Project structure
< The ConTeXt Way, Structurals
ConTeXt knows no document classes (as LaTeX does). You can define your layout yourself. If you use the same layout for several projects, save it as an environment file.
How to split up a large project, say a book, in several handy parts? – Use ConTeXt's project management facilities.
- a project contains one or more products
- a product contains several components
- an environment defines the common layout (etc.) of a project
The environment could also contain different versions (Modes) of the layout, e.g. print and screen (like Pragma's manuals) or final and correction etc.
Example 1: Magazine
- project: magazine
- product: one volume of the magazine
- component: an single article
Example 2: Book
- project: book
- product: part of the book
- component: chapter
If you tex (compile) one single component (e.g. a chapter of a book) or product (e.g. one volume of a magazine), the settings of the project's environment are used. Hraban uses the following naming conventions
- project_foo
- prd_foo
- c_foo
- env_foo
Project
\startproject project_mymag \environment env_mymag % only mentioned here! \product prd_year2004-01 \product prd_year2004-02 \product prd_year2004-03 \product prd_year2004-04 \completetableofcontents \stopproject
Environment
\startenvironment env_mymag \setuplayout[...] % all setups... \stopenvironment
Product
\startproduct prd_year2004-01 \project project_mymag \component c_editorial \component c_article01 \component c_article_by_me % ... \stopproduct
Component
\startcomponent c_editorial \product prd_year2004-01 % but you can use it in other products anyway \project project_mymag \title{Editorial} Dear reader... \stopcomponent
There's a Perl script makeproject.pl at Hraban's site fiëé teXnique to help creating the files (.ini files can be used for initial content).