bibtex(n)							      bibtex								 bibtex(n)

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NAME

       bibtex - Parse bibtex files

SYNOPSIS

       package require Tcl  8.4

       package require bibtex  ?0.5?

       ::bibtex::parse ?options? ?text?

       ::bibtex::parse text

       ::bibtex::parse ?-command cmd? -channel chan

       ::bibtex::parse	?-recordcommand    recordcmd?  ?-preamblecommand  preamblecmd?	?-stringcommand   stringcmd? ?-commentcommand  commentcmd?
       ?-progresscommand progresscmd? (text | -channel chan)

       ::bibtex::wait token

       ::bibtex::destroy token

       ::bibtex::addStrings token stringdict

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DESCRIPTION

       This package provides commands for the parsing of bibliographies in BibTeX format.

       ::bibtex::parse ?options? ?text?
	      This is the general form of the command for parsing a bibliography. Depending on the options used to invoke it it will either return
	      a token for the parser, or the parsed entries of the input bibliography. Instead of performing an immediate parse returning a prede-
	      fined format the command can also enter an event-based parsing style where all relevant entries in the input  are  reported  through
	      callback commands, in the style of SAX.

       ::bibtex::parse text
	      In  this	form  the command will assume that the specified text is a bibliography in BibTeX format, parse it, and then return a list
	      containing one element per record found in the bibliography. Note that comments, string definitions, preambles, etc. will  not  show
	      up  in  the result.  Each element will be a list containing record type, bibliography key and record data, in this order. The record
	      data will be a dictionary, its keys the keys of the record, with the associated values.

       ::bibtex::parse ?-command cmd? -channel chan
	      In this form the command will reads the bibliography from the specified Tcl channel chan and then returns the same data structure as
	      described above.

	      If  however the option -command is specified the result will be a handle for the parser instead and all processing will be incremen-
	      tal and happen in the background. When the input has been exhausted the callback cmd will be invoked with the result of  the  parse.
	      The exact definition for the callback is

	      cmd token parseresult
		     The parse result will have the structure explained above, for the simpler forms of the parser.

       Note that the parser will not close the channel after it has exhausted it. This is still the responsibility of the user of the parser.

       ::bibtex::parse	?-recordcommand    recordcmd?  ?-preamblecommand  preamblecmd?	?-stringcommand   stringcmd? ?-commentcommand  commentcmd?
       ?-progresscommand progresscmd? (text | -channel chan)
	      This is the most low-level form for the parser. The returned result will be a handle for	the  parser.  During  processing  it  will
	      invoke the invoke the specified callback commands for each type of data found in the bibliography.

	      The processing will be incremental and happen in the background if, and only if a Tcl channel chan is specified. For a text the pro-
	      cessing will happen immediately and all callbacks will be invoked before the command itself returns.

	      The callbacks, i.e. *cmd, are all command prefixes and will be invoked with additional arguments appended to them.  The  meaning	of
	      the  arguments  depends  on  the callback and is explained below. The first argument will however always be the handle of the parser
	      invoking the callback.

	      recordcmd token type key recorddict
		     This callback is invoked whenever the parser detects a bibliography record in the input. Its arguments are the  record  type,
		     the bibliography key for the record, and a dictionary containing the keys and values describing the record. Any string macros
		     known to the parser have already been expanded.

	      preamblecmd token preambletext
		     This callback is invoked whenever the parser detects an @preamble block in the input. The only  additional  argument  is  the
		     text found in the preamble block. By default such entries are ignored.

	      stringcmd token stringdict
		     This  callback  is invoked whenever the parser detects an @string-based macro definition in the input. The argument is a dic-
		     tionary with the macro names as keys and their replacement strings as values. By default such definitions are  added  to  the
		     parser state for use in future bibliography records.

	      commentcmd token commenttext
		     This  callback  is  invoked  whenever  the parser detects a comment in the input. The only additional argument is the comment
		     text. By default such entries are ignored.

	      progresscmd token percent
		     This callback is invoked during processing to tell the user about the progress which has been made. Its argument is the  per-
		     centage  of  data processed, as integer number between 0 and 100.	In the case of incremental processing the perecentage will
		     always be -1 as the total number of entries is not known beforehand.

       ::bibtex::wait token
	      This command waits for the parser represented by the token to complete and then returns. The returned result is the empty string.

       ::bibtex::destroy token
	      This command cleans up all internal state associated with the parser represented by the handle  token,  effectively  destroying  it.
	      This command can be called from within the parser callbacks to terminate processing.

       ::bibtex::addStrings token stringdict
	      This command adds the macro definitions stored in the dictionary stringdict to the parser represented by the handle token.

	      The  dictionary keys are the macro names and the values their replacement strings. This command has the correct signature for use as
	      a -stringcommand callback in an invokation of the command ::bibtex::parse.

BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK
       This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and other problems.  Please report such in the  category  bibtex
       of the Tcllib SF Trackers [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=12883].  Please also report any ideas for enhancements you may have for
       either package and/or documentation.

KEYWORDS

       bibliography, bibtex, parsing, text processing

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 2005 for documentation, Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users.sourceforge.net>

bibtex									0.5								 bibtex(n)