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Manual for Tex2RTF 1.34: A aL TE X to RTF and HTML converter ____________________________________________________________________ Julian Smart Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute University of Edinburgh EH1 1HN March 1994 Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute University of Edinburgh 80 South Bridge EH1 1HN Tel. 031-650-2746 Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Status of Tex2RTF : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 1 1.2 Why use LaTEX? : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 1 1.3 Help versus the printed page : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 2 1.4 Output Formats : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 2 1.5 What compromises must I make? : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 3 1.6 Changes to LaTEX syntax : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 4 1.6.1 Space : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 4 1.6.2 Command arguments : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 4 1.6.3 Avoid the setlength macro : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 5 1.6.4 Units : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : * * 5 1.6.5 Labels : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : * * 5 1.6.6 Tables : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : * * 5 1.7 Tex2RTF change log : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 5 2 Hypertext features 8 3 Special sections 9 3.1 Bibliography : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :* * 9 3.2 Glossary : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : * *: 9 3.3 Index : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : * *: 9 4 Running Tex2RTF 10 4.1 Command line arguments : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 10 4.2 Initialisation file syntax : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : * *: 11 4.2.1 Tex2RTF options : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 11 i ________________________________________________________CONTENTS____ 5 Tex2RTF for non-LaTEX users 13 5.1 What is LaTEX? : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : * *13 5.2 Document structure : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 14 5.3 Command syntax : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 14 5.4 Space : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : * *: 15 6 Macro reference 16 6.1 Commands : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 16 6.2 Accents : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :* * 36 7 Bugs and troubleshooting 37 7.1 Bugs : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : * *: 37 7.2 Troubleshooting : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : * *37 7.2.1 Macro not found : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 37 7.2.2 Unresolved reference : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 38 7.2.3 Output crashes the RTF reader : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 38 7.2.4 Erratic list indentation : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 38 7.2.5 Missing figure or section reference : : : : : : : : : : : : : 38 7.2.6 Unresolved references in Word for Windows : : : : : : : : 39 Bibliography 40 Glossary 41 ii Copyright notice Copyright (c) 1993 Julian Smart. Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documen- tation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice, author statement and this permission notice appear in all copies of this software and related documentation. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS-IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITH- OUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FIT- NESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL JULIAN SMART OR THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLI- GENCE APPLICATIONS INSTITUTE OR UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR CONSE- QUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSO- EVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER OR NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGE, AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. iii 1. Introduction ____________________________________________________________________ This document describes a utility for converting LaTEX files into several other formats, and the C++ library which the converters rely on for parsing and other services. Only a subset of LaTEX can be processed by this utility, especially since the t* *arget document language will never perfectly match LaTEX. Whether the quality of the results is good enough will depend upon the application and your own expectations. Tex2RTF is heavily biased towards making on-line, hypertext versions of LaTEX documents, but the RTF converter can be used for normal, linear documents too. The latest version of Tex2RTF can be accessed by anonymous ftp from: skye.aiai.ed.ac.uk (192.41.104.6) in the directory /pub/tex2rtf. It is available in SPARC Open Look and Windows 3.1 versions. Tex2RTF was developed using the free Open Look, Motif and Windows 3.1 C++ class library wxWindows, also available from the above FTP site in the /pub/wxwin/beta directory. 1.1 Status of Tex2RTF Tex2RTF is under continual development, often following users' suggestions. From version 1.33, Tex2RTF is effectively in a second phase of development. In addition to the bare minimum of syntax and facilities for producing useable help systems or linear RTF, commands are being added to allow visually effective, even aesthetically pleasing, documentation to be produced. Examples are the indented, twocollist and marginpar commands; over time I hope to be able to reproduce most of the popular styles of formatting and presentation in Windows Help files, whilst allowing a reasonable equivalent to be generated in the other formats. 1.2 Why use LaTEX? LaTEX happens to be a very convenient format if you need to produce documents (such as manuals, help facilities, up-to-date information) in both printed and on-line media. Being a language rather than a WYSIWYG system, it allows explicit specification of layout and document structure, lending itself well to 1 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_1___ hypertext applications and automatic document generation. Many people also prefer to use LaTEX for ordinary use since it encourages a logical document structure and the user is not distracted by having to perfect the appearance; many layout decisions are taken by LaTEX automatically. Although LaTEX is not as fancy as modern word processors and desk-top pub- lishing packages, it is for many purposes quite adequate, and sometimes more flexible than its modern counterparts. The conversion utility gives LaTEX a new lease of life by allowing virtually all other wordprocessor formats to be generated from documents containing a rea- sonable subset of LaTEX syntax. From the same LaTEX sources, we can now generate printed manuals, Windows Help files, wxHelp files, RTF-compatible word processor formats such as MS Word, and HTML files for use in the World Wide Web. Since the conversion tool is free, as are LaTEX, HTML viewers, wx- Help and (effectively) Windows Help, there are no financial or time penalties for providing documentation in a wide range of printed and hypertext formats. 1.3 Help versus the printed page The purist may argue, quite rightly, that on-line help systems and printed man- uals have different characteristics; help windows tend to be much smaller than pages, help topics should be more stand-alone than pages in a manual, naviga- tion methods are very different, etc. Therefore, help systems should be based on printed documentation but separately hand-crafted into hypertext help, prefer- ably by an independent person or team. This might be the ideal, but many organisations or individuals simply do not have the time: on-line help wouldn't get done if the documentation effort had to be doubled. However, Tex2RTF does provide some commands to allow tailoring the docmentation to printed or on-line form, such as helponly and helpignore. An awareness of the design issues should go a long way to making the compromise a good one, so a book such as [1] is highly recommended. 