Re: Extended description -- complete with sorts and selection

[Giuseppe Bilotta <bourbaki@bigfoot.com>]

The file is available from the URL:

http://digilander.iol.it/bilotta/giuseppe/xdesc.zip

(if not, go to the /bilotta folder, follow the links for Giuseppe
and the for ConTeXt)

Monday, November 12, 2001 Giuseppe Bilotta wrote:

GB> Hello ConTeXt users!

GB> I'm proud to announce the first "real" release of my xdesc
GB> (extended descriptions) module, with selection and multisorting
GB> capabilities. Please find attached the xdesc.zip file, containing:

GB> * a patched texutil.pl; waiting for Hans to provide external
GB>                         module support for texutil, I had to patch
GB>                         support for xdesc right in the main file;
GB>                         rename the texutil.pl you already have as
GB>                         something like texutil.original and
GB>                         replace it with this one.
GB>                         The patch consists only in three routines
GB>                         (look for "patch" in the file to find them)
GB>                         and a couple of lines to trigger them. It
GB>                         doesn't touch any other code. I will
GB>                         discuss with Hans the details for the
GB>                         plug-in interface of TeXUtil, so the next
GB>                         version will probably come in a Perl
GB>                         module rather than a patch ...

GB> * t-xdesc.tex; the module; for those using the previous version
GB>                (that is nobody :->): the interface has slightly
GB>                changed --you don't use angle brackets (<>) to call
GB>                slot values within a template, but the command
GB>                \getslot. Also, the list placement commands have
GB>                changed (see module and example file for further
GB>                details). Put this in the "user" directory in the
GB>                ConTeXt tree and refresh the filename database.

GB> * desc-tst.tex; example test file. (Snippet from the document that
GB>                 originally called for the need of extended
GB>                 descriptions). Put it anywhere and test it.

GB> Known bugs/limitations/todos:

GB> * does not integrate with the ConTeXt multilingual interface
GB> (yet).

GB> * is not the most robust or fast or otherwise optimized code; I
GB> will optimize/make it robust as the need arises *if* I know how to
GB> fix/optimize it.

GB> * object selection in list placement does not (yet) support
GB> by"section" and such.

GB> * I suspect it consumes string space very fast.

GB> * no \start .. \stop pairs are defined (yet). Will probably come
GB> with the multilingual interface.

GB> * not thoroughly tested.

GB> Other comments:

GB> The next version of the epigraph module will very probably be
GB> based on this xdesc module. (I wonder if it's worth writing it,
GB> though: it's not too hard and much more customizable to just say

GB> \defineextendeddescription[epigraph][epigraphs]
GB>                           [author=,year=,source=,
GB>                            whateverotherattributeyouwantforyourepigraphs=,]

GB> and then use it as

GB> \epigraph[author={Donald Arsenau},
GB>           title={post on {\tt comp.text.tex}},
GB>           note={May the 15th, 2001}]
GB> {\quotation{Acrobat} is so named because of the contortions one
GB> must do to get around its bugs.}

GB> Any comments/suggestions/critics/enhancement requests are welcome.

GB> For Hans: I'm pretty sure the code (especially the Perl code) is
GB> independent (or "indipendentable") enough from the particular
GB> structure of the xdescs, so an XML interface (maybe even an
GB> interface to BibTeX databases) is feasible.

GB> --
GB> Giuseppe "Oblomov" Bilotta