{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}.
12
votes
2answers
514 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 ...
7
votes
2answers
385 views
Repeat beamer presentation automatically
I have a beamer presentation which should run automatically on its own during an exhibition. I already added \transduration{5}\transblindshorizontal to show the next slide automatically after 5 ...
11
votes
1answer
798 views
Automatically connect nodes without overlapping other nodes or connections
In making a tree diagram with TikZ. Say that I've got the following nodes
\node(a) {\(A\)};
\node(b1) at ($(a)+(4,1)$){\(B_1\)};
\node(b2) at ($(b1)+(0,-1)$){\(B_2\)};
\node(c) at ...
0
votes
1answer
2k views
How to autonomously preview result on TeXMaker while I am typing characters?
Now I have to use the key F1 to get the pdf output.
I want to type the code of LaTeX and TeXMaker compile autonomously for me to see the output.
How to do that?
10
votes
1answer
532 views
Images off the page in multicols environment
Before my question, some background information.
I’ve created an algorithm (not latex) which will generate a catalog for a collection of books dynamically. A user supplies information to query an SQL ...
3
votes
2answers
3k views
How do I combine several tex files into one?
In my paper I have several tex files, mainly produced by some other tools (.bbl by bibtex, .eps_tex by inkscape etc.).
I would like to combine them into a single tex file as required by my publisher.
...
1
vote
2answers
397 views
Extract document statistics? - How many pages has chapter xy? Count fixmes?
I have a large pdflatex document where each chapter is located in an extra text file and included with \include{chapter3.tex} ...
How can I extract the page numbers of each chapter and write them ...
10
votes
3answers
646 views
Generating a table of glyphs with XeTeX
I am trying to get XeTeX to generate a table of all the possible glyphs of a given font, but can not figure out how to make XeTeX know how many glyphs the font has, so I have to specify an exact ...
4
votes
1answer
132 views
How to avoid duplication of longtable setup code
I have many longtable's in my document. Everything is the same across all the tables, except for the caption and the content (of course). How can I avoid duplicating the stuff required to set up ...
3
votes
1answer
196 views
Auto two column mode
I'm trying to create songbook document class. Every song is on its own page. I want to achieve that if the song is regular sized (fits to one page in one column) the song's page is one column, but if ...
9
votes
2answers
1k views
Replacement for MiKTeX's texify in TeX Live
I used to use the texify command in MiKTeX on Windows.
I would, for example, run a command like:
texify --pdf --run-viewer file.tex
which, as I understand it, would produce a pdf, automatically ...
1
vote
1answer
250 views
Automation of generating pstricks graphics with texclipse before pdf generation
When using eclipse with pdflatex I want it to create the pstricks Images automatically. The classical way (without eclipse or texlipse) would be:
latex test.tex
dvips -o test-pics.ps test.dvi
ps2pdf ...
2
votes
1answer
1k views
How to generate LaTeX documents with Perl
I have to generate Software Requirement Specification documents in LaTeX. I have to use Perl to accomplish this. The documents consist of tables, lists, pictures, TOC, table of figures, headings and ...
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 ...
2
votes
1answer
497 views
Macro for tabbing with complex line breaks (or similar environment)
I have a complicated transcription with mid-line aligned text. I've been using tabbing to do it automatically, but it obviously doesn't do line breaks.
I want to write a macro (unless something ...
15
votes
2answers
524 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 ...
5
votes
1answer
988 views
How to use kile with feynmf or feynmp?
Does somebody know how to teach kile to automatically do the additional steps for compiling Latex documents that contain Feynman diagrams produced with feynmf or feynmp?
For what I know I have to ...
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 ...
16
votes
2answers
548 views
Is there any package to automatically select font size and margins to optimize pages?
Suppose I am preparing multi-page handouts using LaTeX.
I don't care much about the font and margins size (while they are reasonable), but I would like all the pages to be filled, ie. avoid the ...
2
votes
1answer
3k views
Auto-fit table column widths based on content
Is there any solution in LaTeX tables that implements similar functionality to MSWord's AutoFit?
4
votes
3answers
679 views
Automatically start the necessary pdflatex runs if .tex has changed (MacOS X)?
I read about Latex Daemon, which seems to automatically start a new latex run, when the source document (.tex) has changed.
Can somebody recommend me a similar solution for MacOS X (as Latex daemon ...