1.4 Output Formats At present the following output formats are supported: o RTF (Rich Text Format). This is the most well developed converter. RTF is commonly used as a document exchange format amongst Windows- based applications, and is the input for the Windows Help Compiler. Tex2RTF supports both linear documents and Windows Help hypertext format. o wxHelp. This is the platform-independent help system for the class li- brary wxWindows [5]. It can display ASCII files with embedded codes for changing font styles, but no formatting is done by wxHelp. o HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). This an SGML-like format com- monly used by documents in the World Wide Web distributed hypertext system, and formats text dynamically rather like Windows Help. 2 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_1___ 1.5 What compromises must I make? As a LaTEX user, you need to be aware that some macros or facilities don't transfer to other formats, either because they are not supported by the target format or because the converter does not support them. Maths formatting is a good example of an unsupported feature. Sometimes LaTEX facilities must be accessed in a slightly different way to supp* *ort the variety of formats, particularly hypertext formats where LaTEX references are often replaced by hypertext jumps (but must still look right in printed documentation). Tables don't transfer well to RTF (and not at all to the other formats) but an attempt is made to approximate tables so long as special row macros are used, instead of the usual end of row delimiter. Bibliographies are handled quite well since the utilities can read in .bib files and resolve citations. Numbers are used in citations; the references are not yet sorted alphabetically. Pictures are handled in a limited way: if the PSBOX macro package is used, an image macro can be used to place Encapsulated PostScript files in LaTEX, and Windows RGB-encoded bitmap files or placeable metafiles when converting to RTF. Nested file inclusion (input, include, verbatiminput), is handled, and the com- ment environment is supported. However, using input to include macro packages is not advisable. If you do this, make sure you add a line in the Tex2RTF ini- tialisation file to ignore this file, unless it's a simple LaTEX file that conf* *orms to Tex2RTF restrictions. The file psbox.tex is the only file ignored by Tex2RTF by default. Because of the way LaTEX is parsed, some syntax has to conform to a few simple rules. Macros such as bf and it need to occur immediately after a left brace, and have a block of their own, since the text within their scope is regarded as its argument. This syntax means the same thing as using begin ... end, which is usually a one argument macro (the argument is the text between the begin and end). See Space (section 1.6.1) . As a Windows hypertext help writer, you don't have access to all RTF com- mands but you'll be able to get most of what you want. In particular, any LaTEX document you write will automatically be a hypertext document, because the converter takes advantage of the hierarchy of sections. Further jumps can be placed using the commands label, helpref, helprefn, and popref. Tex2RTF outputs help files that may be read linearly using the << and >> buttons, and an additonal Up button for ease of navigation. When writing HTML, multiple files are generated from one LaTEX file since browsing HTML works best with many small files rather than a few large ones. wxHelp files are least well supported since there is no formatting support, only font style, sizes and colours. Still, some hypertext help support on UNIX/X platforms is better than none. The class library wxWindows may be extended in future to allow using a better help viewer, such as xmosaic. Of course there* * is nothing to stop xmosaic being used as a help system, but it won't be integrated with wxWindows programs as wxHelp is. 3 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_1___ Sometimes you will use a local macro package that is unrecognised by the con- verters. In this case, you may define a custom macro file where macros are defined in terms of supported LaTEX commands and text. Even if the result is not the same as in LaTEX, you can probably end up with something adequate, and at least avoid undefined macro errors. See Initialisation file syntax (sec- tion 4.2) for further information. 1.6 Changes to LaTEX syntax Here are the conventions you need to observe to satisfy the Tex2RTF parser. 1.6.1 Space Tex2RTF attempts to insert spaces where LaTEX assumes whitespace. However, for the benefit of RTF conversion, you need to use the \rtfsp macro where a command or brace within a paragraph begins or ends with a macro. For example: Within a paragraph, you need to be careful about commands that begin "rtfsp -"it at the start" of a line. As normal with LaTEX, two newlines represents a paragraph break, although par can also be used at the end of a paragraph. You need to have a blank line between section and some environment commands and the first paragraph or your document will look rather weird, e.g. headings running into paragraphs. wxHelp is more fussy than LaTEX or RTF: you need to use percent characters at line ends liberally to eliminate newlines after commands on single lines. 1.6.2 Command arguments Commands that have one or more arguments can be used in the following three ways: "bf-Some text." "begin-bf" Some text. "end-bf" -"bf Some text." The first method is a normal LaTEX command. The second method is called an environment; LaTEX has specific environments that do not always correspond to normal commands, but Tex2RTF recognizes environments and normal commands interchangeably, so long as the command has no more than two arguments. With the third method, it is important that the command has its own pair of braces, and that the command immediately follows the first brace. Otherwise, the parser cannot parse the argument(s) properly. With multiple arguments, 4 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_1___ each should be enclosed in braces. Optional arguments are specified using square brackets or parentheses. Whitespace should be avoided between command names and their arguments. 1.6.3 Avoid the setlength macro Using the \setlength command doesn't work, since its first argument looks like a macro with the wrong number of arguments. Use an alternative form instead, e.g. "parindent 0pt instead of "setlength-"parindent"-0pt" 1.6.4 Units Only a subset of LaTEX units may be used for specifying dimensions. Valid units are pt, mm, cm and in. Units should usually be specified for dimensions or the results may be unexpected. 1.6.5 Labels The label command may be used for sections and figure captions, but must come immediately after the section or caption commands with no intervening whitespace. 1.6.6 Tables For best layout, table rows should be enclosed in a row or ruledrow command, since Tex2RTF can't cope with parsing the LaTEX tabular syntax unaided. How- ever, if you really don't want to go through LaTEX files inserting new syntax, set the compatibility flag to TRUE in your tex2rtf.ini file. In this mode, Tex2RTF tries to make the best of a bad job, but the results won't be optimal (e.g., no table borders). Without this flag set, normal LaTEX tables can crash RTF readers such as Word for Windows. 1.7 Tex2RTF change log Changes in version 1.34: o Added multicolumn `support' to stop RTF readers crashing. o Added useWord, defaultColumnWidth, compatibility options to .ini file. o comment environment now doesn't complain about unknown syntax. o Added toocomplex environment that treats its contents as verbatim in output, treated as normal output in true LaTEX. o End-of-line comments allowed in in .ini files, using semicolon, percent or hash characters to denote a comment. 5 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_1___ o For linear RTF, Word for Windows support for printindex, index, pageref, listoftables, listoffigures, contents page. o Added RTF support for various symbols. o Added colour support, with definecolour, fcol and bcol commands. o Fixed some bugs: page numbering problems, macros deleted after first pass. Changes in version 1.33: o Added -charset command-line switch. o Added itemsep, twocolumn, onecolumn, setfooter, setheader, pagestyle, pagenumbering, thechapter, thesection, thepage, thebibliography, bibitem commands. o New environment called twocollist for making two-column lists, with for- matting optimized for target file format. o New indented environment for controlling indentation. o List indentation and bulleting improved. o Added commands normalbox, normalboxd for putting borders around text. o Many options can now be specified in the .ini file along with custom macros. o Cured bug that put too much vertical space after some commands. o Improved table formatting. o Optional `Up' button in WinHelp files for easier navigation. o Verbatim lines followed by par in RTF, to improve WinHelp wrapping. o Conversion may now be aborted under Windows by attempting to close the application. o Added conditional output for all formats: latexignore, latexonly, rtfig- nore, rtfonly, winhelpignore, winhelponly, htmlignore, htmlonly, xlpignore, xlponly. o HTML generator can now add Contents, Up, << and >> buttons (text or bitmap) to each page except titlepage. Changes in version 1.32: o footnote command now supported in WinHelp RTF, and footnotepopup added. Changes in version 1.31: o footnote command now supported, in linear RTF only. o Added -bufsize option, for converting large documents. Changes in version 1.30: o image command now scales metafiles (but not bitmaps). 