How to input independent content into Latex doc?

Question

I have a document like:

\documentclass{article} 
  \begin{document}
    \begin{itemize}
      \item First
      \item Second
      \item Third
    \end{itemize}
  \end{document}

which I want to fill with different values for \item. That is, generate different documents, with the same layout, but different items.

The items could be loaded from a text file, which could have any easily readable form like:

 #1#First item
 #2#Second item

Or some other light mark-up. How can I set some kind of variables in the Latex document, to import items from the other file?

E.g. Example of mailmerge package with an Excel spreadsheet, or pgfplotstable or datatool, or Importing parameters from a separate file. — Alan Munn, Jan 15 '17 at 21:17

score 2 · Answer 1 · 2017-01-15T22:15:28.563

The question is a little bit vague about the content to be loaded.

I've assumed a file name foocontent.txt and a .tex file called foo.tex, the compilation is done this way

pdflatex "\def\filetoload{foocontent.txt}\input{foo}"

on command line (or in a commandline box of those editors)

The code will load the file and read its content line by line using expl3 features and storing it to a \seq variable which is displayed later on with \displayfilecontent within \begin{itemize}...\end{itemize}.

As 'defined' each entry for an \item must appear on a separate line and can be 'any' LaTeX content.

It's the 'quick' way I'm generating lists for many students etc.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{xparse}

\ExplSyntaxOn
\ior_new:N \l_local_file_handle
\seq_new:N \g_local_content_seq
\cs_new:Nn \store_content_to_seq:n {%
  \seq_gput_right:Nn \g_local_content_seq {#1}
}

\NewDocumentCommand{\readfromfile}{m}{
  \ior_open:Nn \l_local_file_handle {#1}
  \ior_map_inline:Nn \l_local_file_handle {\store_content_to_seq:n{##1} }
  \ior_close:N \l_local_file_handle
}

\NewDocumentCommand{\displayfilecontent}{}{%
  \seq_map_inline:Nn \g_local_content_seq { \item ##1 }
}
\ExplSyntaxOff

\begin{document}

\readfromfile{\filetoload}

\begin{itemize}
\displayfilecontent
\end{itemize}
\end{document}

Here is foocontent.txt

And
Now
For
Something
Completely
Different
And 
Totally
\textcolor{blue}{Strange}
Things

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 16 '17 at 01:09

The following example uses datatool to read in a CSV containing two columns (without headers) in the following form:

1,First item
2,Second item
3,Third item

Items are set using the default environment's \item or using the first column entries (\fixedenumerate):

\documentclass{article} 

\usepackage{filecontents,datatool}
\begin{filecontents*}{mylist.csv}
1,First item
2,Second item
3,Third item
\end{filecontents*}

\newif\ifdefaultenumerate
\newcommand{\defaultenumerate}{\defaultenumeratetrue}
\newcommand{\fixedenumerate}{\defaultenumeratefalse}

\newcommand{\processCSV}[1]{%
  \DTLifdbexists{CSVinput}{\DTLgdeletedb{CSVinput}}{}%
  \DTLloaddb[noheader,keys={Number,Text}]{CSVinput}{#1}%
  \DTLforeach{CSVinput}{\Number=Number,\Text=Text}{%
    \ifdefaultenumerate
      \item
    \else
      \item[\Number]
    \fi
    \Text
  }
}

\begin{document}

\begin{itemize}
  \item First
  \item Second
  \item Third
\end{itemize}

\begin{itemize}
  \processCSV{mylist.csv}
\end{itemize}

\begin{enumerate}
  \processCSV{mylist.csv}
\end{enumerate}

\defaultenumerate
\begin{enumerate}
  \processCSV{mylist.csv}
\end{enumerate}

\end{document}

How to input independent content into Latex doc?

2 Answers2