User talk:Koenich

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Preamble

Here is the place to get everything that is important to get started with ConTeXt on MS Windows operating system.

Thanks to especially Donald Knuth, Hans Hagen, Taco Hoekwater and too many other coders and users to mention here!

Introduction

ConTeXt (pronounced ConTehht as derived from Dutch) is a TeX macro package created and maintained by Pragma ADE.

Setup ConTeXt

Download & Install ConTeXt

Installation and update of ConTeXt work the same way. If you only want to update ConTeXt, you can go to point 3.

1. Download ConTeXt.

2. Extract the archive to a location of your choice.

  • You might want to change the name of the extracted directory to a shorter one as it will be the final location for ConTeXt.

3. Install / Update ConTeXt

  • Use Windows Explorer to navigate to your ConTeXt directory. In there should be a file called install.bat.
  • Execute by double-clicking on it. A command prompt window should pop up.
    • If it appears for only a few seconds, chances are high that the download server is down. In that case you might want to re-try the procedure at some other time.
  • Wait for the download / update to finish. After it is done, the command window should disappear by itself.

Alternatively, from the command prompt:

  • Use Windows Explorer to navigate to your ConTeXt directory.
    • Click into the upper white field where the current location is displayed.
    • Enter cmd and press Enter-key.
    • Now Windows command prompt should pop up with the correct location.
  • Otherwise, you can start your Windows command prompt
    • by using the key shortcut Windows-key + R, entering cmd and pressing Enter-key.
    • Alternatively, you can use Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Command Pompt.
  • Some important MS DOS commands:
    • dir list the content of the current directory
    • cd DIRECTORY change to directory with name DIRECTORY
    • cd.. change to superior directory
    • cd\ change to drive root
    • X: change to drive X:
    • also possible: cd directory\subdirectory\subsubdir...
  • In the end your command prompt should look like this:
 X:\ConTeXt>_

Add ConTeXt's executables folder to Windows search Path

Note: you will need admin rights for this. On public machines for example you most probably won't be able to add ConTeXt to that machine's path.

1. Open Windows' System dialog

  • either by Right-clicking on This PC / My Computer on your Desktop and then clicking on Properties
  • or by clicking Start -> Settings -> About -> System Info
  • or on older Windows Machines by going to Control Panel -> System.

2. Click on Advanced System Settings ("System Properties").

3. Click on Advanced-Tab.

4. Click on Environment Variables....

5. Choose where to add ConTeXt's executables folder to:

  • Either to User variables for USER for the current user only
  • or to System variables for all users.

6. Double-click on the respective variable called Path.

7. Add your ConTeXt executables to Windows path.

  • Note that the position, to where you add the location is sorted by importancy. The most important directories will be searched first. This might be taken into account when using ConTeXt together with MiKTeX for example. It's safest to place ConTeXt's path at the very beginning.
  • In User Path variable you might need to add the location and seperate it from the existing ones by using a semikolon (;).
  • In System Path variable you probably only have to add a new line.

The location should look like this:

  • Win x86 / 32 bit:
 X:\ConTeXt\tex\texmf-mswin\bin
  • Win x64 / 64 bit:
 X:\ConTeXt\tex\texmf-win64\bin

8. Save your changes. Usually no restart or re-login is needed after this operation.

Opt 1. You can test whether it worked by starting your Command prompt and entering the following line, while being in a directory other than the one you just added.

 context -version
  • A message with ConTeXt's version number should apear.
  • If a message like 'context' is not recognized as an internal or external command... appears, you should make sure that you added the correct location of ConTeXt's executables (context.exe) path to Windows' search path.

Text Editors

CudaText

See my article here CudaText.