6 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_1___ o Fixed macro loading bug, now informs the user of the found macro file- name. o Now supports paragraph and subparagraph commands. o Support for some accents added. o verb command now supported. o Bug in subsubsection handling fixed. o Can save conversion log in a text file. Changes in version 1.22: o More informative, warns against use of some commands. o Added compile-time support for non-GUI environments (such as plain UNIX). o Improved HTML support. 7 2. Hypertext features ____________________________________________________________________ LaTEX is inherently suitable for specifying hypertext documents since it encour- ages description of the logical structure of a document using section commands. Therefore, a LaTEX document is automatically a hypertext document, without any further editing. For Windows Help, a single RTF file is generated with topics corresponding to sections. A top level contents page shows each chapter or top-level section, and each chapter or section ends with a list of further sections or subsections. Tex2RTF outputs help files that may be read linearly using the << and >> buttons. Similarly, a single wxHelp XLP file is generated. For HTML, a different file is generated for each section, since the XMOSAIC browser works best with a large number of small files. The files are named automatically based on the name of the output file, with the contents page filename being formed from the output filename with _contents appended to the name. This may result in the generation of several hundred files for a large LaTEX input file. To specify explicit jumps around a hypertext file, the helpref macro is used. The first argument is the text to be displayed at the point of reference, which will be highlighted in a hypertext file to allow jumping to a reference. The second argument is the reference label (there should be a corresponding label command in the file, following a section or figure). To use extra Tex2RTF features in proper LaTEX, such as helpref and the C++ and CLIPS class reference documentation features, include the style file texhelp.sty. 8 3. Special sections ____________________________________________________________________ The treatment of bibliography, glossary and index are worth special mention. 3.1 Bibliography Tex2RTF recognises standard LaTEX bibliography files (usually with .bib exten- sion) and resolves citations. The bibliography command reads the given .bib file and includes a list of references at that point in the input. Only numbere* *d, unsorted references are catered for at the moment, with no variation in bibli- ography style. A References heading is placed in the contents section. Note that Tex2RTF must be run twice to ensure the citations are resolved properly. Tex2RTF can also cope with the thebibliography environment, with bibitem commands, so long as the text following the first bibitem argument is enclosed in braces as if it were a second argument. 3.2 Glossary Glossaries are formatted according to the following scheme. The helpglossary environment is used together with the gloss command for glossary entries. In LaTEX this is interpreted as a description list, and each glossary entry is an * *item. In on-line help, each glossary entry is a section. A labelled glossary entry command may be referenced by popref to provide a quick popup explanation of a term. 3.3 Index The explicit index is assumed to be redundant in on-line help, since search facilities are provided. Therefore the printindex command does nothing in on- line versions. In linear RTF an index field is added, and index marks words for inserting in the index. In Windows Help, all section headings and C++ function names are treated as keywords. A keyword may be ambiguous, that is, refer to more than one section in the help file. This automatic indexing may not always be adequate, so the LaTEX index command may be used to add keywords. In wxHelp, all section headings are indexed. 9 4. Running Tex2RTF ____________________________________________________________________ Tex2RTF may be run in a number of ways: with or without command line arguments, interactively or in batch mode, and with an optional initialisation file for specifying LaTEX macros and detailed options. Tex2RTF accepts two arguments (input and output filenames) and trailing (op- tional) switches. If both filenames are given, the utility will work in batch mode. Otherwise, if Tex2RTF has been compiled for GUI operation, a main window will be shown, with appropriate menu items for selecting input and output filenames, starting off the conversion process, and so on. Note that if the file bullet.bmp is found by Tex2RTF, this bitmap will be used as the bullet for items in itemize lists, for WinHelp output. Otherwise, a symb* *ol will be inserted (linear RTF) or bold `o' will be used instead (all other forma* *ts). Syntax error reporting is fairly minimal. Unrecognised macro errors may ac- tually be produced by an unbalanced brace or passing the wrong number of arguments to a macro, so look in the vicinity of the error for the real cause. It is recommended that you run Tex2RTF twice in order to be sure of of resolving all references and including an up-to-date contents page. If importing RTF files into Word for Windows, you may need to reformat the document. The easiest way to do this is to select all text with CTRL-A, then reformat with F9. Reformat again to ensure all references are resolved. For the second format, respond with Update Entire Table to prompts. 4.1 Command line arguments These are the optional arguments you may give Tex2RTF on the command line. -bufsizeSpecifies buffer size in K (default 60 under Windows, 500 under UNIX). Large files (particularly large verbatim environments) may require a large buffer size, equal to the largest argument of a LaTEX command. Note that this value may not be larger than 64 under Windows. -html Specifies HTML (World Wide Web) output. -interactiveForces interactive mode even if both filenames are given. -charset charsetSpecifies a character set for RTF production. This can be one of ansi, mac, pc, and pca. The default is ansi. -macros filename Specifies a file for the custom macro file - see Macro not found error (section 7.2.1) . 10 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_4___ -rtfSpecifies linear RTF output. -sync Forces synchronous mode (no yielding to other processes) - usually use this in non-interactive mode. -twiceTells Tex2RTF to run the conversion twice to ensure all references and citations are resolved and the contents page included. -winhelp Specifies Windows Help RTF output. 