How To Use MikTeX to Read the ATOC Template File (and how to make it your own).

--Log In
--Start Menu>>All Programs>>TeXnic Center>>TeXnicCenter
--Close Startup Tips

--Configuration Wizard (Only required the first time you open)
  --Click Next
  --For entering the full path:
    --Click the ... button to the right of the empty box
    --Browse to My Computer>>Local Disk (C:)>>Program Files>>MiKTeX 2.5>>miktex>>bin
    --Click OK
  --Click Next
  --Click Finish
--Exit TeXnic Center

--Now, open a browser and go to CULearn.colorado.edu, log in, and find the ATOC 5051 LaTeX template under course content
--in the LaTeX Folder, click on latextemplate
--Choose open with compressedfolder
--In one of the windows that opens, do Extract All Files
--In the extraction wizard, browse to save the extracted files somewhere convenient, e.g., My Documents

--To Start a new Project based on the template:
  --Start Menu>>My Documents
  --Select template 
  --Right Click and select Copy
  --Click somewhere else in the directory to deselect template
  --right click and select paste
  --rename 'Copy of template'  to 'Project 1' or whatever
  --Go into 'Project 1'
  --Double click on atocsample.tex
  --When the 'Open WIth' dialog comes up, choose browse
  --Select TeXnicCenter>>TEXCNTR  then OK.
  --Select OK again.
  --Now you should be able to double-click on any .tex file and it will automatically open TeXnicCenter.

--You should now have the version of atocsample.tex in 'Project 1' open in TeXnicCenter.


Basics of TeXnicCenter/LaTeX

The atocsample.tex file is a text file, which opens in the embedded window in TeXnicCenter.  

Everything after a % is 'commented out', that is, you can read it to yourself, but it will not affect the output of LaTeX.   This is useful to make notes to yourself, and there are a lot of instructions in the atocsample.tex file hidden this way.  TeXnicCenter automatically colors all of the commented-out stuff grey.

LaTeX uses special commands (colored blue by TeXnicCenter) to do things, like make titles, start and end sections, and start and end the document.  The black text is either an input to one of these special commands, or the text of the article itself.

TeXnicCenter will also occasionally highlight things to help you, like connecting open parentheses to closed parentheses.

To view what the 'real output' looks like do Build>>Current File>>Build and View

This will give you something in a new window.  The only problem will be that the figures don't appear!  This is because LaTeX doesn't know how big to make them.  You can see in the bottom of the TeXnicCenter window that while TeXnicCenter was working along, it found errors (marked with a red X) saying things like 'Cannot determine size of graphic in toplogo.pdf (no BoundingBox)'

This obscure bit of terminology means that LaTeX is trying to open the pdf files as .eps files.  Windows or Mac OSX usually won't let you do such a thing, since these systems trust themselves more than you.  However, LaTeX gives you the power to try to do things wrong!

We will fix this problem by using all pdf files as input.  At the top row of the TeXnicCenter, you will see a pull-down menu that says LaTex=>DVIPS or something.  Change that to read LaTeX=>PDF.  

Now try  Build>>Current File>>Build and View again.  You should see a file that has all the figures in place.  Moreover, if you look in the 'Project 1' directory, you will now find an atocsample.pdf file that is precisely the output you just made.  So, every time you do 'Build and View', TeXnicCenter automatically builds the pdf for you.  

In fact, you might have noticed that the 'view' part of build and view was actually opening Adobe Reader for you...

So, this is the basic setup for our system.  Now getting things help on LaTeX is surprisingly easy with the internet. LaTeX users are constantly finding tricks and putting them up as webpages.  All you need to do is find a sufficiently specific keyword, which might be the command name or might be the error output from the TeXnicCenter output log at the bottom of the window.

Good Luck!


FOR THOSE OF YOU TRYING ON YOUR OWN WINDOWS MACHINE:

The installation of Protext is a big unconventional.  After you download the .zip file from www.tug.org, you will find that it will run an installer to put C:/Program Files/ProText on your machine.  INSTALLATION isn't over yet, though.  You need to open the file C:/Program Files/ProText/Install/protext-install-en.  This pdf file has places you can click that will let you install the rest of the software appropriately.  Just click in order top to bottom and you're done.

FOR THOSE OF YOU TRYING ON A MAC:

The installation of TeXShop is really simple on a Mac.  From www.tug.org, you can download a .dmg disk image that will self-install everything.  Then, you just go to Applications/TeX/TeXShop and double-click.  Once TeXshop is running, you can just open up the atocsample.tex file that you downloaded from the template directory downloaded from CULearn (or a copy of it called Project 1 or whatever).  Just click on the Typeset button at the top to see what the output currently looks like (this will also automatically generate a atocsample.pdf file in the same directory as atocsample.tex).  


Good Luck to everybody, and send me emails if things don't work.