btOOL Links | ||
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Home Origins Greg's Home |
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Created: late 1997 | ||
Updated: 9 July 2007 |
btOOL is a pair of libraries, one in C and one
in Perl, that give programmers unhindered access to BibTeX files.
The C library, btparse, is based on a lexical
scanner and parser written with PCCTS, and also provides various
string-processing functions necessary to emulate BibTeX. It would
be a pain in the neck to write serious BibTeX tools in C, so I have
also written Text::BibTeX, a Perl library that
provides an object-oriented interface to BibTeX files and entries.
In addition, Text::BibTeX includes a framework for writing Perl
classes that do the job of BibTeX style files; the initial version
of the Bib
database structure---eventually meant to
emulate the standard style files of BibTeX 0.99---is included as an
example of using this framework.
Here are some things you might want to download or browse:
The first place to look for known problems is the "BUGS AND LIMITATIONS" sections of the documentation for both btparse and Text::BibTeX. There are a couple of fundamental limitations in btparse that I am aware of, but would not be easy to fix.
There is now a mailing list for support and discussion of the btOOL, hosted by SourceForge. To join, visit the general list info page. The list is quite low-traffic, so don't be shy to join up or post.
You can post to the list by sending email to btool-users@lists.sourceforge.net, but please subscribe first. (I have to approve posts by non-subscribers, and you might not see all replies to your query.)
If you're curious, btOOL came to be after a summer of manic hacking on BibTeX files in an attempt to produce a definitive bibliography of the Brain Imaging Centre's output from 1991--96. My frustration with the arbitrary limits imposed by existing BibTeX tools convinced me that the only solution is a programmer's interface, rather than an attempt at a "one size fits all" solution.