4.2 Initialisation file syntax The initialisation file contains further detailed options for customising Tex2R* *TF's behaviour. A file may be specified with the -macros command line switch, oth- erwise Tex2RTF looks for the file tex2rtf.ini in the working directory or input file directory. The file may comprise macro definitions or option settings. The syntax for a macro definition is: "name [number of args] -...LaTeX code..." For example: "crazy [2]--"bf #2" is crazy but #1 is not" "something [0]-" "julian [0]-Julian Smart" The syntax for an option setting is: name = value or name = "value" For example: conversionMode = RTF runTwice = true titleFontSize = 12 authorFontSize = 10 headerRule = yes footerRule = yes Options expecting boolean values accept 1, 0, true, false, yes, no in any com- bination of upper or lower case. End-of-line comments are allowed in an initialisation file, using the hash, sem* *i- colon or percent signs to denote the start of a comment, which runs until the end of the line. 4.2.1 Tex2RTF options These are the allowable options in an initialisation file. 11 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_4___ Option Description _______________________________________________________________________ compatibility Set to true for maximum LaTEX compatibility, e.g. if tables crash RTF readers. Should be false (default) if the Tex2RTF guidelines are followed, e.g. use of row command in tabular environment. conversionMode One of RTF, WinHelp, XLP (or wxHelp), and HTML. documentFontSize One of 10, 11 and 12, to specify the main font size in- dependently of the LaTEX document style command. chapterFontSize Specifies the point size for chapter headings (RTF only). sectionFontSize Specifies the point size for section headings (RTF only). subsectionFontSize Specifies the point size for subsection headings (RTF only). titleFontSize Specifies the point size for the title (RTF only). authorFontSize Specifies the point size for the author and date (RTF only). ignoreInput Adds the filename to the list of files ignored by the in- put command. The only default filename in the list is psbox.tex. mirrorMargins If true, margins are mirrored in twosided documents (linear RTF only). runTwice If true, runs the converter twice. isInteractive If true, runs in interactive mode (the default). headerRule If true, draws a rule below headers (linear RTF only). footerRule If true, draws a rule above footers (linear RTF only). listLabelIndent Specifies the size of list item label indentation, in poi* *nts. The default is 18. listItemIndent Specifies the size of list item indentation, in points. T* *he default is 40. indexSubsections If true (the default), subsection and subsubsection titles are indexed in RTF mode. useWord If true (the default), Word for Windows RTF formatting is used where possibly, e.g. for the table of contents, l* *ist of tables, and list of figures. useHeadingStyles If true (the default), sections are marked with1appropri-2 ate heading styles for generating the table of contents in RTF. useUpButton If true (the default), WinHelp files will be generated with an Up button to make browsing easier. Note that you need to put an extra line in the CONFIG section of your .HPJ file: CreateButton("Up", "&Up", "JumpId(`name.hlp', `Contents')") where name.hlp is the name of your help file. htmlBrowseButtons Allows generation of Contents, Up, browse back and browse forward buttons on each HTML page except ti- tle page. Specify none, text or bitmap. If you spec- ify bitmap, make sure that the files contents.gif, up.gif, back.gif and forward.gif are in the directory where the HTML files will reside: samples are given in the docs directory. defaultColumnWidth The width in points for columns in tables where the width of the column is not set by using p in the tabular argument. The default is 100. 5. Tex2RTF for non-LaTEX users ____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to have LaTEX installed to use Tex2RTF. You can still output RTF files to be imported into your favourite word processor, and hypertext files for on-line help. This chapter gives a very brief introduction to LaTEX. For further information, Kopka and Daly's A Guide to LaTEX [2] is recommended. 5.1 What is LaTEX? LaTEX is a macro package built on top of the typesetting package, TEX. TEX was written by Donald Knuth in the 1970s, and Leslie Lamport wrote LaTEX as a higher-level, easier way to write TEX. TEX was quite advanced for its day, and is still used (particularly by academic* *s) because of its free availability and its flexibility in typesetting maths and o* *ther symbols. It's more like a programming language than a word processor, with embedded commands prefixed by a backslash and block structure. Like pro- grams, TEX documents are processed by a `compiler', outputting a .dvi file, which is a device independent file which can be read by many converters for output onto physical devices, such as screens and printers. A reason for its longevity is the ability to add facilities to TEX, using macro packages that define new commands. LaTEX is the most popular way to write TEX. Although WYSIWYG word pro- cessors and DTP packages are outstripping LaTEX, the increasing interest in hypertext and mark-up languages makes LaTEX relevant as a similar language to SGML documents (such as World Wide Web HTML files). Also, languages such as LaTEX (and Rich Text Format, which it resembles in many ways) are complementary to WYSIWYG packages. These languages allow automatic production and translation of documents, where manual mark-up is impractical or undesirable. Since the source code of TEX and LaTEX is in the public domain, there are many free and commercial implementations of LaTEX for almost every computer in existance. Of PC implementations, EmTeX is arguably the best and most complete. You can download it from various FTP sites. If you don't want to use LaTEX itself, you may wish to use a program called lacheck to check your documents before using Tex2RTF, since it catches some mistakes that Tex2RTF doesn't. 13 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_5___ 5.2 Document structure Here is a sample of a typical LaTEX document: "documentstyle[a4,texhelp]-report" "title-A title" "author-Julian Smart" "date-October 1993" "begin-document" "maketitle "chapter-Introduction" ... "section-A section" ... "end-document" The first line is always a documentstyle command. The square brackets enclose optional style files (suffix .sty) that alter the appearance of the document or provide new commands, and the curly brackets enclose the mandatory style, in this case `report'. Before the document begins properly with \begin{document}, you can write various commands that have an effect on the appearance of the document or define title page information. The maketitle command writes the title page using information defined previously (title, author, date). A report has chapters, which are divided into sections, and can be further divided into subsections and subsubsections. To start a new section, you write the appropriate section command with the section heading; there is no specific end section command, since a new section heading or the end of the document will indicate the end of the previous section. An article is divided into sections, subsections and subsubsections, but has no chapters. This is so an article can be included in a report as a chapter. Tex2RTF is written to deal with reports best, so stick with the report style if you can. 5.3 Command syntax There are several kinds of commands in LaTEX. Most involve a keyword prefixed with a backslash. Here are some examples: "titlepage "centerline-This is a centred line" "begin-center" This is a centred paragraph 14 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_5___ "end-center" -"bf This is bold font" The first example has no arguments. The second has one argument. The third example is an environment which uses the begin and end keywords instead of a pair of braces to enclose an argument (usually one). The fourth is an example of using a command within a pair of braces: the command applies to the scope within the braces. Tex2RTF treats this form as if it were a command with one argument, with the right brace delimiting the argument. In this case, the command must immediately follow a left brace as shown. Commands may be nested, but not overlapped. 5.4 Space In LaTEX, white space is mostly ignored, line breaks make no difference. How- ever, LaTEX interprets two successive newlines (a blank line) as denoting a par* *a- graph break. You may also use the par command to end a paragraph. To be continued! 15 6. Macro reference ____________________________________________________________________ The following lists macros which are recognised by the converters. Other macros not not mentioned can be assumed to be unrecognised or ignored. Each command is listed with its name, the number of arguments it takes (ex- cluding optional arguments), and a description. Note that if the command is used as an environment (using begin and end) then the number of arguments must be either one or two. For example, the tabular environment takes two argu- ments: a first argument for specifying the formatting, and the second argument for the body of the environment. "begin-tabular"-_l_l_" "row-One"-Two" "row-Three"-Four" "end-tabular" 6.1 Commands abstract:1 This standard LaTEX environment prepares an abstract page, and is treated as an ordinary chapter or section in on-line help. addcontentsline:3 Adds a chapter title to the contents page. Linear RTF. Rarely required. author:1 Defines the author, for output when maketitle is used. backslash:0 Outputs a backslash in math mode (should be enclosed by two dollar symbols). bcol:2 Sets the background colour for a block of text (RTF only). Has no known effect in the RTF readers currently tried (Word for Window and Windows Help). See also definecolour, fcol. 16 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ bf:1 Specifies bold font. bibitem:2 For parsing convenience, bibitem requires two arguments: a cite key and item. LaTEX syntax permits writing this as if it were two arguments, even though it is in fact only one. This command is used within a thebibliography envi- ronment. The preferred method is to store references in .bib files and use the bibliography command to generate a bibliography section automatically. bibliographystyle:1 Currently doesn't affect the style of bibliography, but probably will in the fu* *ture. bibliography:0 Includes the bibliography at this point in the document. See the section on bibliographies (section 3.1) . caption:1 Specifies a caption (within a figure environment). This may be followed imme- diately by a label command. cdots:0 Outputs three dots. centerline:1 Centres (or centers!) a line of text. center:1 Centres a block of text. cextract:0 Prints a C++ extraction operator (>>). chapter*:1 Outputs a chapter heading with no contents entry. chapter:1 Outputs a chapter heading. 