LaTeX Template Cookiecutter

Why use this template with the recommanded setup ?

For documents with high complexity due to lenght, mathematical expression or number of author, the time need to typeset is likely shorter using a setup based on local LaTeX management. Therefore, this approach can be difficult due to the compexity of the LaTeX ecosystem.

The template generator bring together the tools need to have a complete and clean LaTeX repo with interresting workflow for GitLab and GitHub improving teamwork.

Using many tools instead of an all-in-one like Overleaf and Word can seemed difficult because of the many skills required. But most of the tool/skills required can easily be usefull in other project.

Quickstart

Install the latest Cookiecutter if you haven't installed it yet (this requires Cookiecutter 1.4.0 or higher):

pip install -U cookiecutter

Generate a LaTeX project:

cookiecutter https://github.com/RobinsonBeaucour/LaTeX-Cookiecutter-Multi-template.git

The template follows the below structure :

---

├── .gitignore                  <- Specifies files and directories that should be ignored by Git
├── .gitlab-ci.yml              <- If GitLab is selected at generation, define GitLab workflow
├── .github                     <- If GitHub is selected at generation, define GitHub workflow
├── main.tex                    <- Main tex file
├── README.md                   <- Description of the TeX project
├── ref.bib                     <- Contains bibliography references used in main.tex
├── 00_Scripts                  <- Contains perl scripts usefull to process TeX files
├── 01_(Chapters/Sections)      <- Contains chapters or sections used as input in main.tex
├── 02_Appendix                 <- Contains appendix used as input in main.tex
└── 03_Images                   <- Contains images used as input in main.tex

Documentclass

Documentclass	Typical use case	Example of specific feature	Documentation
article	Small or medium report, scientific paper	\begin{abstract}\end{abstract}	https://www.ctan.org/pkg/article
beamer	For slides	For slides	https://www.ctan.org/pkg/beamer
book	Thesis, large report	\chapter	https://www.ctan.org/pkg/book
elsarticle	Scientif paper for Elsevier	\begin{keyword}\end{keyword}	https://ctan.org/pkg/elsarticle

Recommanded setup

• Local IDE : VS code

  With extensions

  • LateX Workshop

• Perl

  For Windows

  • StrawberryPerl

• TeX Distribution

  For Windows

  • MikTex

Perl Scripts

00_Scripts folder contains perl script usefull to process TeX file. See Script documentation for more informations.

GitHub Workflow

build.yaml

This workflow is triggered on any changes in main branch.

The first job generate a concatenated TeX file and a word count.

The second job generate PDF from the concatenated TeX file.

The workflow can be manually triggered

diff.yaml

This workflow is triggered on any changes in a branch that is in a pull request for main branch.

The first job generate a concatenated TeX file, a word count and a diff TeX file with main.tex from main branch.

The second job generate PDF from the concatenated new TeX file and the diff Tex file.

The workflow can be manually triggered

GitLab Workflow

process & build

This workflow is triggered on any changes in main branch.

The first job generate a concatenated TeX file and a word count.

The second job generate PDF from the concatenated TeX file.

The workflow can be manually triggered.

diff_process & diff_build

This workflow is triggered on any changes in a branch that is in a pull request for main branch.

The first job generate a concatenated TeX file, a word count and a diff TeX file with main.tex from main branch.

The second job generate PDF from the concatenated new TeX file and the diff Tex file.

The workflow can be manually triggered.