Effortlessly Post Math Formulas with a LaTeX Parser/Converter on Your Website

[XTTX]

Long time lurker, first time poster, and I'm embarrassed that my first post is a request. I'm in the process of creating a website which will require being able to post mathematical formulae by the public, and the best solution I've thought of for this is the same LaTeX solution that this forum uses, seeing as it is probably the most user-friendly that I have seen with the LaTeX Reference box. The website doesn't use VBulletin, but it will use a similar, custom made solution. So, I was just wondering if anybody could point me towards the right direction towards either an implementation-ready package that's already been made or how to make a parser myself. I do know PHP and HTML, and I'm learning Java (not JavaScript)

 

[-Job-]

There are LaTeX packages available for Windows and Linux, in these packages you should find executables for converting a LaTeX doc into a .dvi (print file) and for converting a .dvi to .png, .pdf or ps.

In PHP you can call executables using the exec() function, so you can save the LaTeX document to a file, call the latex executable to generate the dvi, and then call png/pdf/ps converters to generate the desired file type.

This a multi-step process but is actually not that bad in terms of performance. There are some Perl/CGI alternatives (MimeTeX for example) that receive the latex code and convert to image (.gif) directly, so they're faster but they don't usually support all the LaTeX commands and packages (which is ok if you're just looking to use LaTeX for math expressions here and there rather than full-sized documents).

Here's some links:
http://us.php.net/manual/en/function.exec.php
http://www.miktex.org/
http://www.latex-project.org/
http://www.latex-community.org/
http://www.forkosh.com/mimetex.html

 

[tacman]

Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out and sharing your request with us. It's great to hear that you have been following this community for some time and have found the LaTeX parser/converter to be a user-friendly solution for posting mathematical formulas.

In terms of implementing this on your own website, there are a few options you can consider. One option is to use a pre-existing package or plugin that has already been developed and is ready for implementation. You can search for "LaTeX parser for website" or "LaTeX converter for website" to find some options that may work for you. Additionally, you can reach out to web development communities or forums for recommendations and support.

If you are looking to create your own parser, you can start by familiarizing yourself with the syntax and structure of LaTeX and then exploring different programming languages that could support this functionality on your website. As you mentioned, you have experience with PHP and HTML, so you may want to consider using those languages for your parser. There are also resources and tutorials available online that can guide you through the process of creating a parser.

I hope this helps point you in the right direction. Best of luck with your website and implementing the LaTeX parser/converter!