17 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ chapterheading:1 Like chapter, but does not increment the chapter number and does not print a chapter number in the printed documentation contents page, or in the chapter heading. Used to implement glossaries (section 3.2) and other sections that are not real chapters. cinsert:0 Prints a C++ insertion operator (<<). cite:1 Cite a reference. The argument is a reference key as defined in a LaTEX .bib fi* *le. class:1 Outputs the argument, an index entry (LaTEX only) and a keyword entry (Win- Help only). Used in class reference documentation. clipsfunc:3 Formats a CLIPS function, given the return value, function name, and argu- ments. comment:1 An environment that allows large comments in LaTEX files: the argument is ignored in all formats. Useful for commenting out parts of files that cannot be handled by LaTEX, such as the picture environment. See also toocomplex. copyright:0 Outputs the copyright symbol. cparam:2 Formats a CLIPS type and argument. Used within the third argument of a clipsfunc command. date:1 Specifies the date of a document; only output by maketitle. definecolour:4 Defines a new colour that can be used in the document (RTF only). This command can also be spelt definecolor. The first argument is the lower-case name of the colour, and the following three 18 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ arguments specify the red, green and blue intensities, in the range 0 to 255. The default colours are equivalent to the following definitions: "definecolour-black"-0"-0"-0" "definecolour-cyan"-0"-255"-255" "definecolour-green"-0"-255"-0" "definecolour-magenta"-255"-0"-255" "definecolour-red"-255"-0"-0" "definecolour-yellow"-255"-255"-0" "definecolour-white"-255"-255"-255" To use colours in a document, use the fcol and bcol commands. Note that a document that defines its own colours should be converted twice within the same Tex2RTF session. description:1 A list environment, where each item command must be followed by optional square-bracketed text which will be highlighted. documentstyle:1 Specifies the main style (report, article etc.) and, optionally, style files su* *ch as texhelp.sty. A report has chapters, while an article's top-level sections are specified using section. document:1 This environment should enclose the body of a document. em:1 Emphasizes text (italic in RTF). enumerate:1 Enumerate list environment: numbers the items. fcol:2 Sets the foreground colour for a block of text (RTF only). For example: This sentence is brightened up by some "fcol-red"-red text". gives: This sentence is brightened up by some . See also definecolour, bcol. 19 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ figure:1 A figure enviroment: does nothin in RTF. flushleft:1 Flushes the given text to the left margin. flushright:1 Flushes the given text to the right margin. footnote:1 In linear RTF, a footnote is created. Whether this appears at the end of the section or the bottom of the page appears to depend on the current document style, at least for MS Word 6.0 for Windows. The default seems to be to put the footnotes at the end of the section, which is probably not the best assumption. In WinHelp RTF, a bracketed number is generated for the footnote and the footnote becomes a popup topic. It is probably preferable to change footnote commands to footnotepopup (section 6.1) , or popref (section 6.1) references to glossary entries. This command is not supported for formats other than LaTEX, linear RTF and WinHelp RTF. footnotepopup:2 In linear RTF, a footnote is created following the first argument, as with foot- note (section 6.1) . In WinHelp RTF, a the first argument is highlighted and becomes a popup reference to the second argument. See also footnote (section 6.1) and popref (section 6.1) . This command is not supported for formats other than LaTEX, linear RTF and WinHelp RTF. functionsection:1 Defines a subsection, adding the C++ function name to the LaTEX index or the WinHelp keyword list. Should be followed by a func command to specify function details. func:3 Defines a C++ function, given the return type, function name, and parameter list. Should occur after a functionsection command. 20 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ gloss:1 Marks a glossary entry. In LaTEX, this is a synonym for an item with an optional argument, within a description environment, and the argument is added to the index. In Windows Help, this is identical to a section* in a report. If labels are associated with the glossary entries, they can be referenced by helpref (section 6.1) or popref (section 6.1) jumps. A glossary entry is currently the only type of destination that popref may refer to. This is an example of making a glossary in a report: "begin-helpglossary" "gloss-API""label-api" Application Programmer's Interface - a set of calls and classes defining how a library (in this case, wxWindows) can be used. "gloss-Canvas""label-canvas" A canvas in XView and wxWindows is a subwindow... "gloss-DDE""label-dde" Dynamic Data Exchange - Microsoft's interprocess communication protocol. wxWindows provides an abstraction of DDE under both Windows and UNIX. "end-helpglossary" helpglossary:1 An environment for making a glossary (not standard LaTEX). See gloss for usage. helpignore:1 Ignores the argument in Tex2RTF generated files, but not LaTEX. helponly:1 Only outputs the argument in Tex2RTF generated files. helpinput:1 Only includes the given file in Tex2RTF generated files. helpfontfamily:1 Specifies the font family for Tex2RTF generated files. The argument may be Swiss or Times. 21 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ helpfontsize:1 Specifies the font size for Tex2RTF generated files. helpref:2 Specifies a jump to a labelled chapter, section, subsection subsubsection or figure. The first argument is text to be highlighted (mouseable in help systems) and the second is the reference label. In linear documents, the section number is given following the text, unless the helprefn command is used instead, where the section number is suppressed. Note that when generating HTML, the label contents is automatically defined, and may be referenced using helpref. helprefn:2 Specifies a jump to a labelled chapter, section, subsection subsubsection or figure. The first argument is text to be highlighted (mouseable in help systems) and the second is the reference label. See helpref for the form where the section number is printed in linear documents. hline:0 Within a tabular environment, draws a horizontal rule below the current row. Note that this does not work in RTF for the last row of a table, in which case the command ruledrow should be used instead. hrule:0 Draws a horizontal line below the current paragraph. For example: This paragraph should have a horizontal rule following it."hrule gives: This_paragraph_should_have_a_horizontal_rule_following_it.