!!! address = "Department of Economics and Business Analysis

!!! ======================================================================
!!! @Digital-HELP-Text-file{
!!! filename = "slitex.hlp",
!!! version = "1.0",
!!! date = "12 January 1993",
!!! ISO-date = "1993.01.12",
!!! time = "14:21:12.28 CST",
!!! author = "George D. Greenwade",
!!! address = "Department of Economics and Business Analysis
!!! College of Business Administration
!!! P. O. Box 2118
!!! Sam Houston State University
!!! Huntsville, Texas, USA 77341-2118",
!!! email = "[email protected] (Internet)
!!! BED_GDG@SHSU (BITNET)
!!! SHSU::BED_GDG (THENET)",
!!! telephone = "(409) 294-1266",
!!! FAX = "(409) 294-3712",
!!! supported = "yes",
!!! archived = "*Niord.SHSU,edu:[FILESERV.VMS-LATEX-HELP]",
!!! keywords = "VMS, help, librarian, LaTeX, SliTeX",
!!! codetable = "ISO/ASCII",
!!! checksum = "14634 365 2395 16612",
!!! docstring = "This is a replacement for SLITEX.HLP in the VMS
!!! Help Library. It is a modification of the DECUS
!!! SLITEX.HLP file with the LaTeX command strings
!!! copied into a higher level so that the command
!!! HELP SLITEX COMMAND topic
!!! is immediately accessible.
!!!
!!! The checksum field above contains a CRC-16
!!! checksum as the first value, followed by the
!!! equivalent of the standard UNIX wc (word
!!! count) utility output of lines, words, and
!!! characters. This is produced by Robert
!!! Solovay's checksum utility."
!!! }
!!! ======================================================================
1 SliTeX
The SliTeX command typesets a file of text using the TeX program
and the SliTeX Macro package for TeX. To be more specific, it
processes an input file containing the text of a document with
interspersed commands that describe how the text should be formatted.
It produces two files as output, a Device Independent (DVI) file that
contains commands that can be translated into commands for a variety
of output devices, and a `transcript' or `log file' that contains
summary information and diagnostic messages for any errors discovered
in the input file.

SliTeX is a version of LaTeX designed for making color slides, though
you can use it for black-and-white slides as well. You don't need a
special printer to make color slides; SliTeX uses the same
black-and-white printer as LaTeX. You get color slides by copying
SliTeX's output onto colored transparencies.

For a description of what goes on inside TeX, you should consult The
TeXbook by Donald E. Knuth, ISBN 0-201-13448-9, published jointly by
the American Mathematical Society and Addison-Wesley Publishing
Company.

For a description of SliTeX, you should consult Appendix A of "A
Document Preparation System: LaTeX" by Leslie Lamport, ISBN
0-201-15790-X, published jointly by the American Mathematical Society
and Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

Format:

SLITEX input-file
2 Parameters
input-file, ...

The input file specification indicates the file to be formatted; TeX
uses TEX as a default file extension. If you omit the input file
entirely, TeX accepts input from the terminal. You specify command
options using the conventional VAX/VMS arrangement -- options begin
with a slash mark (/), and are placed following the command name or
following the input file specification.

Output files are always created in the current directory; the DVI
file has the file type DVI, and the log file has the file type LIS.
When you fail to specify an input file name, TeX bases the output
names on the file specification associated with the logical name
TEX_OUTPUT.
2 Qualifiers
/FORMAT

/FORMAT=[file-spec] D=/FORMAT=TEX_FORMATS:SPLAIN

Indicates which format file TeX uses upon activation. The default
format file is TEX_FORMATS:SPLAIN.FMT. This is the SLITeX format
discussed in Appendix A of "A Document Preparation System: LaTeX."
/INIT
/INIT
/NOINIT

Indicates that you wish run TeX in the initialization, or INITeX,
mode. This mode is used to compile format files.
/BATCH
Set batch mode -- no interaction on errors and no output to the
terminal. Normally, TeX is set up for interactive use; it stops when
it encounters an error and allows you to correct it, and prints
status and diagnostic information at the terminal. The /BATCH
setting is preferred for batch use; TeX will barrel on through as
though you had specified `BATCHMODE' in the input file or typed `Q'
in response to the first error message.
/OUTPUT
/OUTPUT[=file-spec]
/NOOUTPUT

Controls where the output of the command is sent. If you do not
enter the qualifier, or if you enter /OUTPUT without a file
specification, the output is sent to a file with the same name as the
input file, only with the extension .DVI.

