Re: CTAN uploads -- showlabels, textpos, urlbst and feyn

Norman Gray writes:

I've just uploaded four packages to ftp.tex.ac.uk/incoming. Two are updates, two are new.

===========================================================================

• What you've uploaded

showlabels-1.4.tar.gz

• where you want the files to go

Replacing macros/latex/contrib/supported/showlabels/

• what licensing conditions you apply to your software

gpl

• a brief summary of what your upload is intended to do.

Showlabels: put the names of labels into the margins of a draft document

%%VERSION%% Version 1.4

This package helps you keep track of all the labels you define, by putting the name of new labels into the margin whenever the label command is used.

The package allows you to do the same thing for other commands. The only one for which this is obviously useful is the cite command, but it's easy to do it for others, such as the

ef or egin commands.

Changes in v1.4, 24 July 2001

Significant alteration to the mechanism for displaying the labels, which makes it easy to do the same trick for the cite command. It's also fairly easy to extend this to any other commands which might want it, through the new showlabels command, though

ef is the only one

which immediately springs to mind.

Also, the package option [inline] was introduced, giving an alternative format for displaying the labels. This route is ripe for generalisation.

Corrections to the code which places labels in the margin. This is manifest in that the package is now (more) compatible with the wrapfig package.

===========================================================================

• What you've uploaded

textpos-1.2.tar.gz

• where you want the files to go

Replacing macros/latex/contrib/supported/textpos/

• what licensing conditions you apply to your software

gpl

• a brief summary of what your upload is intended to do.

Textpos: absolute positioning of text on the LaTeX page

%%VERSION%% Version 1.2

This package facilitates placing boxes at absolute positions on the LaTeX page. There are several reasons why this might be useful, but the main one (or at least my motivating one) is to help produce a large-format conference poster.

This package provides a single environment, which contains the text (or graphics, or table, or whatever) which is to be placed on the page, and which specifies where it is to be placed.

Changes in v1.2, 21 April 2002

Rolf Niepraschk niepraschk@ptb.de provided code to make textpos compatible with the {calc} package.

Added the [verbose] and [quiet] package options.

===========================================================================

• What you've uploaded

urlbst-0.1.tar.gz

• where you want the files to go

I suppose in biblio/bibtex/contrib/urlbst ?

• what licensing conditions you apply to your software

gpl

• a brief summary of what your upload is intended to do.

Adds a `webpage' BibTeX entry type, and support for general `url' and `lastchecked' fields, to arbitrary BibTeX style files.

%%VERSION%% 0.1

The Perl script urlbst.pl can be used to add this support to an arbitrary .bst file which has a reasonably `conventional' structure. The result is meant to be robust rather than pretty.

Usage: urlbst.pl [input-file [output-file]]

if either the input-file or the output-file is omitted, they default to stdin and stdout respectively. If the input file already has a URL entry type, then the script objects.

For example:

urlbst.pl `kpsewhich siam.bst` siamurl.bst

The distributed files abbrvurl.bst, alphaurl.bst, plainurl.bst and unsrturl.bst are versions of the standard style files which have been pre-converted.

Only the style files which result from conversion of the standard styles are checked in the regression tests. Other style files which are known to work include

acm.bst, amsalpha.bst, amsplain.bst, apalike.bst, gerabbrv.bst,
geralpha.bst, gerapali.bst, gerplain.bst, gerunsrt.bst, ieeetr.bst and
siam.bst

Style files known not to work, because they are too different from the standard styles, include the koma-script styles and the refer styles (they are not designed to produce conventional .bbl files). The natbib and revtex style files already have URL fields. If you have a BibTeX style file which you think ought to work, but with which the script fails, send it to me, and I'll try to work out what I've missed.

===========================================================================

• What you've uploaded

feyn-0.1.tar.gz

• where you want the files to go

I suppose in fonts/feyn ?

• what licensing conditions you apply to your software

gpl

• a brief summary of what your upload is intended to do.

Feyn: a Metafont for Feynman diagrams

%%VERSION%% Version 0.1

This describes the font `feyn', which can be used to produce relatively simple Feynman diagrams within equations in a LaTeX document.

The other Feynman diagram package which exists is Thorsten Ohl's `feynmf/feynmp' package. That works by creating Metafont or MetaPost figures using a preprocessor. It's more general than this package, but is at its best when creating relatively large diagrams, for figures. In contrast, the present system consists of a carefully-designed font with which you can write simple diagrams, within equations or within text, in a size matching the surrounding text size.

i've installed all four packages as suggested (i.e., i've adopted your proposed locations for urlbst and feyn). thanks for the uploads.

(sorry about the delay in installing: an emergency at [real] work intervened.)

Robin Fairbairns

For the CTAN team