__________ htmlignore:1 Ignores the argument in HTML. htmlonly:1 Only outputs the argument in HTML. 22 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ huge:1 Outputs the argument in huge text. Huge:1 Outputs the argument in huger text that huge. HUGE:1 Outputs the argument in huger text that Huge. include:1 Include the given file. The command must not be preceded by any whitespace, and spurious whitespace between elements of the command will also trip up Tex2RTF. indented:2 Environment supplied by Tex2RTF to allow (possibly nested) indentation of LaTEX and RTF text. The first argument is the amount to be indented. For example: "begin-indented"-2cm" This text should be indented by a couple of centimetres. This can be useful to highlight paragraphs. "end-indented" produces: This text should be indented by a couple of centimetres. This can be useful to highlight paragraphs. input:1 Include the given file. The command must not be preceded by any whitespace, and spurious whitespace between elements of the command will also trip up Tex2RTF. itemize:1 Indents each item of a list and precedes with a bullet. If the file bullet.bmp is found by Tex2RTF, this bitmap will be used as the bullet (WinHelp RTF); otherwise, a symbol or bold `o' will be used instead, depending on output forma* *t. Use itemsep to specify the separation between list items. Currently this only works for linear or WinHelp RTF output. If the value is more than zero, an extra paragraph is inserted. 23 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ item:0 Marks an item of a itemize, description or enumerate list. Items within a description environment should have an `optional' argument in square brackets which will be highlighted. itemsep:0 Use this command to specify the separation between list items. Currently this only works for linear or WinHelp RTF output. If the value is zero, no extra paragraph is inserted; if the value is more than zero, an extra paragraph is inserted. image:2 This is translated to a PSBOX macro package psboxto command in LaTEX, the first argument being a sizing command and the second a filename. In HTML mode, the second argument is used to generate a PostScript file reference. In RTF mode, the second argument is tried with first a BMP extension and then a WMF extension to find a suitable Windows bitmap file or placeable metafile. If a suitable file is found, in Windows Help mode a bmc command is inserted into the RTF file with a reference to the file. In linear RTF mode, the bitmap or metafile is converted into hex and inserted into the RTF document. Note that only RGB-encoded Windows bitmaps, or placeable metafiles, are valid for input to Tex2RTF. You can convert a RLE (run length encoded) bitmap file into a (bigger) RGB file using a program such as Paintshop Pro. A place- able metafile has a special header with dimension information. One may be constructed by a wxWindows program by calling the function wxMakeMetafile- Placeable. The Microsoft Windows SDK has a sample program that loads and steps through placeable and ordinary metafiles. Here is an example of using the image command. "begin-figure" $$"image-5cm;0cm"-heart.ps"$$ "caption-My picture""label-piccy" "end-figure" The dollars centre the image in the horizontal plane. The syntax of the first argument to image is taken from syntax used by the psbox package: it allows specification of the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the image. Scaling w* *ill take place for PostScript and metafile images. A value of zero indicates that the image should be scaled in proportion to the non-zero dimension. Zeros for both dimensions will leave the image unscaled in the case of metafiles, or scal* *ed to fit the page in the case of PostScript. 24 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ index:1 In WinHelp mode, adds a keyword to the keyword list for the current topic. This keyword must currently be straight text, with no embedded commands. The conversion process must be run twice (without quitting Tex2RTF inbetween) to resolve the keyword references. it:1 Marks the argument in italic. label:1 Labels the chapter, section, subsection, subsubsection or figure caption with t* *he given label. This must be an ASCII string, and duplicate items with different case letters are not allowed. The command must follow immediately after the section or caption command, with no intervening whitespace. large:1 Marks the argument in large text. Large:1 Makes the argument display in larger text than large. LARGE:1 Makes the argument display in larger text than Large. LaTeX:0 Outputs the annoying LaTEX upper and lower case name. latexignore:1 Ignores the argument in LaTEX. latexonly:1 Only prints the argument in LaTEX. ldots Outputs three dots. 25 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ maketitle Makes the article or report title by outputting the title, author and optionally date. marginparwidth:1 Specifies the width of a margin paragraph. marginpar:1 Inserts a marginal note. It is best to use the Tex2RTF extensions marginpar- odd and marginpareven for best results. marginpareven:1 Inserts a marginal note on even pages. This is required for RTF generation since it is impossible for Tex2RTF to know in advance which side of paper the marginal note will fall upon, and the text has to be positioned using absolute dimensions. If only one sided output is required, use marginparodd instead. marginparodd:1 Inserts a marginal note on odd pages. This is required for RTF generation since it is impossible for Tex2RTF to know in advance which side of paper the marginal note will fall upon, and the text has to be positioned using absolute dimensions. Also, even if one-sided output is required, this command should be used instead of marginpar because the LaTEX macro allows it to be used just before a para- graph. Normally, if this were done, the marginal note would not be aligned with the paragraph succeeding it. For example: "marginparodd--"it Note:" if nothing happens, perhaps you have not plugged your computer in at the mains."% To start using your WhizzyGig Computer 4001, push the Power button and wait for some kind of response. Note the percent sign after the marginparodd command: without it, LaTEX re- fuses to believe that the following text is part of the same paragraph, and will print the note at the wrong place. You should use textwidth to allow space for marginal notes, and also margin- parwidth to specify the size of the marginal note. In WinHelp, HTML and wxHelp, marginal notes are treated as normal text delineated with horizontal rules above and below. membersection:1 Used when formatting C++ classes to print a subsection for the member name. 26 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ member:1 Used to format a C++ member variable name. multicolumn:3 Used in tabular environment to denote a cell that spans more than one column. Only supplied for compatibility with existing LaTEX files, since all it does in RTF is output the correct number of cell commands, with the multicolumn text squashed into one cell. newcommand:3 Define a new command; arguments are the command, the number of arguments, and the command body. For example: "newcommand-"crazy"[2]--"bf #1" is crazy but -"bf #2" is not." The command must have no whitespace at the start of the line or between the three arguments. New commands may also be defined in the tex2rtf.ini file using slightly dif- ferent syntax (see Macro not found error (section 7.2.1) ). newpage:0 Inserts a page break. nocite:1 Specifies that this reference should appear in the bibliography, but the citati* *on should not appear in the text. See also cite. noindent:0 Sets paragraph indentation to zero. See also parindent. normalbox:1 Draws a box around the given paragraph in LaTEX and RTF. In HTML and XLP formats, horizontal rules are drawn before and after the text. For example: "normalbox-This should be a boxed paragraph for highlighting important information, such as information for registering a shareware program." gives: _____________________________________________________________________ | This should be a boxed paragraph for highlighting important information,such| | as information for registering a shareware program. | |____________________________________________________________________ | 27 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ See also normalboxd for double-bordered text. normalboxd:1 Draws a double border around the given paragraph in LaTEX and RTF. In HTML and XLP formats, horizontal rules are drawn before and after the text. For example: "normalboxd-This should be a boxed paragraph for highlighting important information, such as information for registering a shareware program." gives: ________________________________________________________________________ | This should be a boxed paragraph for highlighting important information,suc* *h| | | || | | as information for registering a shareware program. || |_|____________________________________________________________________||_ See also normalbox for single-bordered text. normalsize:1 Sets the font size back to normal. onecolumn:0 Sets the number of columns to one. LaTEX and linear RTF only. pageref:1 In linear RTF, generates a page reference to the given label. pagestyle:1 If argument is fancyplain or