On Wednesday 05 May 2004 07:12 pm, Matthew Huggett wrote: > John Culleton wrote: > >... > > > >I use a master file and call components into it with > > \input statements.... > > Is there any advantage to using a master file with \input > statements compared to using ConTeXt project and > component files? Or are these totally different things? > > Matt > __
They are mostly different in usage. I have a single document, a book, and I find it convenient to subdivide it into files. For example I carry the same macro set from job to job, modifying it with each successive use. It saves a lot of typing. And as recently illustrated if an error crops up I can turn off segments of the document for debugging purposes. In an authoring situation I may further subdivide the body component into chapters. This allows me to write the book in non-consecutive pieces and even rearrange it for different markets etc. for example I have a file http://wexfordpress/tex/shortlist.pdf that is really a chapter to a never-completed book. I have never explored the project/component structure of Context. My one-person shop does not need sophisticated project management. I am not authoring works but typesetting the work of others. In a shop concerned with document creation, and perhaps multiple authors, the Context project management features would be worth another look. For me they are more bother than they are worth. I collect all the files for a job in one directory (folder) and that is it. Each job is different, so commonality is served by copying over the master or "book" file as well as some useful files like fonts.tex and macros.tex to the new job folder. The surname of thecustomer is the folder name. After many years as a management analyst, systems analyst and so on I have decided that simpler is better. One should have enough controls, enough structure, but no more than enough. Also, and this is an important point, I work in pdftex and even plain TeX as well as Context. My master file technique is generic to all these. Finally, I think Hans assumed too much of his readers (or at least this reader) when he wrote the passage on project etc. control. I read it but still ask myself "what is the cost vs. benefit" and "how does it work in the day to day world"? But that would take a book by itself, and there are more important topics to be addressed in Context documentation. -- John Culleton Able Typesetters and Indexers http://wexfordpress.com _______________________________________________ ntg-context mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
