Notes2PDF

Notes2PDF is a simple parser which converts a pseudo markdown language into LaTeX which is then compiled into a formatted PDF file. The markdown language is designed to be easy to type quickly

Prerequisites

Windows Users Only

1. Open PowerShell (as admin)
2. Run:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

and restart your computer when prompted
3. Search Ubuntu in the Windows Store
4. Install Ubuntu
5. After Ubuntu is installed, open the application
6. Follow the prompts for Username and Password setup
7. Run the following after Ubuntu finishes installing:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Adding easy access to Windows directories:

In the Ubuntu terminal do this:

echo 'export WHOME="/mnt/c/Users/'"$(cmd.exe /C echo %USERNAME%)"'"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Copying a file to your Windows Desktop from Ubuntu terminal (example)

cp myfile $WHOME/Desktop/

Changing to Windows User directory (example)

cd $WHOME

Adding easy access to Linux path (for Windows calls)

1. In your ~/.bashrc file add:

# If you installed Ubuntu Subsystem:
export WSL_HOME="%userprofile%\\AppData\\Local\\Packages\\CanonicalGroupLimited.UbuntuonWindows_79rhkp1fndgsc\\LocalState\\rootfs\\home\\$(whoami)\\"

# If you installed openSUSE Leap 42 Subsystem:
export WSL_HOME="%userprofile%\\AppData\\Local\\Packages\\46932SUSE.openSUSELeap42.2_022rs5jcyhyac\\LocalState\\rootfs\\home\\$(whoami)\\"

# If you installed SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Subsystem:
export WSL_HOME="%userprofile%\\AppData\\Local\\Packages\\46932SUSE.SUSELinuxEnterpriseServer12SP2_022rs5jcyhyac\\LocalState\\rootfs\\home\\$(whoami)\\"

2. Once you've saved your ~/.bashrc file, run:

source ~/.bashrc

Accessing Linux files with Windows applications via cmd.exe calls from the terminal:*

# This is within the Linux terminal

cmd.exe /C dir "$WSL_HOME"

* Note: This is used in notes2pdf to open generated PDFs

Installing texlive packages (Linux and Windows)

In a terminal, do one of the following:

sudo apt-get install texlive-full

or

sudo apt-get install texlive-latex-extra texlive-latex-recommended

Installing Git and texlive (Mac*)

Git

In a terminal, run

git --version

If Git isn't installed, you should be prompted to install it

texlive

The texlive package can be downloaded from here
If you have issues, check out the FAQ

* I do not own a Mac, so I have not tested this myself

Installing Notes2PDF

Mac Users:

If you want to be able to use tab completion with notes2pdf:

1. Install Homebrew
2. In the terminal run:

brew install bash
brew install bash-completion

3. Add the following to ~/.bash_profile:

if [ -f $(brew --prefix)/etc/bash_completion ]; then
 	source $(brew --prefix)/etc/bash_completion
fi

Open a terminal and run:

git clone https://github.com/sleepless-p03t/Notes2PDF.git
cd Notes2PDF
sudo cp notes2pdf /usr/local/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/notes2pdf

# Adding the tab completion:
mkdir ~/.notes2pdf/
cp n2p_complete ~/.notes2pdf/

Open ~/.bashrc in your editor of choice and add the following:

if [ -f ~/.notes2pdf/n2p_complete ]; then
	source ~/.notes2pdf/n2p_complete
fi

Adding Syntax Highlighting to Vim and Notepad++

If you want to add syntax rules and keyword completion for notes files to vim:
Note: ~/.vim and ~/.vimrc are Linux/OSX only
Users with Vim installed in Windows: Check here for vim/vimrc locations

mkdir -p ~/.vim/ftdetect/
mkdir -p ~/.vim/syntax/
mkdir -p ~/.vim/words/

cp vim/ftdetect/notes.vim ~/.vim/ftdetect/
cp vim/syntax/notes.vim ~/.vim/syntax/
cp vim/words/notes.txt ~/.vim/words/

