Idxtools
Version 0.0.4b
Contents
Idxtools is a suite of tools to assist in the productions of
indexes. It is primarily aimed at indexers working from existing
material such as printed proofs.
The central concept behind Idxtools is the file format used
for the indexes. All the programs understand this format and the sorting
program produces its output in the format enabling a edit-sort-check
cycle.
Typical use:
The indexer enters headings, subheadings and page references into a
text file (using a format similar to real indexes) in any order.
The text file is then passed through a program which sorts and merges
all the headings, subheadings and page references as appropriate. The
output of this program is in the same format as the input thus new
entries can be added and the file passed through the program again.
When the index is complete, the text file is passed through another
program, which converts the idxtools format into a format suitable for a
word processor.
Final output can be produced in plain text, RTF and HTML.
Version 0.0.4b
- Windows installer actually works.
Version 0.0.4a
- Windows installer includes files missing in 0.0.4.
Version 0.0.4
- New HTML documentation format generated from DocBook sources.
- idxsorter 0.0.4
- Includes an embedded Scheme interpreter.
- Scheme based configuration files.
- Uses Scheme function (generate-key) for key generation so idxkeygen is
no longer required.
- New option (--letter-by-letter) for ordering entries in
letter-by-letter order.
- New options which are the opposite of existing options: --merge,
--hide-keys, --word-by-word.
- idxsort 0.0.2
- Updated to work with idxsorter 0.0.4.
Version 0.0.3
- Added support for accented characters.
- idxsorter 0.0.3
- New command line option --page-order to specify sort order of
different types of page ranges.
- idx2txt 0.0.2; idx2html 0.0.2; idx2rtf 0.0.2; idxkeygen 0.0.2
- Handle accented characters.
Older news
- System independant file format supporting:
- headings
- unlimited depth of subheadings
- bold and italic formatting
- page references (plain, bold and italic)
- see and see also cross reference
- flexible notation for changing sort order
- Automatic sorting and merging
- Conversion to 3 different formats
- text (retaining or discarding formatting)
- Rich Text Format (RTF) for importation to word processors
- HTML
- Word-by-word and letter-by-letter sorting
The users' manual in HTML is
included in the distribution.
- Using
- Perl
Perl versions 5.004 and 5.005 work. Perl 5.001 and lower do not.
- Compiling
All the above plus...
- C++ compilier
egcs 1.1, gcc 2.95.2 and HP's aCC A.0.1.12 are know to work.
- GNU Guile. Available from
http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/. Version 1.4 is know to work.
- Standard unix development tools
Make, sed etc.
- Modifying
All the above plus...
The software is released under the terms of the
GNU GPL version 2.
Get the source code:
idxtools-0.0.4b.tar.gz
Get a precompiled binary for Win32 platforms (Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0 and 2000):
idxtools-0.0.4b.exe
Please read the installation instructions.
Created by David Vrabel (dv207@cam.ac.uk).
Last modified on 2001-04-05.