LaTeX-compatible plugin

Time Magazine

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=91545
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=8997

Can we have a TeX parser pretty please? Ecksor said he'd install one two years ago but I haven't seen anything of it

Jonathan

Big +1

Writing equations without it is a pain .

randylonghorn

Such an excellent thread title!!



/runs



Sorry, guys, but irresistible!

Économiste Monétaire

+1

Conor

LaTeX-style markup is now available via the [NOPARSE][LATEX][/NOPARSE] tag.

Examples:

Code|Result
[NOPARSE][LATEX]e = mc^2[/LATEX][/NOPARSE]|[LATEX]e = mc^2[/LATEX]
[NOPARSE][LATEX]i\hbar\frac{\partial}{\partial t} \Psi(r,\,t) = \hat H \Psi(r,\,t)[/LATEX][/NOPARSE]|[LATEX]i\hbar\frac{\partial}{\partial t} \Psi(r,\,t) = \hat H \Psi(r,\,t)[/LATEX]

Jonathan

We should request features more often :P

Conor

Jonathan wrote: »

We should request features more often :P

I'm sure you can use the new tag to show a formula modeling the relationship between the rate of feature requests and the rate of features implemented.

I'll get you started:

• The rate of feature requests is related to the number of users.
• The amount of time available to implement features is inversely related to the number of users on the site.
• The probability of any given feature being implemented is related to the amount of time available to implement it and inversely related to how cranky the developers are.
• The crankiness of the developers is related to
  • The number of annoying features yet to be implemented.
  • How long it has been since they've been fed with coffee and/or cake.

And... go!

Time Magazine

Thanks Conor, but there's a slight problem: LaTeX can't add.

(And by that I mean it's ignoring plus signs (+) and I don't think there's a \plus command.)

Jonathan

Also the plugin doesn't seem to allow line breaking..

Conor

The Economist wrote: »

Thanks Conor, but there's a slight problem: LaTeX can't add.

(And by that I mean it's ignoring plus signs (+) and I don't think there's a \plus command.)

That's because all the tag does is find [NOPARSE][LATEX]foo[/LATEX][/NOPARSE] and replace it with <img src="http://www.mathtran.org/cgi-bin/mathtran?tex=foo&quot; />

Since + is a reserved character in URLs, it's getting translated into a space.

vBulletin's tag system only allows dumb find-and-replace, I can't do any manipulation of the data in the tags without writing a plugin. I'll try and figure out a hack with some JavaScript, but I mightn't get to it today.

Jonathan wrote: »

Also the plugin doesn't seem to allow line breaking..

Nothing I can do about that I'm afraid for the same reasons as above.

Jonathan

Use %2B as a plus.
[latex]1 %2B 5=6[/latex]

Conor

Yeah, that's doable, but I'd like to escape it properly.

Jonathan

It possible to do a regex replace on just the latex tag so it doesn't kill the servers?


EDIT:
/facepalm
Even easier. Just urlencode the tag.

Conor

I can't do it server-side without implementing the tag by hand (which I'm not going to do).

I'll write a little piece of JS to diddle the URL but I have to jump through a hoop or two. I can't just write

document.write('<img src="http://..."' + encodeURIComponent(latex) + '" />');

for fairly obvious reasons!

Conor

Take 2:

Code|Result
[NOPARSE][LATEX]a + b[/LATEX][/NOPARSE]|[LATEX]a + b[/LATEX]
[NOPARSE][LATEX]e = mc^2[/LATEX][/NOPARSE]|[LATEX]e = mc^2[/LATEX]
[NOPARSE][LATEX]i\hbar\frac{\partial}{\partial t} \Psi(r,\,t) = \hat H \Psi(r,\,t)[/LATEX][/NOPARSE]|[LATEX]i\hbar\frac{\partial}{\partial t} \Psi(r,\,t) = \hat H \Psi(r,\,t)[/LATEX]

Jonathan

How did you do it in the end?

Conor

Jonathan wrote: »

How did you do it in the end?

[NOPARSE][LATEX]EQUATION GOES HERE[/LATEX][/NOPARSE]

produces:

[HTML]
<img src="http://www.mathtran.org/cgi-bin/mathtran?tex=EQUATION GOES HERE" class="latex-equation" />
<script type="text/javascript">
var latex_equations = YAHOO.util.Dom.getElementsByClassName('latex-equation', 'img');
for (var i = 0; i < latex_equations.length; i++) {
var parts = latex_equations.src.split('tex=', 2);
latex_equations.src = parts[0] + 'tex=' + encodeURIComponent(decodeURIComponent(parts[1]).replace(/<br \/>/g, ""));
YAHOO.util.Dom.replaceClass(latex_equations, 'latex-equation', 'latex-equation-escaped');
}
</script>
[/HTML]

It's a nasty horrible bodge.

RoundTower

on another vBulletin forum I was told there is a LaTex plugin available for vB but it's a bitch to install/maintain.

This looks relatively straightforward in comparison. I can't speak for just how bad of a horrible bodge it is, but is it straightforward to do what you did?

Conor

RoundTower wrote: »

on another vBulletin forum I was told there is a LaTex plugin available for vB but it's a bitch to install/maintain.

TBH, the first LaTeX plugin I saw involved installing LaTeX on the server and running the tag contents through it and producing images from it. The idea of allowing users to run content through an external program fills me with horror so I backed off and looked for another solution.

I then remembered that a friend of mine (Professor Fink) has a LaTeX plugin on his blog. I ripped that off, tweaked it and there you have it.

RoundTower wrote: »

This looks relatively straightforward in comparison. I can't speak for just how bad of a horrible bodge it is, but is it straightforward to do what you did?

Well, it does rely on the good will of mathtran.org and their willingness to continue to generate images for us.

Other than that, it's easy enough to implement. Anyone who has implemented a custom vBulletin tag should be able to replicate what I've done with very little hassle once they see my post above.