Next add the following to the end of your ~/.vimrc file:

let g:udefault = g:colors_name

if !exists("*SetNotesScheme")
	function SetNotesScheme()
		if &background ==# "dark" && g:colors_name !=# "elflord"
			colorscheme elflord
			syntax on
		elseif exists("g:colors_name")
			if g:colors_name ==# "evening"
				set background="light"
				syntax on
			endif
		else
			colorscheme evening
			set background="light"
			syntax on
		endif
	endfunction
endif

if !exists("*SetDefaultScheme")
	function SetDefaultScheme()
		execute ':colorscheme ' . g:udefault
		syntax on
	endfunction
endif

autocmd BufEnter,WinEnter * call SetDefaultScheme()

autocmd BufEnter,WinEnter *.notes call SetNotesScheme()
autocmd BufLeave,WinLeave *.notes call SetDefaultScheme()

If you want to add syntax highlighting to Notepad++ (Windows/Linux)
From the terminal do:

# Windows
cp notepad++/notes.xml $WHOME/notes.xml
# Linux
cp notepad++/notes.xml ~/notes.xml

2. Open Notepad++ (Notepad++ can be installed/run via Wine in Linux)
3. Under the Language menu, select Define Your Language...
4. Click Import...
5. Select the notes.xml file from your user/home directory
6. Restart Notepad++
7. Now you should see the Notes language at the bottom of the Language list

Running Notes2PDF

Assuming LaTeX is installed properly, Notes2PDF should work immediately

In a terminal, run:

notes2pdf <file>.notes

Notes2PDF also can be run with other options:

notes2pdf <switch(es)> <file>.notes

Switches include:

Short Name	Long Name	Arguments	Description
-h	--help	n/a	Display usage information
-v	--verbose	n/a	Display verbose output of processing
-d	--debug	n/a	Retain files for debugging purposes
-e	--execute	n/a	Attempt to compile/execute source blocks; requires script if input needs to be captured
-o	--output	file name	Specify the name of the PDF to be generated
-p	--preview	n/a	Open PDF upon completion

Assuming no errors exist in the notes file, Notes2PDF will run successfully

Help and Tips

Notes2PDF is relatively expandable
It currently supports:

• Titles
• Bullets
• Inline equations
• equation blocks
• Fractions
• a choose b notation
• Table formatting
• Syntax highlighting for programming languages
• Can insert program output
• Bold, underline, and italics formatting

The Notes Syntax

Bullet lists

Titles are defined as
- # Title

Bullet list start
- LSTS
Bullet list end
- LSTE
Lines starting with * denote bullets
- *
Any text that immediately follows * is treated as the bullet icon
- *text

Bullet levels are defined by indentation (tabs)

Equation blocks

Equation block start
- EQUS
Equation block end
- EQUE

Source code blocks

Source code block start; language specified with :language
- SRCS:language
Source code block end
- SRCE

Source code groups

Groups combine multiple source code blocks together so that a full program can be run
Source code group block start; file name specified with :filename
- GRPS:filename
Source code group block end
- GRPE

Tables

Table start; number of columns is the first argument, table title is the second argument
- TBLS:cols:title
Table end
- TBLE

Columns are separated by tabs

note: the first row of the table is treated as the column titles

Math Formatting

Inline math formatting: everything between the parantheses is treated as math

• equ()
• EX: equ(g(x) = x^2 + (x-2) + 5)
  Fraction formatting: between the parentheses is numerator/denominator which can also be fractions
• frc(numerator/denominator)
• EX: frc(12/frc(7/4))
  Combinations formatting: between the parentheses is n,r
• cmb(n,r)
• EX: cmb(4,2)

These can all be used together:

• EX: equ(frc(cmb(4,2) + cmb(3,1)/cmb(7,3)))

An example can be viewed here
And the generated PDF can be viewed here

The PDF was generated with the following:

notes2pdf -e template.notes

If you have any questions or issues, you can email me at sleepless.genesis6@gmail.com