[lug] looking for TeX viewer/print

[J. Wayde Allen]

On Fri, 24 Aug 2001, David wrote:

> observe that there are a lot of books written in LaTeX; and most
> people never know it, it is that good.

Not surprising since this is what it was designed to do.

> The key issue for me is that I want to be able to make a (spelling?)
> change on page 456 of a 700 page document that I am viewing in xdvi
> and have that change reflected *now*.  As it is I must wait for the
> whole darned thing to be re-compiled.

That is true.  The good news is that it usually doesn't take that long to
recompile and xdvi will show the change automatically once the compilation
has completed.  Of course compiling a 700 page document might take a lot
longer than what I'm used to.

> I really do have this (here over-simplified) problem; and I need to
> fiddle around sub-setting the document to minimise the nuisance.
> 
> The Tex/LaTeX system needs to be able to re-compile a small piece of
> source code and patch it in.

That is an interesting idea.  I was wondering if the \include{file}
command would work if the file were a dvi, but my Lamport book seems to
say that the file has to be LaTeX/TeX source.

> Surely that is what happens with Word?

I don't think that word files are compiled.  My "guess" is that the
program takes your input and writes symbols to a file that its reader
displays.

> The kind of effect I envisage would have, as Wayde suggested, two
> windows, one with source code, one with the product.  You need the
> source code system, rather than a single window with mouse/icon
> clickity-click, to keep the substance.

Yes ... the way I usually work is with the source editor in one terminal
window; another window where I can type the compile commands, watch the
compiler messages, and do spell checking; and with xdvi running in a third
window if I want a graphical display.  This is basically the same is what
you are asking for.  The only thing I don't have a way to do is partially
compile the document for a quick change to a typo in some odd chapter.  
This may not be possible since a change like this can cause spacing
changes that may need to be propagated through the document.

LyX is sort of supposed to combine all of this together into a graphical
interface.  However, I've not got much experience with it.  I tried it
once and it seemed OK, but it didn't capture my undivided attention.  
Might be worth a look?

- Wayde
  (wallen at lug.boulder.co.us)