If you enter /NOOUTPUT, output is suppressed.
/LOG_FILE
/LOG_FILE[=file-spec]
/NOLOG_FILE

Controls where the log output of the command is sent. If you do not
enter the qualifier, or if you enter /LOG_FILE without a file
specification, the log output is sent to the a file with the same
name as the input file, only with the extension .LIS.

If you enter /NOLOG_FILE, the log output file is suppressed.
/TEXFONTS
/TEXFONTS=(name,...) D=/TEXFONTS=TEX_FONTS:

Specify directories containing TeX Font Metric (TFM) font definition
files, and the order in which they will be searched to locate each
TFM file. A null value in the list indicates the current directory.
The search procedure TeX uses to locate font files is to search each
of directories specified by the /TEXFONTS option.

A complete TFM file name specification is formed by combining a TFM
file name from the input file with a default directory and default
file type of TFM. It is normal practice to specify only a simple
file name in the input file and let TeX supply the defaults, since
this tends to protect the user from installation dependencies and
changes to TeX. When searching for a TFM file, TeX will try
alternate default directories until it finds the TFM file or runs out
of alternatives.

Default is /TEXFONTS=(TEX_FONTS); TeX looks in the directory
associated with the logical name TEX_FONTS for font definition files.
/TEXINPUTS
/TEXINPUTS=(name,...)

Specify directories containing input files, and the order in which
they will be searched to locate each input file. A null value in the
list indicates the current directory. This qualifier operates in a
manner similar to /TEXFONTS. The search procedure TeX uses to locate
input files is to first search the default directory and then search
each of the directories specified by the /TEXINPUTS option.

Default is /TEXINPUTS=(TEX_INPUTS); TeX looks in the directory
associated with the logical name TEX_INPUTS.
/TEXFORMATS
/TEXFORMATS=(name,...)

Specify directories containing format files, and the order in which
they will be searched to locate each input file. A null value in the
list indicates the current directory. This qualifier operates in a
manner similar to /TEXFONTS. The search procedure TeX uses to locate
input files is to search each of the directories specified by the
/TEXFORMATS option.

Default is /TEXFORMATS=(TEX_FORMATS); TeX looks in the directory
associated with the logical name TEX_FORMATS.
/EDITOR
/EDITOR=name D=/EDITOR=(TEX_EDIT:)
/NOEDITOR

Specify the editor TeX is to use when the "e" (edit) option is used
when TeX finds an error. The editors can be callable editors such as
TPU or EDT, or command procedures. This works similarly to how the
MAIL program allows use of editors under SEND/EDIT.

The default is to use the editor defined by the logical name
TEX_EDIT.

Valid callable editors are EDT, TPU, and LSE. Any other editor must
be called by way of a command procedure.
/DIAGNOSTICS
/DIAGNOSTICS=[file-spec]
/NODIAGNOSTICS

Create a Diagnostics file for the Language Sensitive Editor (LSE).
/JOBNAME_SYMBOL
/JOBNAME_SYMBOL

Indicates the name of a symbol in which TeX should store the name of
the DVI file it writes. Default is /JOBNAME_SYMBOL=TEX_JOBNAME.
/CONTINUE
/CONTINUE
/NOCONTINUE [D]

Indicates that TeX should continue after editing a file.
2 Root_File
SliTeX is a separate program that you run the same way you run LaTeX,
giving it the first name of an input file whose file type is .tex.
This file is called the root file. For example, myfile.tex. This
file starts out with the customary \documentstyle command. The
standard document style for making slides is slides so your file is
likely to begin

\documentstyle{slides}

The commands are followed by any declarations that you may want to
make, followed in turn by the \begin{document} command.

Any text that comes after the \begin{document} is treated as "front
matter" and not as slide material. You can use it for notes to
identify the slides.

For SliTeX to produce color slides, you have to tell it what colors
you will be using. This is done with the \colors command. The
command

\colors{red,black,blue}

states that you will be using three colors, which you have named red,
black, and blue. SliTeX knows nothing about real colors, so you
could just as well have called your three colors puce, mauve, and
fred. If you're making only black-and-white slides, then you don't
need a \colors command.

The text of your slides is contained not in myfile.tex, but in a
separate slide file. This file can have any name that ends in .tex;
for example, myslid.tex. What goes into the file myslid.tex is
explained under Slide_File for this topic. Black-and-white slides
are generated by placing the following command in the root file:

\blackandwhite{myslid}

Color slides are generated by the command

\colorslides{myslid}

The \colorslides command generates a set of color layer pages for
each color specified by the \colors command. For example, the
command

\colors{red,black,blue}

causes a subsequent \colorslides command to generate first all the
red color-layer pages, then the black ones, and then the blue ones.

