatting (ie. API names to wrap inside texttt command)? [closed]

I would like to know if there is any elegant way to treat specific words as symbols, and automatically wrap them with a \texttt command. This would come handy with API names for instance, so \texttt ...
82
votes
11answers
5k views

LaTeX packages for use with revision control

I use revision control (Subversion, to be exact) to keep track of the edits to my LaTeX documents. Is there a LaTeX package that interfaces with revision control? Specifically, it would be nice to see ...
12
votes
4answers
2k views

How to automatically skip leading white spaces in listings

This question led to a new package: lstautogobble (lstaddons bundle) For my programming lecture slides I heavily use the listings package with \lstnewenvironment to typeset source code. It's a ...
7
votes
3answers
256 views

How to define a key=value that has an equivalent boolean value key

Assume you're defining a key=value align for some environment realign that you'll use in the following way: \usepackage{xkeyval}% http://ctan.org/pkg/xkeyval \newenvironment{realign}[1][] ...
13
votes
2answers
287 views

Avoid linebreaks in LaTeX console / log output

Is it possible to tell the LaTeX command not to use line breaks in its console / log output? This would make it easier to automate the processing of the log file, e.g. extracting the names of missing ...
11
votes
1answer
213 views

Automatic deletion of unused macros

The following scenario occurs quite often to me: I have a couple of input files where I have my own macros, mainly math-related stuff like definitions for \esssup and so on which are not available in ...
3
votes
1answer
130 views

How can I tell ConTeXt to automatically rotate images to fit their dimensions most accurately?

I have high resolution images that would be much more effectively executed in landscape format. Is there a way to tell ConTeXt to automatically place images in landscape format to suit their ...
14
votes
1answer
651 views

Automatic line break in alignat

Consider the following example from http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/12782/4011 \documentclass{article} \usepackage{amsmath} \newcounter{eqn} \renewcommand*{\theeqn}{\alph{eqn})} ...
15
votes
4answers
294 views

Using the filename in the document?

I have a bunch of documents called wk01.tex wk02.tex and so on up to (eventually) 20. These are weekly handouts for a course I TA. Currently, each document starts with a \def\classweek{5} or whatever. ...
10
votes
2answers
3k views

Inputting multiple files in LaTeX

Suppose I have a directory containing a bunch of LaTeX source files, and I want to input all of them into a single main file. I could do this by saying \input{dir/file1.tex} \input{dir/file2.tex} ...
26
votes
2answers
2k views

What's the advantage of using csquotes over using an editor's auto-replacement for "?

Many editors (TeXnicCenter, Texmaker, TeXworks, ...) offer auto-replacement of " by the desired form of quotation marks, be it `` and '' for English, "` and "' for German, or whatnot. Usually, I know ...
25
votes
2answers
954 views

Meta-question: Automated Newspaper Layout

This question might well be off topic, so feel free to close. But I hope some people reading here possess the relevant meta-knowledge. I'm thinking (from a professional point of view) about fully ...
19
votes
3answers
1k views

Replace \input{fileX} by the content of fileX automatically

Suppose I have a document with multiple include or input statements \input{fileA} \input{fileB} etc. Is there an easy way to generate a single .tex file where \input{fileA} is replaced by the ...
12
votes
6answers
575 views

Custom format file: How to automate the generation of the “precompiled preamble” whenever one of the files that are used there are changed

I would like to speed up compilation of my LaTeX documents using the precompiled preamble approach, and I was wondering whether any of the Tools for automating document compilation have support for ...
6
votes
1answer
452 views

Latexmk can't see a dependency on a .fmt format file

I'm using latex on a small netbook, and with average-sized files (~150 pages at the moment) compilation is already pretty slow. So I am looking for every way to speed up the compilation. In this ...
0
votes
2answers
416 views

How to create a new command with variable numbers of arguments

I am creating one command to define a functional requirement and many non functional requeriment in a table. I wrote the following code: \newcounter{Number} ...
14
votes
1answer
997 views

Automatic newspaper creation in LaTeX

This is a very general question about LaTeX, asked by a 100% newbie! I'm trying to figure out if it's feasible to build an automatic newspaper creation engine, and if LaTeX can help in this field. ...
9
votes
2answers
762 views

Generating reports with LaTeX programmatically

Crystal Reports, JasperReports and many other report writers are conventionally used in software development practices when it comes to producing printer-ready reports. It would appear that a LaTeX ...
12
votes
1answer
624 views

texify or latexmk?

MiKTeX 2.9 comes with both and they apparently do the same thing. I was wondering what the difference between them is (if any) and which one is preferable for large documents.
15
votes
2answers
522 views

Predictive mode: Only auto-complete LaTeX keywords

I typeset documents in French, and I don't really need auto-completion of the words that I type. I do, however, love the completions features that Predictive mode offers for LaTeX commands. Is there ...
2
votes
3answers
266 views

Best way to print key-value pairs: table, array or matrix?

I have a series of values that need to be printed row-wise in multiple columns. (These values, held as \def variables, are generated programatically and some of them can be empty strings.) The ...