UDO expects a text file that you can edit with every ASCII editor. You should use only printable characters. That means you shouldn't use any characters below "space" except ASCII 9 (tab), ASCII 10 (line feed) and ASCII 13 (carriage return). A line of a source file shouldn't contain more than 512 characters.
UDO layouts the destination file itself. That means that it fills in spaces between words and lines between paragraphs:
You can compose the source file using different charsets. UDO supports the following character sets:
When UDO starts the conversion it excepts the character set that is used on the current operating system. If you want to convert source files that use characters from a different operating system you have to tell it to UDO by using the upper commands. Additional information can be found in the chapter "Special characters".
Commands: | An UDO command begins with a single "!" at the
beginning of a line, it may be indented by spaces or tabs. A command
tells UDO to do something where you used it e.g. to output the table
of contents with !tableofcontents.
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Switches: | An UDO switch begins with a single "!" at the beginning
of a line, it may be indented by spaces or tabs. A switch tells UDO
how to handle some commands e.g. !language english that
switches the language of the destination file to English so that UDO
will print "Appendix" instead of "Anhang".
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Placeholders: | An UDO placeholder begins with a "(!" and ends with a
single ")". A placeholder is replaced by certain characters
e.g. `(!B)' by `{\bf' for LaTeX. You can use placeholders wherever
you want.
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A source file can contain comments. UDO ignores a line if the first character of a line is a `#'. This character mustn't be indented by spaces or tabs!
Inside a verbatim environment or raw environment you cannot use comments because UDO prints every line of such an environment.
Each source file has to contain a preamble and a main part.
In the preamble you define general information about the source file like information for the title page or the switches that tell UDO how to convert the source file. The preamble ends with the command !begin_document.
The main part contains the text structured into chapters, sections or subsections. The main part ends with the command !end_document.
An environment is a part of a source file that has to be converted in a special way. Environments will be started with !begin_ and finished with !end_. The commands have to be the first words of a line. They may be indented by spaces or tabs.
UDO offers you a large range of environments that will help you to layout your text and to insert special commands:
appendix environment: | appendix |
center environment: | centred text |
description environment: | descriptions |
document environment: | documentation contents |
enumerate environment: | enumerations |
flushleft environment: | left justified text |
flushright environment: | right justified text |
itemize environment: | itemizations |
quote environment: | indented text |
raw environment: | special commands for the destination format |
table environment: | tables |
verbatim environment: | preformatted text |
xlist environment: | lists |
How the text of an environment is formatted you can find in the according sections.