As usual, your root file ends with an \end{document} command.
2 Slide_File
The main purpose of the root file is to tell SliTeX what colors to
use and where to find the slide file, so the root file tends to be
pretty short. It's the slide file that actually makes the individual
slides.
3 Slides
Each slide is produced by a slide environment. This environment has
a single argument, which is a list of all the colors contained on the
slide. For example, a slide that has the colors red and blue is
created by an environment

\begin{slide}{red,blue}
...
\end{slide}

The colors in the argument must have been declared by a \colors
command in the root file. They tell SliTeX which color layers to
produce for this particular slide. If there is green text in the
slide, that text will appear in the black-and-white version, but no
green color layer will be generated unless green is included in the
slide environment's argument. If you want only black-and-white
slides, then you can use a null argument:

\begin{slide}{}
...
\end{slide}

The text that appears on a slide is produced using ordinary LaTeX
commands. You can use any commands that make sense for slides.
Commands that don't make sense include sectioning commands, figure
and table environments, indexing commands, commands for generating a
bibliography, and page-breaking commands. The latter make no sense
in a slide because each slide must fit on a single page. You can use
an \input command, but not an \include command. Commands for
producing only some of the slides in your slide file are described in
Making_Some_Slides within this topic.

There are two major differences between the text generated by SliTeX
and that generated by LaTeX. First of all, text is automatically
centered vertically on the slide. Secondly, and most noticeable,
SliTeX uses a set of type faces especially chosen for slides. The
characters in these type faces are much larger than the ones in the
corresponding LaTeX type faces. SliTeX's \normalsize produces
roughly the same size characters as LaTeX's \LARGE. Also, SliTeX's
ordinary Roman type style is similar to LaTeX's sans serif style.
Besides Roman, the only other type styles generally available are
italic (\it), bold (\bf), and typewriter (\tt).

The only commands you need inside a slide that aren't present in
ordinary LaTeX input are ones to tell SliTeX what color the text is.
The \colors command in your root file defines the declarations for
doing this. For example, if the root file contains the command
\colors{red,black,blue}, then \red, \black, and \blue are
declarations that specify the color. They work just like any other
declaration, such as \bf, having the same scoping rules.

A color declaration does not affect the type style.

Text in which there is no color declaration in effect appears on all
color layers. For example, if you make no color declarations
anywhere in your slide file, then all color layers will be identical
to the black and white versions. Note that color declarations are
undefined in the root file.

The command \invisible is a special color declaration for invisible
text. Invisible text is not only colorless, appearing in no color
layer, but does not appear in the black-and-white version either.
The use of invisible text is explained below.

WARNING: Don't use a color declaration or an invisible command in
math mode.
3 Overlays
The overlay environment is exactly the same as the slide environment
except for how the page is numbered. The first overlay following
slide number 9 is numbered "9a", the second one is numbered "9b", and
so forth. To make an overlay that perfectly overlays a slide, the
slide and the overlay should be absolutely identical except that text
visible in one should be invisible in the other.
3 Notes
It is sometimes convenient to put notes to yourself in with the
slides. The note environment produces a one-page note that appears
only in the black-and-white versions of the slides. Notes that
follow slide number 9 are numbered "9-1", "9-2"", etc.

For example,
\begin{note}
This is the note for the current slide.
etc.
\end{note}
2 Making_Some_Slides
For making corrections, it's handy to be able to produce a subset of
the slides in your file. The command

\onlyslides{4,7-13,23}

in the root file will cause the following \blackandwhite and
\colorslides commands to generate only slides numbered 4, 7-13
(inclusive) and 23, plus all of their overlays. The slide numbers in
the argument must be in ascending order, and can include nonexistent
slides---for example, you can type

\onlyslides{10-9999}

to produce all but the first nine slides. The argument of the
\onlyslides command must be non-empty.

There is also an analogous \onlynotes command to generate a subset of
the notes. Notes numbered 11-1, 11-2, etc. will all be generated by
specifying page 11 in the argument of the \onlynotes command.

If your input has an \onlyslides command and no \onlynotes command,
then notes will be produced for the specified slides. If there is an
\onlynotes command but no \onlyslide command, then no slides will be
produced. Including both an \onlyslides and an \onlynotes command
has the expected effect of producing only the specified slides and
notes.