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deniz@atlas.ctr.columbia.edu (Deniz Akkus) writes:


:I am interested in using TeX, LateX, or Framemaker as a text formatter
:for overnight batch production of some reports.  Essentially, I will be
:writing a program that outputs an LateX or TeX input file, which then
:gets processed through these programs and printed out.  This program
:will be run off of cron, at night.  


:I have several questions:  

:1. I know this can be done using TeX or LateX, but these are pretty
:garrulous for error messages and tend to produce an endless stream of
:error messages.  I don't know whether or not any add-ons or later
:versions exist that would make these programs more at home in a batch
:processing mode (returning error messages that could be handled from a
:program, or at least exiting gracefully)? 
How about starting your scripts with
\batchmode
Or, even better, starting TeX with
tex '\batchmode \input filename.tex'
This will run through regardless of errors, and produce no output except
the log file.

:3.  Are there any other programs that can be used for this type of batch
:formatting?  I am mostly interested in a UNIX (or multi-platform, UNIX
:and NT) solution.  

How about nroff, troff, or, in the free world, groff? Not that I prefer
them, but they are usually available, and pretty batchy.
--
David Kastrup, Goethestr. 20, D-52064 Aachen        Tel: +49-241-72419
  Email: dak@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de         Fax: +49-241-79502

In article <3psssh$mpt@sol.ctr.columbia.edu> deniz@atlas.ctr.columbia.edu (Deniz Akkus) writes:

>I am interested in using TeX, LateX, or Framemaker as a text formatter
>for overnight batch production of some reports.  

[Snip]

>1. I know this can be done using TeX or LateX, but these are pretty
>garrulous for error messages and tend to produce an endless stream of
>error messages.  I don't know whether or not any add-ons or later
>versions exist that would make these programs more at home in a batch
>processing mode (returning error messages that could be handled from a
>program, or at least exiting gracefully)? 

TeX has a batch mode, which I tend to use even when I'm running it 
interactively. When in batch mode, TeX will run as far as it can get in a 
document, dumping all information to the logfile. It will return a non-zero
exit status (on Unix) iff there was an error. This is my script uses to
determine whether to delete the log file (on success) or to produce a
window displaying the log file (on failure). Presumably your installation
would print the output on success and log any failures.

I'm afraid I don't know about using any other text-processing programs in 
batch mode. TeX has replaced troff for me, and I don't yet need a replacement 
for TeX.

Hope this helps :)

James