This is the README file for PerlPoint-Converters $Id: README,v 1.11 2001/06/16 12:37:08 lorenz Exp lorenz $ Covered topics: o Introduction o About PerlPoint-Converters o Prerequisits o What's new o Installation o Test Cases o Bug Reports o Credits o Licence Introduction ------------ PerlPoint is a simple text format which allows easy typing of text with headlines, bullet lists, normal text paragraphs, indented paragraphs for code examples etc., from which slides for presentations can be generated by a script without the need of proprietary software. Since there is a large variety of platforms which provide web browsers, HTML is a good choice for the output format. In principle, however, it is possible to generate each output format whose specification is known. At the moment there exist converters for HTML, LaTeX (alpha software) and SDF. The latter both may be used to generate printable output or to provide the basis for further processing. About PerlPoint-Converters -------------------------- This package provides two programs: pp2html pp2latex (still alpha software) They convert an ASCII file written in the `PerlPoint' language to a set of HTML files or to Latex Files respectively. The `PerlPoint' language was initially invented by Tom Christiansen as a simple means for preparing slides. The idea was to just write down your headings and bullet items and then use a simple perl script to create the slides: =Header of first slide * Use your favourite editor * Start headings with a `=' * Bullets items start with an asterisk `*' The syntax of the original version was similar to POD and the layout of the slides was hard coded in Tom's pp2html script. The new syntax provides more felxibility and can be parsed with the PerlPoint::Parser from Jochen Stenzel's PerlPoint-Package. The following list persents some of the features of pp2html and pp2latex: - HTML template files for header, footer and navigation bar - Support of Frame Sets - Support of the TreeControl Applet in tabel of contents - Headers with different levels with or wihout numbering (1, 1.1, 1.2, 2, ...) - Hyperlinks to internal and external pages - Automatic generation of table of contents and navigation links - Automatic generation of index - Bullet-Lists with standard
  • bullets or with bullets from a gif/jpeg file - Numbered lists and definition lists - Simple tables - Simple text formatting possible For more inforamtion about the PerlPoint syntax and history please refer to the documentation in the PerlPoint-Package from Jochen Stenzel (perldoc PerlPoint::Parser). Prerequisits ------------ This version needs Perl5.005. The pp2html program uses the following packages which are available on CPAN or come with your Perl distribution: Pod::Text Getopt::Long Getopt::ArgvFile PerlPoint::Parser PerlPoint::Backend PerlPoint::Constants PerlPoint::Tags::Basic; PerlPoint::Tags::HTML; (part of PerlPoint-Converters) PerlPoint::Tags::LaTeX; (part of PerlPoint-Converters) The TreeApplet classes are contained in the images subdirectory of this distribution. For more information about the TreeApplet classes refer to http://www.naturallyj.com. This distribution contains an older version which was freely available. What's new in this version -------------------------- This is version 0.10 You will need PerlPoint-Packet version 0.34 for this release. Please refer to file "Changes". NOTE: This is major release. The handling of directories in \IMAGE tags has changed: Now the image filenames must be specified relative to the calling PerlPoint file (or as absolute pathnames). Filenames specified with the --bullet options must now also be relative to the start directory (where pp2html is called) or relative to the style directory. The --style, --style_dir options are new and should simplify the handling of templates. You can now build a collection of pre-defined styles which can easily be called with the --style option. NOTE: Documentation is not yet perfect. This will be one of the major issues of the next release which will come soon! Please keep tuned. Installation ------------ Just get the PerlPoint-Converters-.tar.gz file and unpack it in a temp directory: tar zxvf PerlPoint-Converters-.tar.gz cd PerlPoint-Converters- perl Makefile.PL make make test make install The main program is `pp2html'. Try `pp2html --help | less' to get more information. The test script `t/test_pp.t', which is invoked via `make test', runs the input file `ppdoc.pp' four times through `pp2html' using four different configuration files. The resulting HTML files are placed in the `ex_*' subdirectories. These examples contain documentation for `pp2html'. Test Cases ---------- The following examples/test cases are provided: ex_std_norm/ Standard HTML pages without TreeApplet ex_std_tree/ Standard HTML pages with TreeApplet support ex_frm_norm/ Frame set without TreeApplet ex_frm_tree/ Frame set with TreeApplet support Issue the `make test' command to create the test samples. Look at the results by opening the following files in your web browser (Javascript must be enabled to look at the *tree* examples): ex_std_norm/page0000.htm ex_std_tree/page0000.htm ex_frm_norm/frame_set.html ex_frm_tree/frame_set.html Bug Reports ----------- Please send bug reports and requests to Lorenz Domke Credits ------- Thanks to Tom Christiansen for the idea and first implementation of PerlPoint! And special thanks for his permission to use this name for our new implementation. Thanks to Jochen Stenzel who tested the first versions of pp2html and supplied the powerful PerlPoint-Package which is the base of this new implementation of pp2html. Thanks to Stephen Riehm who shared his ideas of extensions for the original software with us. The final language was basically designed by a team of Jochen, him and me. Thanks to Alex Sigel and Norbert Gruener who became our first testers outside the team and helped us by their usage reports. Special thanks to Alex for propagating the toolkit and his help to publish the software! Licence ------- This module is free software, you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the Artistic License distributed with Perl version 5.003 or (at your option) any later version. Please refer to the Artistic License that came with your Perl distribution for more details. The Artistic License should have been included in your distribution of Perl. It resides in the file named "Artistic" at the top-level of the Perl source tree (where Perl was downloaded/unpacked - ask your system administrator if you dont know where this is). Alternatively, the current version of the Artistic License distributed with Perl can be viewed on-line on the World-Wide Web (WWW) from the following URL: http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html DISCLAIMER This software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but is provided "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either expressed or implied, INCLUDING, without limitation, the implied warranties of MERCHANTABILITY and FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The ENTIRE RISK as to the quality and performance of the software IS WITH YOU (the holder of the software). Should the software prove defective, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION. IN NO EVENT WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY CREATE, MODIFY, OR DISTRIBUTE THE SOFTWARE BE LIABLE OR RESPONSIBLE TO YOU OR TO ANY OTHER ENTITY FOR ANY KIND OF DAMAGES (no matter how awful - not even if they arise from known or unknown flaws in the software). Please refer to the Artistic License that came with your Perl distribution for more details.