NANY 2012 Pledge: Fast Latex Automatic Kompiler (FLAK)

[capitalH]

NANY 2012 Entry Information

FLAK	Fast LaTeX Automatic Kompiler
Version	0.1
Short Description	FLAK automatically compiles a master tex file when the file, or other files in the directory, changes.
Supported OSes	Windows XP (tested) Older versions of Windows may work Newer versions should work (please report if it doesn't)
Setup File	None at this stage - pre-alpha
System Requirements	Current (pre-alpha) RoboCopy must be installed on the system path (to be replaced with internal copying in a later version) MikTex (other Tex distributions coming) must be installed TexStudio must be installed (Current pre-alpha version - to be removed) A lock-up free PDF previewer (for example the TexStudio built-in) Administration rights (for RamDisk - will be made optional) RamDisk Tools must be installed (http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/ramdisktools - will be made an option) Planned A latex distribution must be installed A lock-up free previewer (for example the TexStudio built-in PDF viewer) Optional: RamDisk Tools (Will be slower without it - but will work - requires Administration Rights)
Author Info	capitalH
Description	FLAK automatically compiles LaTeX projects that you are working on, by monitoring a user specified directory for changes to files. Once such a change is detected, the project is copied to a RamDisk where the project is compiled. FLAK gives you: a faster automatic lockup free way to compile your LaTeX projects. Should compilation be successful, the output (currently only PDF supported) is copied back to the source directory.
Use cases	Automatic compiling speeds up the compile cycle - especially for new users who wants to compile often Automatically run makeindex and other required tools Speed up compilation by using a RamDisk - speeds up compiling significantly on slow drives (for example network drives) Keeps your source directory clean of temporary files - all work is done in a temporary folder Untested: Use FLAK to automatically compile Latex output produced by other programs Untested: Use with DropBox (or similar program) to perform remote compiles on computers without Latex installed, or on devices (e.g. Android/iPad) that you cannot install Latex on
Features	Command Line options Portable (works best with a portable Tex distribution) Fast! The RamDisk usage of FLAK speeds up compilation by about x2 in tests compared to normal on disk compilation. Launches TexStudio on startup (if not launched already) Launches MikTex Portable on startup (if not launched already)
Screenshots	Coming soon!
Installation	Coming soon
Using the application	Coming soon!
Uninstalling	The program does not make any changes to the registry and is fully contained in the installation directory. (TBC that RAMDisk is portable)
Known Issues	Only PDFLatex is supported currently RoboCopy is required for copying RamDisk is limited to 50MB (manual change can be made - plans to make this configurable) Requires TexStudio RamDisk leaves traces in the registry
Alpha Testing Assistance	Icon design Confirm that RamDisk is portable (Confirmed that it is not stealth - will add code to remove registry traces) Licensing - Can I distribute RamDisk with the program/or download it automatically and extract for the user? Usability suggestions Bug reports Suggest features/comments on planned features If you know of any Latex distribution small enough to bundle with the application and that runs portably (which will then be included on the RamDisk) please let me know. It must be small enough though not to add too much bloat to the download size - or the RamDisk
Planned features/changes	Remove TexStudio dependence Disable RamDisk usage (configurable) - use temporary directory instead First use options Multiple master files \include scanning Makeindex MD5 calculation - rebuild if required Automatic backups Internal copying (remove RoboCopy reliance and possibly faster) Other LaTeX distributions/plain Tex Configurable options to be passed to LaTeX compiler Automatic priority setting for PDFLatex.exe Show last error log tray option Filter error log tray option Compatibility with other PDF viewers

[kyrathaba]

GREAT!  Looking forward to seeing this as it progresses!

[Mandork]

Sounds cool!

I presume you seen this and this?  I think they have created their own cut-down MiKTeX installations but I don't remember anymore.  I do have a portable LaTeX on a USB stick but I haven't used it for so long that I don't recall where I downloaded it from.

[capitalH]

Sounds cool!

I presume you seen this and this?  I think they have created their own cut-down MiKTeX installations but I don't remember anymore.  I do have a portable LaTeX on a USB stick but I haven't used it for so long that I don't recall where I downloaded it from.

Cannot open the first one at the moment - but I have seen the second one (though the page does not exist anymore).
The problem is not only portability but size as well. I have MikTex Portable (MikTex) However it is too large to (1) bundle with the application (157MB download) (2) too large too copy to a RamDisk every time you run this app (362MB install, 11k files).

This is not the end of the world the rest of my application will still work even without a minimalist LaTex.


I will check your first link at home - hopefully it does not have any licensing issues as well.

[kyrathaba]

capitalH, if you want to make any more changes/updates to the program before releasing it, let me know. It's a great app, and we want to get it screencasted as soon as possible. The way mouser and I know these apps are ready is when the authors change "Pledge" and/or "Early Beta" in the OP title to include the word Release.

[mouser]

Is it safe to assume Flak is withdrawn from NANY?