fancy, Tex2RTF separates the header from the rest of the page with a rule. This command must be defined for headers and footers to work properly. See also setheader, setfooter. LaTEX and linear RTF only. pagenumbering:1 The argument may be one of: alph a, b, ... Alph A, B, ... arabic 1, 2, ... roman i, ii, ... Roman I, II, ... LaTEX and linear RTF only. 28 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ paragraph* Behaves as for a subsubsection. paragraph Behaves as for a subsubsection. param:1 Formats a C++ type and argument pair. Should be used within the third argument of a a func command. parindent:1 Indents the first line of succeeding paragraphs by the given amount. parskip:1 Changes the spacing between paragraphs. In fact, in RTF this will cause two par commands to be output if parindent is greater than zero. par:0 Causes the paragraph to end at this point. LaTEX and Tex2RTF also treat two consecutive newlines as a paragraph break. printindex In linear RTF, inserts an index. popref:2 Similar to helprefn, except that in Windows Help, the destination text is popped up in a small window to be dismissed with a mouse click, instead of going to a separate section. Currently this command can only refer to a labelled glossary entry; see gloss. psboxto:2 Identical to image. quote:1 Indents a short quotation. quotation:1 Indents a long quotation. 29 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ ref:1 In LaTEX and linear RTF, refers to a label and causes the number of that section or figure to be printed. rm:1 Causes the argument to be formatted in a plain, roman font. row:1 A Tex2RTF command signifying the row of a table within the tabular envi- ronment. See also ruledrow. ruledrow:1 A Tex2RTF command signifying a ruled row of a table within the tabular environment. See also row. rtfignore:1 Ignores the argument in linear RTF. rtfonly:1 Only outputs the argument in linear RTF. rtfsp:0 Outputs a space in RTF. Tex2RTF tries to insert a space where one is implied by a newline, but cannot cope where a line starts or ends with a command, in the middle of a paragraph. Use this command to insert a space explicitly. sc:1 Prints the output in small capitals. section*:1 Section header, with no entry in the contents page. section:1 Section header, with an entry in the contents page. sectionheading:1 Like section, but does not increment the section number and does not print a section number in the printed documentation contents page, or in the section 30 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ heading. setfooter:6 Tex2RTF has a non-standard way of setting headers and footers, but the default macro definitions in texhelp.sty may be altered to your current method. The arguments are as follows: 1. Left footer, even pages 2. Centre footer, even pages 3. Right footer, even pages 4. Left footer, odd pages 5. Centre footer, odd pages 6. Right footer, odd pages For many documents, the first three arguments will be left empty. The behaviour for first pages of a chapter, section or document is to have a blank header, but print the footer. For best results, define headers and footers for each chapter or section. Note that this command works only for LaTEX and linear RTF. See also set- header. setheader:6 Tex2RTF has a non-standard way of setting headers and footers, but the default macro definitions in texhelp.sty may be altered to your current method. The arguments are as follows: 1. Left header, even pages 2. Centre header, even pages 3. Right header, even pages 4. Left header, odd pages 5. Centre header, odd pages 6. Right header, odd pages For many documents, the first three arguments will be left empty. If pagestyle is not plain or empty, the header will separated from the rest of the page by a rule. The behaviour for first pages of a chapter, section or document is to have a blank header, but print the footer. For best results, define headers and footers for each chapter or section. Note that this command works only for LaTEX and linear RTF. See also set- footer. 31 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ shortcite:1 The same as cite. small:1 Prints the argument in a small font. subparagraph*:1 Behaves as for a subsubsection. subparagraph:1 Behaves as for a subsubsection. subsection*:1 Subsection header, with no entry in the contents page. subsection:1 Subsection header, with an entry in the contents page. subsubsection*:1 Subsubsection header, with no entry in the contents page. subsubsection:1 Subsubsection header, with an entry in the contents page. tabbing:1 Tabbing environment: doesn't work properly in RTF. tableofcontents:0 Inserts the table of contents at this point. In linear RTF mode, a proper Word for Windows table of contents will be inserted unless the variable insertTOC is set to false. tabular:2 Tabular environment: an attempt is made to output something reasonable in RTF format, although currently only simple tables will work. The first argument specifies the column formatting. a pipe symbol (_) denotes a vertical border, one of l, r, c signifies a normal column of default width, and p followed by a dimension specifies a column of given width. It is recommended that the p is 32 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ used since Tex2RTF cannot deduce a column width in the same way that LaTEX can. Horizontal rules are achieved with hline; two together signify a double rule. Use the Tex2RTF row and ruledrow commands for best effect. For two-column tables that work in WinHelp files, use twocollist instead. Example: "begin-tabular"-_l_p-8.5cm"_""hline "row--"bf A.I."&-"bf Simulation"""hline"hline "row-rules&constraints/methods" "row-planning&design of experiments" "row-diagnosis&analysis of results" "ruledrow-learning&detection of connections" "end-tabular" This produces: ____________________________________________________________ |_A.I._____|Simulation______________________________________|_ | rules |constraints/methods | || || || ||planning |design|of experiments || | diagnosis |analysis of results | |_learning__|detection_of_connections_______________________| TeX:0 Outputs the annoying TEX upper and lower case name. textwidth:1 Sets the text width (valid for RTF only). This might be used in conjunction with marginpar, for example, to leave space for marginal notes. thebibliography:1 An environment for specifying the a bibliography as a series of bibitem com- mands; the preferred method is to use .bib files and bibliography instead. title:1 Sets the title, to be output when the command maketitle is used. tiny:1 Prints the argument in a very small font. today:0 Outputs today's date. 33 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ toocomplex:1 An environment for dealing with complex LaTEX commands that Tex2RTF can- not handle. In normal LaTEX, the argument will be output as normal. In Tex2RTF output, the argument will be output as verbatim text, for the user to hand-translate into the desired output format. See also comment. tt:1 Outputs the argument in teletype font. typeout:1 Outputs the text on the Tex2RTF text window. twocolitem:2 Used to specify a row for a two column list, a Tex2RTF extension to optimize two-column lists for different file formats. See twocollist, twocolitemruled. twocolitemruled:2 Used to specify a ruled row for a two column list, a Tex2RTF extension to opti- mize two-column lists for different file formats. See twocollist, twocolitem. twocollist:1 A Tex2RTF environment for specifying a table of two columns, often used in manuals and help files (for example, for listing commands and their meanings). The first column should be one line only, and the second can be an arbitrary number of paragraphs. The reason that a normal tabular environment cannot be used is that WinHelp does not allow borders in table cells, so a different method must be employed if any of the rows are to be ruled. In LaTEX, a table is used to implement this environment. In RTF, indentation is used instead. Use this environment in conjunction with twocolitem and twocolitemruled. To set the widths of the first and second column, use twocolwidtha and twocolwidthb. Example: "htmlignore-"begin-twocollist"" "twocolitemruled--"bf Command""--"bf Description"" "twocolitem-File"-The file menu is used to select various file-related operations, such as saving, loading, exporting, importing, saving as and various other bits and pieces." "twocolitem-Edit"-The Edit menu is used for selection, copying, pasting and various other bits and pieces." "end-twocollist" 34 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ This produces: Command Description _______________________________________________________________ File The file menu is used to select various file-related op- erations, such as saving, loading, exporting, importing, saving as and various other bits and pieces. Edit The Edit menu is used for selection, copying, pasting and various other bits and pieces. twocolwidtha:1 Sets the width of the first column in a two column list to the given dimension. See also twocollist and twocolwidthb. twocolwidthb:1 Sets the width of the second column in a two column list to the given dimension. See also twocollist and twocolwidtha. twocolumn:0 Sets the number of columns to two. LaTEX and linear RTF only. underline:1 Underlines the argument. verbatiminput:1 Include the given file as if it were within a verbatim environment. The com- mand must not be preceded by any whitespace, and spurious whitespace between elements of the command will also trip up Tex2RTF. verbatim:1 Uses a fixed-width font to format the argument without interpreting any LaTEX commands. verb The verb command is like the verbatim (section 6.1) environment, but for small amounts of text. The syntax is: "verb<char><text><char> The character char is used as a delimiter; it may be any character not ocurring in the following text, except asterisk. 