Re: latex2rtf and openoffice

From: [email protected] wrote

Sourceforge has started rejecting my email.  I'm not sure why.  Could
you please forward this message to the list for me until I figure out
what this issue is?

Thank you!

-----

* Uwe Brauer <[email protected]> [2002-11-25 13:49]:
>
> Are  there plans  to support  math formula  in openoffice. That  is to
> convert a  latex file into  a formal  (mml/xml) which  can be read and
> edited by openoffice.

No one, to my knowledge, is working that.  However, I've been thinking
about a more universal approach.  There needs to be a language, (call
it LatexML), that will input latex, and output something that is as
close to latex as possible, but XML in form.  Then it would be trivial
to go from this intermediate LatexML language to anything else:
openoffice, rtf, pdf, html, docbook, you name it.

If we took this approach, then you would only need one parser from
Latex to LatexML.  After that, any other form could be acheived w/ XSL
code.  It would also simplify maintenance if Latex 3 ever makes it out
the door.

The problem with going straight from latex to openoffice is that you
would expend great effort on the parser, but because it would be a
lossy conversion to go to openoffice, that output could not be adapted
to other forms very well.

This is the one shortcoming I see w/ latex2rtf.  Don't get me wrong,
Latex2RTF is a great tool for a specific job.  (It saved my ass this
quarter because my professor required RTF deliverables in APA format.)
However, I've convinced myself that the best gold-plated ivory tower
approach is to invent LatexML; unless I'm missing something.

I haven't seen what MathML looks like, but maybe MathML could be a
subset of LatexML.

What do you think?



-------------------------------------------------------
This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 
comprehensive development tool, built to increase your 
productivity. Try a free online hosted session at:
http://ads.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/redirect.pl?micr0003en