[Qgis-community-team] macros, example dataset

[Otto Dassau]

On Thu, 8 May 2008 09:14:53 +0200
Otto Dassau <otto.dassau at gmx.de> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> On Wed, 07 May 2008 08:22:58 -0700
> Tara Athan <tara_athan at alt2is.com> wrote:
> 
> > These macros from Gary are a good headstart. If we discover other 
> > categories, we can use these as a template.
> 
> ok, good - I added Gary's macros but would need the \cornersize definition for
> the \toolbtn and \button command, too?

added package fancybox to support \button and \toolbtn style. Now all macros
from Gary's workbook are included in the english doc style 'qgis_style.sty' and
should work.

> > A question for you latex gurus - Is it possible to include icons, such 
> > as the icons for GRASS modules, in a macro for an inline style, or would 
> > these need to be specified manually? The idea would be if the writer 
> > refers to a tool having an icon, this icon is automatically included.
> 
> I don't know, does anybody have a solution for this? I also think it would be
> pretty complicated to use, because you would need to lookup (or know) the
> whole icon list, which includes almost 100 at the moment. 
> 
> > Now let me bring up a more challenging issue- a dataset for examples.
> > I would like to see a complete dataset with data in many formats, all in 
> > the same location.
> > All examples in the manual would then use the same dataset.
> > 
> > I have no preference to the location - we could build from the Alaska 
> > dataset by adding files in different formats (GRASS, etc), or if someone 
> > has a better idea, I am willing to consider it.
> 
> we could keep alaska, and try to extend the data for the whole country with
> vmap (don't know what is in there). For a smaller, interesting region we could
> also include srtm, landsat etc. Maybe there are other (official) free data
> available? It would also be nice to have some OGC (WMS,WFS) servers available.
> 
>  Otto
> 
> > Tara
> > 
> > Gary Sherman wrote:
> > > On May 6, 2008, at 7:44 PM, Tara Athan wrote:
> > >> OK, I was able to download the latex version of the manual and take a 
> > >> quick look through the various sections.
> > >> What I see is a lot of inconsistency in format between sections.
> > >> This is to be expected, I guess, if the sections are written by 
> > >> different authors and there is no agreement beforehand as to format.
> > >
> > > The manual has evolved over time with a number of authors working at 
> > > different times so just like any "code base" you'll find these types 
> > > of things.
> > >
> > >> But I think we need to aim for greater consistency for the 1.0 manual 
> > >> release.
> > >> For a start, I would like to have macros for inline styles to 
> > >> distinguish command line inputs, file names, buttons and so on.
> > >> I see this done frequently in software manuals-  there is a different 
> > >> style of type for each category, and these are clearly spelled out in 
> > >> the introduction.
> > >>
> > >> At present there is a wide variety of formats being used.  \textsl is 
> > >> used for a lot of different things, so it is not obvious when you see 
> > >> text formated as \textsl what it corresponds to. And the same type of 
> > >> item, such as an input field selection, is sometimes \textsl, 
> > >> sometimes in quotes, sometimes \textbf, ...
> > >>
> > > Rather than choosing a specific markup such as \textsl for an item, I 
> > > would suggest using new commands to provide a layer of abstraction. 
> > > This way you can simply modify the command definition to change all 
> > > occurences of, for example, a tool button.
> > >
> > > Here are the commands I used in the FOSS4G2007 QGIS workshop document:
> > >
> > > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
> > > % my commands
> > > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
> > > \newcommand{\button}[1]{\cornersize{0.1}\ovalbox{\textsf{\scriptsize#1}}}
> > > \newcommand{\classname}[1]{\textsf{\textbf{#1}}}
> > > \newcommand{\fieldname}[1]{\textsl{#1}}
> > > \renewcommand{\filename}[1]{\texttt{#1}}
> > > \newcommand{\keystroke}[1]{\fbox{\textsf{\scriptsize#1}}}
> > > \newcommand{\menuopt}[1]{\textsf{#1}}
> > > \newcommand{\method}[1]{\textsf{\textit{#1}}}
> > > \newcommand{\server}[1]{\textit{#1}}
> > > \newcommand{\sqltable}[1]{\textsf{\textbf{#1}}}
> > > \newcommand{\toolbtn}[1]{\cornersize{7mm}\Ovalbox{\textsf{\scriptsize#1}}}

> > >
> > > \newcommand{\usertext}[1]{\texttt{#1}}
> > >
> > > So you would markup a tool button like this: \toolbtn{Add Vector Layer}
> > >
> > > This in turn is converted according to the command definition, 
> > > resulting in an oval outline of the text in sans-serif scriptsize font.
> > >
> > > Of course you can tweak the commands as the team sees fit. The obvious 
> > > advantage is you can consistently apply the same markup to the same 
> > > items and easily change the style at any time by editing the commands 
> > > in the preamble of the document.
> > >
> > > -gary
> > >
> > > -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
> > > Gary Sherman
> > > Chair, QGIS Project Steering Committee
> > > -Micro Resources: http://mrcc.com
> > >   *Geospatial Hosting
> > >   *Web Site Hosting
> > > -Desktop GIS Book:
> > >   *http://desktopgisbook.com
> > > "We work virtually everywhere"
> > > -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
> > >
> > >
> > 
> > 
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