Embedding Pubmed, Graphiviz and a remote image in #LaTeX. My notebook. .

I'm learning LaTeX. Today I learned how to create a new command in LaTeX.

\newcommand{name}[num]{definition}

"Basically the command requires two arguments: the name of the command you want to create, and the definition of the command" . I played with LaTeX and wrote the following three commands:

Embedding a remote picture

The following LaTeX document defines a new command "\remoteimage". It takes 3 parameters: a filename, a URL and some parameters for \includegraphics. If the file doesn't exist, the url is downloaded and saved in 'file'. The downloaded image is then included in the final LaTeX document.

Note: latex files must be compiled with --enable-write18 to enable system-calls.

pdflatex --enable-write18 input.tex

Result:

External Image /Latex by lindenb

GraphViz Dot

The second LaTex Document works the same way. It defines a command "\graphviz" , sends the content of the 2nd argument to graphviz dot and save the resulting image before importing it into the LaTeX document.

Result:

GraphViz / Latex by lindenb

Pubmed

The last command define "\pmid" . It needs one Pubmed identifer. It downloads the XML record for this pmid, transforms it to LaTeX with xsltproc and the following XSLT stylesheet:

The LaTeX document includes four pubmed identifiers:

Result:

Pumed / Latex by lindenb

That's it,

Pierre