[comp.sys.mac] Xref - Bibliography/cross-reference HC stack

barad@othello.usc.edu.UUCP (09/16/87)

I have created a HyperCard stack that I call Xref.  It performs
several functions.

1. It acts as a simple database to keep track of bibliography data of
many types of references.  I use the same categories as the BiBTeX and
Scribe systems: Article, Book, Tech. Report, Proceedings, etc.

2. It will create merge files to use with a word processor (I know
this will work with Word, maybe others) to number cross-references of
figures, tables, and equations.  It will also number bibliography
references in order of citation.

3. It will create a merge file to format a complete bibliography
section to append to your document.

I have written this because I need something like this for my thesis.
It works in the same vein as Scholar's Aid, but does have some
differences.

Advantages:

. It's free, not shareware
. It uses HyperCard and does not restrict you to some database that
you might not have (although I have to admit that I did write this
using MPW shell and Helix at first).
. It does distinguish between articles, books, proceedings, and so on
to format the bibliography.
. You can change the format of the bibliography - however, this is not
automatically done for you, but you have access to change it.

Disadvantages:

. It uses HyperTalk and could benefit from some of the code written as
a XFCN or XCMD to speed it up.  To process a large thesis might take
on the order of 20 minutes.  Then again, you shouldn't do this
processing until the final copy.
. You need to save a copy of the file as plain text for input.  This
is not really bad as it is the FORMATTED copy that gets updated.  I
have not yet written an XFCN to read formatted Word files.  Anyway,
this makes it more universal as any word processor that handles mail
merging in the same way as Word can be used.

Would anyone be interested in this?  Should I post it?


Herb Barad	[USC - Signal and Image Processing Institute]
email:	barad@brand.usc.edu	or
	...!sdcrdcf!oberon!brand!barad

david@hpsmtc1.UUCP (09/17/87)

Yup, I'd like it! But then I'm just in a talkative mood today!