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Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2011 20:22:09 +0100
From: Georg Bauhaus <rm-host.bauhaus@maps.futureapps.de>
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Subject: Re: Generating PDFs with Ada
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On 1/16/11 1:27 PM, Elias Salom�o Helou Neto wrote:
> On 15 jan, 23:27, Georg Bauhaus<rm-host.bauh...@maps.futureapps.de>
> wrote:
>>   From the *practical* point of view, I can think of many features
>> available in Microsoft Word or OpenOffice Writer (or FrameMaker
>> or Ventura Publisher, or Adobe Something) not available in TeX.
>
> How to generate the file formats required by these softs from Ada?

(1) Write a program controlling any capable text processing software's
programming interface, as was suggested.  This method will be
forgetful of internal data formats of these programs.  The method is
unavailable if you don't have the programs.  A third party could be
offering a ready made class library for generating the files, though.

(2) Depending on the level of abstraction, one may generate .gen
files or maker files just like LaTeX files.  I find targeting
anything at a level lower than that to be an attempt at reinventing
big wheels.


>> Nevertheless, The ISO Fortran 2003 draft document is
>> proof that LaTeX is a possibility for this kind of document.
>
> Thank you for pointing out the example, but not automatically
> generated.

Really? I don't know how the Fortran people had generated input
for TeX.


>> So that works, too.   (TeXmacs is a formidable editor for technical
>> stuff. Interestingly, it doesn't use TeX files for storage.)
>
> Probably because of its nearly WYSIWYG nature.

Nearly?

> It is not suitable for
> automatically generating PDFs.

Have your Ada program generate a TeXmacs files, in Scheme format.
Then,

$ texmacs --convert test.scm test.pdf --quit

Similar to how one uses LaTeX or Lout.
Is it possible to run Word simply like

C:\MyFiles> word /convert /in:test.docx /out:test.pdf  /quit


> There is no need to modify the typesetting software because
> of the \special macro.

\special is indicating a need for output that TeX alone cannot
produce.  Is this standard enough?


>> But that's a book...  hyperref won't give you Eclipse help views
>> easily, or will it?  Or .info files.
>
> Why do you mention it? The OP wanted PDFs! When did .info files or
> Eclipse help views come into play?

I got carried away, thinking about the document generating processes,
and in particular, about how a document will be used.  (By clients,
programmers, ISO, ...)
If you want typographically flexible typesetting (really, layout),
TeX is out of the question (for example, frames that span a page
break?).  If you wanted to write an Ada program that generates this
in PDF directly, wouldn't you be trying hard to reinvent text
formatting?