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I would like to know what the current best practices are for index generation. What are the best packages/programs to use and which ones to avoid. What are the best ones to use for generating multiple indices?
I know that this kind of a question can generate a variety of responses based upon one's personal opinion. Please share why you like your particular options.
\documentclass{book}
...
\usepackage{makeidx}
\makeindex
...
\begin{document}
...
text\index{abc@{\ty abc}} and other text...
...
\printindex
\end{document}
This should work and, apart from \usepackage instead of an option to \documentstyle has always been the method also in LaTeX209.
Check what the undefined command is, it would be very strange if it were \index.
For multiple indices there is a choice between a few packages:
I wouldn't recommend index that's not as customizable as the last two ones. The advantages of imakeidx over splitidx are that it can compile automatically all indices during the LaTeX run and that it's compatible with idxlayout that extends its customization possibilities. It also supports xindy (as splitidx does). (Disclaimer: I'm one of the authors of imakeidx.)
\ty command. See my comment above.
for multiple indexes look at the packages splitidx or index from the camel bundle,
which I prefer. If you have utf8 characters to sort then give xindy a try, it is more powerful than the old makeindex program
splitidx, but it seemed a little cumbersome to me. I think I had seen index before but never tried it. What are some benefits of index over splitidx?
biblatex (a super package able to address all possibilities with the new engine biber) for indices would be welcome.
index package is that it redefines a bunch of basic tex macros that primarily have nothing to do with index generation, like \markright/\markboth, \addtocontents, \@starttoc, and \raggedbottom/\flushbottom. So be carefull if you use other packages that also mess with these macros.
makeidxoption and\input{XXXX.ind}which, if I understand correctly is a bad/old way of doing things. The old document used commands like\index{xyz}and\index{abcd@{\ty abcd}}. When I include\usepackage{makeidx}then I get an error that the\indexcommand doesn't exist. Are these still the correct way to add index entries?\indexis undefined, as it has a (dummy) definition in the kernel. It's probably some other command that doesn't exist, check the log file. The method is still\usepackage{makeidx}, then\index{...}; the index is printed with\printindex(as it was also in LaTeX209).\makeindexafter\usepackage{makeidx}in the preamble. With documents somewhere in-between LaTeX 2.09 and 2e it might help. (And please give feedback whether this worked.)makeidx.styfile in the directory of TeX files. That was messing things up. Once I removed that file, LaTeX compiles just fine until aftermakeindexis run. Then I get the error (not sure if you'll be able to see the formatting correctly, the line break comes after\ty):! Undefined control sequence. l.23 \item {\ty a10}, \hyperpage{41} ?