[OS X TeX] OT-latex file management

[Fredrik Wallenberg]

On Apr 27, 2004, at 15:01, Themis Matsoukas wrote:

> On Apr 25, 2004, at 2:03 PM, Fredrik Wallenberg wrote:
>
>> I would do this and then use some form of database to keep track of 
>> them. Since the linking is simply
>>
>> \input{path/problemX}
>
> Only problem, I would have to maintain a couple hundred problems in 
> separate files.
>
>> The database doesn't need anything to make it latex aware (although 
>> it might be nice to be able to check the problems you want to include 
>> and generate the problem set straight out of the database).
>
> That would be _really_ nice. Is there a way to have latex interact 
> with a database? i.e. read a particular record?
>

If it was me I'd use FileMaker for this task. I'd create a directory 
with all my problems as individual .tex files as well as a header.tex 
and footer.tex (Or generate that out of FileMaker). I would then make a 
simple FM database with a list of all the problems (including a 
description for my own use and the name of the file) and a field called 
"selected" as well as some global variables for the problemset filename 
etc.

When I wanted to create a new problem set I would open up the database 
and check the problems I wanted to include (optionally I would allow 
use numbers rather than simple check marks to affect the order). I 
would have a script that sorted the problems and then wrote a file with

header.tex
/input{path/problem1}
/input{path/problem2}
etc.
footer.tex

If I wanted to be more fancy I would actually have to headers and 
footers stored in the database and have some variable names to allow 
customization (name of class, date assigned, date due etc.)

the SBooks alternative is simply there to help you keep track of the 
problems since it allows a very nice free form search.

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