PREREX(5) PREREX(5)
NAME
prerex_format -- a format for prerequisite-chart descriptions
DESCRIPTION
This manual describes the format of prerequisite-chart descriptions that can be processed by [pdf]latex (normally using a suitable pre-
rex.sty(7) style file) and edited using the prerex(1) interactive editor (or by any conventional text editor).
TERMINOLOGY
A prerequisite chart consists of a number of course boxes, linked by arrows. Courses are either half or full, and may be required or
optional (or neither). Each course box can contain a course code (upper left corner), a course title (lower half), and timetable informa-
tion (upper right corner). An arrow can be either a prerequisite (solid), a corequisite (dotted), or recommended (dashed). When a conven-
tional arrow would be inappropriate, a mini course just above a target box can be used.
STRUCTURE
The file should contain exactly one instance of a LaTeX environment
egin{chart} instruction ... end{chart}
with at most one instruction per line. Note that a program such as prerex(1) analyzes prerex-format files without using TeX; for example,
macro definitions will be ignored and macro calls will not be expanded.
Instructions may be preceded by white space. Lines that start with % are treated as comments and ignored. The order of instructions is
not significant except that the instruction for the source and target box o an arrow should precede the instruction for the arrow. The
instruction formats are described in the following sections.
COURSE BOXES
The instructions producing course boxes have the following forms:
halfcourse x,y:{code}{title}{timetable}
fullcourse x,y:{code}{title}{timetable}
eqhalfcourse x,y:{code}{title}{timetable}
eqfullcourse x,y:{code}{title}{timetable}
opthalfcourse x,y:{code}{title}{timetable}
optfullcourse x,y:{code}{title}{timetable}
where x,y are the coordinates of the centerpoint of the box, relative to the origin of the coordinate system at the lower-left corner of
the diagram. The code, title, and timetable arguments are arbitrary (well-bracketed) text, possibly with LaTeX markup.
The following are similar but take an additional argument to specify the (non-default) background color of the course box:
halfcoursec x,y:{code}{title}{timetable}{color}
fullcoursec x,y:{code}{title}{timetable}{color}
eqhalfcoursec x,y:{code}{title}{timetable}{color}
eqfullcoursec x,y:{code}{title}{timetable}{color}
opthalfcoursec x,y:{code}{title}{timetable}{color}
optfullcoursec x,y:{code}{title}{timetable}{color}
MINI COURSE BOXES AND TEXT
A mini course is produced by an instruction of the form
mini x,y:{code}
A text line is inserted into the chart by an instruction of the form
ext x,y:{line-of-text}
The maximum allowed length of a course-code may be smaller that the maximum allowed for a line of text.
ARROWS
Arrows between course boxes (or from a mini to a course box) are produced by instructions of the form
prereq x0,y0,x1,y1:
coreq x0,y0,x1,y1:
ecomm x0,y0,x1,y1:
These produce, respectively, solid, dotted, and dashed arrows from the course box (or mini) centered at coordinates x0,y0 to the course box
centered at coordinates x1,y1.
In some implementations, certain arrows by default have a non-zero curvature. It is possible to override the default curvature for a par-
ticular arrow by using the instructions
prereqc x0,y0,x1,y1;c:
coreqc x0,y0,x1,y1;c:
ecommc x0,y0,x1,y1;c:
where c is an integer in the range 0-100 specifying the desired curvature; for example, c=0 will produce a straight arrow. To change the
default curvature, the user program may redefine the DefaultCurvature command.
COORDINATE GRID
The following instruction produces a coordinate grid, which is useful for editing a diagram:
grid
This is normally placed before all the other instructions so that grid lines are in the background, covered by course boxes, minis, and
arrows.
WEB LINKS
Course boxes may be linked to web addresses. The URL for course boxes may be set by the user by redefining the CourseURL command; when
called for a course box, it is supplied with three arguments, the x and y coordinates of the box, mini, or textline, and the code argument
of the course box. For example,
enewcommand{CourseURL}[3]{http://www.cs.queensu.ca/undergraduate/courses/#3.html}
is appropriate for courses at the School of Computing, Queen's University. The first two arguments can be used to display the coordinates
of a box, mini, or textline in some PDF viewers while the mouse hovers over it when the source file is being edited.
AUTHOR
R. D. Tennent (rdt@cs.queensu.ca)
SEE ALSO
prerex(1), prerex.sty(7).
prerex_format 2012-03-21 PREREX(5)