RTeX 2 Preview 1 Released

2008-04-28

I’m happy to release RTeX 2 Preview 1 (v1.99.0), now available as a gem from RubyForge. RTeX can be used as a plugin with Rails 2.0.1+.

History

In 2006 I released a Rails plugin, Rtex, used to generate PDFs via the LaTeX typesetting system. It became a popular choice for people looking for a more advanced alternative to PDF::Writer, especially for larger documents.

Wiebe Cazemier joined the project in 2007, helping to improve the plugin and fielding patches and bug reports.

RTeX 2

RTeX 2 isn’t just a Rails plugin; it’s distributed as a gem and includes a standalone executable that can be used to process documents outside a Rails process (for delayed processing or use in some other type of application) through a series of custom filters (eg, Textile).

For more details…

* Documentation and Manual

* RubyForge for gem distribution and GitHub for development.

Discussion

Bruce Williams is a professional software developer based out of Portland, Oregon. An early adopter of Ruby, he writes, speaks, and codes in the language for fun and profit, but as a restless language addict, spends much of his time backpacking through the wilds of other languages and paradigms.

In the rare instances when Bruce is without a computer, he finds enjoyment as an avid photographer and amateur chef.

Projects

RTeX: Ruby -> PDFLaTeX Bridge
Bumpspark: _why's pure Ruby PNG sparkline library, rescued from the jaws of random disappearance
KeywordSearch: GMail-style key/value parsing
Paginator: Generic, framework-agnostic pagination for Ruby
Various FiveRuns Projects

Talks & Slides

New in Ruby 1.9 (Boston.rb)
Ruby 1.9: What's New and Why it Matters (LSRC 2008)
Migrating to Ruby 1.9 (SOR 2008)
Introduction to Ruby (SOR 2008, Charity Tutorial)