latex-wochenende/slides/chapter-04.en.md

@slide(layout=chapter-slide)

@title Project structure

@slide(layout=content-and-preview)

@title Goal

@content Create a bigger LaTeX project and …

• prevent LaTeX documents from growing monstrously 👹
• keep the overview over the project structure

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@slide(layout=content-and-preview)

@title Main file 👑

@content

• contains basic structure and front matter
• includes separate sections with
  \input{path/to/file} or
  \include{path/to/file}

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\title{A Title}
\begin{document}
    \maketitle
    \tableofcontents
    \input{section1.tex}
    \input{section2.tex}
\end{document}

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@slide(layout=content-and-preview)

@title File with a section

@content

• contains no preamble
• contains no \begin{document} or \end{document}

\section{This is section 1}
A paragraph about the content 
of section 1.

% …

\section{This is section 2}
A paragraph about the content 
of section 2.

% …

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@slide(layout=two-columns)

@title input or include?

@column-one

\input{path/to/file}

• file extension .tex may be added
• nesting possible: nested files can again be embedded using \input{}
• file is added to the resulting document without a page break

@column-two

\include{path/to/file}

• file extension .tex must not be added
• no nesting possible
• each subfile starts a new page in the resulting document
• advantage for larger projects: \includeonly{file1,file2,...} can be used in the preable to compile only certain subfiles (the entire project has to be compiled at least once before)

@slide(layout=content-and-preview-with-category)

@category Excursion

@title Specifying file paths 👣

@content

• important for \input{} and \include{}, later also for pictures
• file and folder structure = tree structure 🌳

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@slide(layout=content-and-preview-with-category)

@category Excursion

@title Specifying file paths 👣

@content

Absolute paths

• path from the root directory to a file
• the direcories are separated by special characters:
  • in UNIX: /
  • in Windows: \

absolute path for `main.tex`

• UNIX: /home/knut/docs/latex/main.tex
• Windows: C:\knut\docs\latex\main.tex

In **LaTeX,** you have to use UNIX-style paths. Therefore, we will use those from here on.

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@slide(layout=content-and-preview-with-category)

@category Excursion

@title Specifying file paths 👣

@content

Relative paths

• path from somewhere in the tree to a certain file
• shorter + less typing! ☺
• with \input{} and \include{}, you can specify the path relative to the main file

Relative path \ from `main.tex` to `part1.tex`

./part1.tex

A single dot ‘.’ in a relative path represents the current folder (in this case: latex). It is optional, you could also write part1.tex here.

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@slide(layout=content-and-preview-with-category)

@category Excursion

@title Specifying paths 👣

@content

Relative paths

Relative path from `main.tex` to `part1.tex` in subfolder

./sections/part1.tex

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@slide(layout=content-and-preview-with-category)

@category Excursion

@title Specifying paths 👣

@content

Relative paths

Relative path from `main.tex` in its own subfolder to `part1.tex` in another subfolder

../sections/part1.tex

Two dots ‘..’ represent the parent folder of the current folder (in this case: latex, parent of main).

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@slide(layout=content-only)

@title Compiling the project

@content

• Only the main file has to be compiled to get the complete PDF document.
• Error messages include a reference to the corresponding subfile.
• Subfiles cannot be compiled on their own as they don’t have a preamble.

@slide(layout=content-and-preview)

@title Outsourcing the preamble

@content What do you think happens when we outsource the preamble into its own subfile?

Will the document compile?

++ Yes, it will!
A simple way of keeping the main file even more organised.

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@slide(layout=task)

@task-number 4

@title A structured project

@content You will find a file named main.tex in the folder exercises/project-structure.

• Extract the sections into their own files (section1.tex, section2.tex, and section3.tex) and insert them using the \include command.
• Which command is rendered superfluous by \include?