3
votes
1answer
421 views
Bibtex fails without citations… (test for citations? or invisible dummy cite)
I have a LaTeX folder where I use the same makefile and preamble for building either a part of the report or the entire report. This is achieved by a hack in the makefile where I substitute the file ...
9
votes
2answers
727 views
Is there a tool/script available to simply install packages locally?
This question is not on how to manually install packages but how to install packages automatically via script. This question is not about MikTeX or the limited tex package management in certain linux ...
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}
...
12
votes
2answers
603 views
Automatically Locate Included Images
Do you think it's possible to include images into LaTeX without specifying the exact path to them. So instead of:
\includegraphics{path/to/image/myfig.pdf}
It would be:
\includegraphics{myfig.pdf}
...
4
votes
2answers
233 views
Automate width determination for included graphics
For including graphics such as Matlab plots, I use \includegraphics from the graphicx package. Every time, I have to decide on some width and pass e.g. [width=180mm] to the inclusion command. This ...
14
votes
1answer
1k 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.
...
4
votes
2answers
2k views
Where to put a custom macros file?
I have a bunch of common commands I put in document preambles. I don't always use them all, but it makes the preamble too long for my tastes.
I want to put them all in an external file (preferably in ...
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. ...
4
votes
2answers
142 views
Command to display free-text answers from a survey, eliminating ascii control chars
I'd like to create a report from a survey with free-text answers that is collected in a database. For each question there are typically many answers which I could present in an itemize environment, ...
7
votes
1answer
384 views
Auto-generating a small book?
I'm considering a dive into TeX, but first want to determine if it makes sense for my particular project. I've inherited responsibility for a roster book with names, addresses, etc. for a club with ...
2
votes
2answers
105 views
Automatically Adding Potentially Referenced Macros From Auxillary File
In this question someone asked if there was any way to eliminate user defined macros from a TeX document and replace them with the appropriate primitives. The answer seemed to be that while some ...
11
votes
4answers
691 views
Can small-caps be automated for abbreviations and acronyms?
Is there a way to force LaTeX to automatically use small-caps for abbreviations and acronyms (or more specifically, strings of two or more uppercase letters)?
2
votes
1answer
1k views
How to include all files within a directory relative to the edited *.tex-file?
I am writing my reports which need to reference complete *.java files with latex.
I am using the Texlipse Eclipse plugin to do the editing.
Right now I am referencing the complete path to each ...
7
votes
1answer
387 views
A tool for creating bibtex entries from MARC tags?
My library provides citation information for books in several formats, but not as bibtex entries. One standard format is the so-called MARC manual tags, which are human incomprehensible, but at least ...
18
votes
2answers
324 views
How to compute the remaining space on the current page
Is there a way to compute the remaining space on the current page and issue an optional command?
5
votes
2answers
3k views
Automatic missing package download on the Mac
Is there a LaTeX distribution for the Mac which has or comes close to MiKTeX's ability to download missing packages automatically?
20
votes
2answers
2k views
Intelligent paragraph reflowing in vim?
I'm not sure whether this is an appropriate question for tex.SE. If you think questions like this should not be asked here, please voice you concern. If necessary I'll open a question on meta.
For ...
3
votes
1answer
192 views
is there an unlog.sh script for pdflatex?
I'm tired of manually creating the tarfiles I need for uploading articles to the arxiv.
The process involves creating a tarfile of all the (non-standard) source files. So naturally it needs the .tex ...
23
votes
10answers
3k views
Passing parameters to a document
I compile most of my documents via Makefiles which take care of the bibliography, indexes, etc. Often I'd like to compile different versions from the same TeX file changing only small things (e.g. a ...
20
votes
4answers
3k views
Script to automate externalizing tikz graphics
Is there a script to automate externalizing tikz graphics?
(As suggested by Scott here)
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 ...
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 ...
10
votes
6answers
2k views
Is there an automatic process to create index creation?
Certainly, there must be some way to somewhat create a list of words suggested to be included in an index.
16
votes
2answers
361 views
Automatically numbering constants
I would like to somehow use LaTeX to automatically number constants.
Some background
As a mathematician, in my daily work there are a lot of throw-away constants which are not extremely important ...
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 ...
75
votes
22answers
5k views
Tools for automating document compilation
A lot of people write makefiles that say something like
paper.pdf: paper.tex
pdflatex paper
bibtex paper
pdflatex paper
pdflatex paper
To handle re-running TeX to ...
