[TriLUG] still in search of a (ed.) scriptable layout expert

[Joseph Tate]

Greg Brown wrote:

> Well, PITA or not, if it will do the job and be able to replicate that job
> by accepting input from a script then I'll consider it.
> 
> And I don't mean to put my flag in the ground and say "Postscript
> or Bust" at all - rather I'll use what will allow me to get the job done.
> 
> The only requirement is the output is generated via a script with
> the input being only the case identification number (and it runs
> on Linux as the server will be linux based).
> 
> Be it LaTeX, postscript, or something else I haven't thought of,
> I still don't know how to make it work so if you do and you want
> to make a bit of extra $$ training me, or you just want the good
> karma of helping out (I can work with that too :) ), then by all means
> let me know.
> 
> My knowledge sponge is dry and ready to absorb. :)
> 
> Greg
> 

Then go after LaTeX.  It's not horribly more complex than HTML is, and 
there are even a few WYSIWIG editors out there.  A book on the subject 
would be invaluable, and should be had used from any number of sources 
as well as some members of this LUG.

This shouldn't be very hard once you get the document set up with the 
proper font.  Then your script merely needs to replace the string in the 
document, run latex, then dvi2ps to create the PostScript file for 
printing, if the postscript file doesn't have a string that can be 
replaced directly.

I haven't been following along on this thread very much, and I haven't 
done LaTeX for about 4 years, but I have some Labs still that I wrote up 
for my EE courses, so I have some examples to fall back on.  I'm sure 
you could find sufficient samples on the web as well.  Just look for 
.tex files.  Let me know if you get stuck.

Joseph