mailing-list for TeXmacs Users

[David Allouche <address@hidden>]

On Tue, Oct 15, 2002 at 01:28:16PM +0200, Michèle Garoche wrote:
> Hello David,
> On Tue, 15 Oct 2002 00:58:33 +0200, David Allouche wrote:
> 
> >  That means the branch takes three parameters. The hyperlink title
> >  <arg|x>, appears first, then some passive text <arg|y>, and then a
> >  relative file name <arg|z> which is also used as the hyperlink
> >  destination.
> Do you mean that the hyperlink title is used to change the title of the 
> hyperlinked text or is it just a reference?
> 
> Is the passive text used to generate menu title?

david: parse error! I do not understand your question!

Well let us rephrase it. The 'branch' macro is defined this way:

    (assign "branch" (macro "x" "y" "z"
      (concat (item)
              (hlink (arg "x") (arg "z"))
              " (" (arg "y") ", "
              (with "font family" "tt" (arg "z"))
              ").")))

We could rewrite this in pseudocode (python-like) to:

  define-macro branch (x, y, z):
    # list item bullet
    print "<item>"
    # hyperlink whose displayed content is x and target address is z
    print-hyperlink (label=x, reference=z)
    # display the informative argument
    print " (", y, ", " 
    # print the hyperlink address in typewriter face
    with typewriter font family
        print z
    # some punctuation ;-)
    print ")."
 
One important thing here is that the macro duplicate the target
address. One copy is used as the hyperlink destination and is hidden,
the other copy is displayed and editable.

The other important thing is understanding how duplication work with
macros. You can get the idea with that simple document fragment:

  Activate this:
  <inactive|<assign|dup|<macro|x|<translate|<arg|x>|english|french>,
  <arg|x>, <arg|x>.>>>

  And play with this: <dup|File>

The essential idea, is that the macro will allow you to edit a
parameter in its first visible instance, but that all instance are
instantly modified.

In the branch macro, the z parameter is used in a similar way, to
provide a function parameter (hyperling instead of translate) and to
provide an editable copy of the function parameter.

Hope this helps...

> >I am currently working on the english documentation, so I want to make
> >sure my efforts will not cause us to end up with out of date
> >translations :-(
>
> Of course, I would not destroy your efforts.

That is not what I mean... I just wish we find a way not to step on
one another toes.

> As I was writing this mail, Joris has given me access to the online web 
> tree via cvs, I've just checked it out, but it appears that the files 
> within the tree differs from the ones I see when I load the online 
> documentation from texmacs. Which are the good ones ? I don't want to 
> translate the wrong files :-) (I've already translated about 10 files, 
> mainly links files, so it's not a big deal to make changes at this 
> time).

These files must be essentially the same. When I commit a change to
the CVS I can see the change immediately in the online help.

There may be minor changes though, due to the conversion performed by
TeXmacs when it first loads the file, if you are comparing files
downloaded with TeXmacs and the CVS tree with a pure text editor. If
you open the CVS files with TeXmacs, they should be converted to match
the downloaded ones.

The other reason for changes is that someone has changed the files on
the CVS since you last dowloaded them. That is why I am looking for a
good way for the translators of tracking those changes.

> Second question: what do I do when I've translated a file? Am I 
> supposed to translate the whole manual before I can upload it and where 
> and how ?

When you have translated a file, just commit it to the CVS. No need
for the translation of the entire manual to be done. Just commit the
change once you have done one work unit (whatever your definition of
work unit).

See http://ddaa10.free.fr/texmacs/doc/savannah_cvs.html for my
personal notes on using CVS.

> And last, but not alas least, is there a way in Texmacs to toggle 
> between insert mode and overwrite mode?

Not as far as I know.

> (something much easier that 
> what I do at the moment: position the cursor just after the words I 
> want to translate, write the translation, delete the original writing).

Well, you could for example position the cursor just BEFORE the words
you want to translate, write the translation and then delete the
original, either using the "Suppr" key or with shift-arrow and then
backspace.

> I'm sorry to bother you with this, but please bear with me, as I really 
> want to help but I'm completely new to texmacs and cvs and, moreover, 
> the new Mac system is also not so easy to deal with.

Well :-) I guess contributors get extra bother credits.

But this mailing list is here for user questions, as long as the
question has not been answered 5 times in the past week and is not
obvious in the documentation, that is a good question to ask.

-- 
David Allouche         | GNU TeXmacs -- Writing is a pleasure
Free software engineer |    http://www.texmacs.org
   http://ddaa.net     |    http://alqua.com/tmresources
   address@hidden  |    address@hidden
TeXmacs is NOT a LaTeX front-end and is unrelated to emacs.