35 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_6___ For example, "verb$"thing%^&$ produces "thing%^&. winhelpignore:1 Ignores the argument in WinHelp RTF. winhelponly:1 Only outputs the argument in WinHelp RTF. xlpignore:1 Ignores the argument in XLP mode (wxHelp files). xlponly:1 Only outputs the argument in XLP mode (wxHelp files). 6.2 Accents The following LaTEX accents work for RTF production: o "'-a" produces 'a. Valid for a, e, i, o, u, A, E, I, O, U o "`-a" produces `a. Valid for a, e, i, o, u, y, A, E, I, O, U, Y o "^-a" produces ^a. Valid for a, e, i, o, u, A, E, I, O, U o ""-a" produces "a. Valid for a, n, o, A, N, O o ""-a" produces "a. Valid for a, e, i, o, u, y, A, E, I, O, U, Y o ".-a" produces `a. Valid for a, A 36 7. Bugs and troubleshooting ____________________________________________________________________ 7.1 Bugs Command parsing. If a command is used followed by inappropriate argument syntax, Tex2RTF can crash. This an occur when a command is used in an asterisk form that is only formed in the non-asterisk variety. The non- asterisk form is assumed, which makes the following asterisk trip up the parser. Setlength. Using the \setlength command doesn't work, since its first argu- ment looks like a macro with the wrong number of arguments. Use an al- ternative form instead, e.g. "parindent 0pt instead of "setlength-parinden* *t"-0pt". Newcommand bug. Environments in a command definition confuse Tex2RTF. Use the command form instead (e.g. \flushleft{...} instead of \begin{flush* *left} ... \end{flushleft}. Bibliography. There's no flexibility in the way references are output: I expect I'll get round to doing something better, but only if people tell me they need it! Tables.Tables can't handle all LaTEX syntax, and require the Tex2RTF "row commands for decent formatting. Still, it's better than it was (RTF only). Indexes and glossaries.Not completely supported. Crashes. Crashes may be due to an input file exceeding the fixed-size buffer used for converting command arguments, especially for the verbatim com- mand. Use the -bufsize switch to increase the buffer size. Verbatiminput. Verbatiminput files which do not end with a blank line can trip up following commands. 7.2 Troubleshooting Below are some common problems and possible solutions. 7.2.1 Macro not found This error may indicate that Tex2RTF has not implemented a standard LaTEX macro, or that a local macro package is being used that Tex2RTF does not know about. It can cause spurious secondary errors, such as not recognising the end document command. You can get round this by defining a macro file (default name tex2rtf.ini) containing command definitions, such as: 37 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_7___ "crazy [2]--"bf #2" is crazy but #1 is not" "something [0]-" "julian [0]-Julian Smart" New commands may be defined in LaTEX files, but custom macro files will have to be defined when local style files are being used. See Initialisation file syntax (section 4.2) for further details. The `Macro not found' error can also be caused by a syntax error such as an unbalanced brace or passing the wrong number of arguments to a macro, so look in the vicinity of the reported error for the real cause. Here is one obscure situation that causes this error: "begin-center" -"large-"underline-A""" "end-center" The problem is too many curly brackets. This should be rewritten as: "begin-center" -"large "underline-A"" "end-center" 7.2.2 Unresolved reference References and citations are usually resolved on a second pass of Tex2RTF. If this doesn't work, then a missing label or bibliographical entry is to blame. 7.2.3 Output crashes the RTF reader This could be due to confusing table syntax. Set 'compatibility ' to TRUE in .ini file; also check for end of row characters backslash characters on their o* *wn on a line, and insert correct number of ampersands for the number of columns. E.g. hello & world"" "" becomes hello & world"" &"" 7.2.4 Erratic list indentation Try increasing the value of the variable listItemIndent (default 40 points) to * *give more space between label and following text. A global replace of "item [ to "item[ may also be helpful to remove unnecessary space before the item label. 7.2.5 Missing figure or section reference Ensure all labels directly follow captions or sections (no intervening white sp* *ace). 38 ________________________________________________________CHAPTER_7___ 7.2.6 Unresolved references in Word for Windows If question marks appear instead of numbers for figures and tables, select all (e.g. CTRL-A), then press F9 twice to reformat the document twice. For the second format, respond with Update Entire Table to any prompts. 39 Bibliography [1]Scott Boggan, David Fakas, and Joe Welinske. Developing on-line help for Windows. Sams Publishing, 11711 North College, Carmel, Indiana 46032, USA, 1993. [2]Helmut Kopka and Patrick W. Daly. A Guide to LaTeX. Addison-Wesley, 1993. [3]Katherine Shelly Pfeiffer. Word for Windows Design Companion. Ventana Press, 1994. [4]Gabriel Robins. The ISI grapher: a portable tool for displaying graphs pictorially (isi/rs-87-196). Technical report, University of South Californi* *a, September 1987. [5]Julian Smart. wxWindows 1.50 User Manual. University of Edinburgh, 80 South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1HN, 1993. 40 _________________________________________________________GLOSSARY___ Glossary GUI Graphical User Interface, such as Windows 3 or X. HTML Hypertext Markup Language; an SGML document type, used for pro- viding hypertext information on the World Wide Web, a distributed hy- pertext system on the Internet. LaTEX A typesetting language implemented as a set of TEX macros. It is distin- guished for allowing specification of the document structure, whilst taking care of most layout concerns. It represents the opposite end of the spec- trum from WYSIWYG word processors. Metafile Microsoft Windows-specific object which may contain a restricted set of GDI primitives. It is device independent, since it may be scaled without losing precision, unlike a bitmap. A metafile may exist in a file * *or in memory. wxWindows implements enough metafile functionality to use it to pass graphics to other applications via the clipboard. A placeable metafile is a metafile with a 22-byte header which can be imported into several Windows applications, and is a format used by the Microsoft help compiler. Open Look A specification for a GUI `look and feel', initiated by Sun Mi- crosystems. XView is one toolkit for writing Open Look applications under X, and wxWindows sits on top of XView. RTF Rich Text Format: an interchange format for word processor files, used for importing and exporting formatted documents, and as the input to the Windows Help compiler. wxHelp wxHelp is the hypertext help facility used to provide on-line doc- umentation for UNIX-based wxWindows applications. Under Windows 3.1, Windows Help is used instead. wxWindows wxWindows is a free C++ toolkit for writing applications that are portable across several platforms. Currently these are Motif, Open Look, Windows 3.1 and Windows NT. XView An X toolkit supplied by Sun Microsystems, initially just for porting SunView applications to X, but which has become a popular toolkit in its own right due to its simplicity of use. XView implements Sun's Open Look `look and feel' for X, but is not the only toolkit to do so. 41