Extension:Wiki2LaTeX

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List of MediaWiki Extensions

Wiki2LaTeX Release status: beta
Implementation	Tag, User interface, Data extraction
Description	Exports Mediawiki-articles to LaTeX and PDF
Author(s)	Hans-Georg Kluge (HGTalk)
Last Version	0.9.2 and 0.10 RC (2008-11-28 and 2009-07-02)
MediaWiki	1.11 and newer
License	GPL v2
Download	Google Code Projectsite readme
Hooks used SkinTemplateContentActions UnknownAction BeforePageDisplay LoadAllMessages
check usage (experimental)

Contents 1 News, Support and Stuff 2 What can this extension do? 3 Supported Syntax features 4 Limitations 5 Planned features 6 Documentation 7 Usage 8 Installation 8.1 Changes to LocalSettings.php 9 Update existing installations 10 See also 11 Development

[edit] News, Support and Stuff

To find out anything new about Wiki2LaTeX you can check out the Wiki2LaTeX-Weblog.

There is also a Google Group, which is open now to any user. There you can discuss and ask anything about Wiki2LaTeX. I am also reading the two Mediawiki Newsgroups Mediawiki-l and Wikitech-l, so you can get answers there, too.

While at the moment there are still plenty of red links in this very documentation area, it is the place where I try to put any information to.

[edit] What can this extension do?

This extension converts Mediawiki syntax into LaTeX-code, and makes the result available as:

• a text area, from which the code can be copied
• a .tex file
• a .pdf file

The extension is written in php and uses its own parser, which is based on the original one of Mediawiki.

Since the parser supports Parser Extension Tags, this extension enables Mediawiki to be used as a tool to create nicely printable documents. The parser also uses Mediawiki's Hook-system, so you can hook in functions, which change the default behavior of Wiki2LaTeX.

[edit] Supported Syntax features

• ParserFunctions are supported (tested for 'if' and 'switch' only!)
• ParserExtension-tags are supported.
• Lists, even nested ones
• italic and bold font-styles are supported
• Internal and external links
• Special characters are masked to LaTeX-commands
• Some HTML-entities are parsed into their LaTeX-equivalents
• The nowiki-tag is supported
• Mediawikis Template-system can be used (with named and unnamed template parameters).
• Tables

Please note, that even though it is supported, it can't be guaranteed, that everything works flawlessly. Not every possible case has been tested, so please report errors, in case something went wrong.

[edit] Limitations

There are some limitations:

• pdf-export requires much cpu power. So it can't be recommended to allow users to personally export an article to pdf.
• All parts are tested on Ubuntu 8.04 and 8.10 only.

Please be aware that this extension is still in its beta phase. There might be security issues, performance issues and any thinkable issue could come up. So this extension is not (yet) intended to be used on a public wiki, though it works as expected for quite a time now on my personal server to create documents for university and letters.

[edit] Planned features

• Fix some issues regarding templates
• Support interwiki links
• Support custom Magicword-variables
• Add the ability to edit the latex-code before compiling it
• Support special classes on div and span tags

[edit] Documentation

A more detailed documentation page is being created.

[edit] Usage

After installation, there is a link next to the edit tab, which is labeled as "LaTeX/PDF". Click on it, choose some options and export the article.

[edit] Installation

Please have look at the wiki on the project site, where you can find some documentation.

1. unpack all files of the archive into the folder '/extensions/w2l'.

1. (optional) Have a look at the file w2lDefaultConfig.php, as some settings might need changes. Place your changes into the file w2lConfig.sample.php and rename it to w2lConfig.php
2. (optional) Create the custom namespace LaTeX (required in order to use LaTeX-Templates and more personalized PDF-Creation).
3. Make the changes to LocalSettings.php as described below.
4. Have Fun.

[edit] Changes to LocalSettings.php

Just add the following line at the end of LocalSettings.php (but before the end PHP-tag ?> if it exists):

require_once($IP."/extensions/w2l/wiki2latex.php");

[edit] Update existing installations

1. Read Release Notes as config changes might be required.
2. Backup all files
3. Remove all files except w2lConfig.php
4. Unpack all new files into that folder

[edit] See also

The download section on the projectpage contains an example output of this very page you are reading. This pdf was created without the template which is used on this page.

[edit] Development

Wiki2LaTeX uses Google Code for SVN and Bug-tracking.