Chap 2 » info about modifying FlashCards config files

006/include/chap02.tex

@@ -1,2 +1,83 @@
-\chapter{This is the second chapter}
+\chapter{Easy Flashcards in \LaTeX{} }
+
+\section{Introduction}
+
+\section{The FlashCards Package}
+
+\subsection{About the FlashCards Package}
+
+\subsection{Modifying the FlashCards Configuration Files}
+
+There's just one catch with the FlashCards package: it only includes support for business cards and $3\times5$ index cards. The documentation says that variants are easy to generate, so there has to be a way to do that, right? As it turns out, there is. The first step is to find those configuration files. 
+
+The first step is to find those configuration files. We have a couple of options here. The first is to look in the \texttt{.log} file of any project we've used the \texttt{flashcards} package. Looking at my ``Rules of Acquisition'' log file showed me this on line 9: 
+
+\begin{Verbatim}[frame=lines, numbers=left, xleftmargin=5mm, framesep=3mm, breaklines=true, label=\fbox{Location of FlashCards class file}]
+(/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/latex/flashcards/flashca rds.cls
+\end{Verbatim}
+
+and this on lines 41-43:
+
+\begin{Verbatim}[frame=lines, numbers=left, xleftmargin=5mm, framesep=3mm, breaklines=true, label=\fbox{Location of FlashCards configuration file}]
+(/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/latex/flashcards/avery537 1.cfg
+File: avery5371.cfg 
+)
+\end{Verbatim}
+
+If we're on the command line, we could also the \texttt{kpsewhich} command to look for the package name \texttt{.cls} file, like this: 
+
+\input{include/kpsewhich}
+
+which gives us this output:
+
+\begin{Verbatim}[frame=lines, numbers=left, xleftmargin=5mm, framesep=3mm, breaklines=true, label=\fbox{Output of kpsewhich Command}]
+ls
+/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/latex/flashcards/flashcar ds.cls
+\end{Verbatim}
+
+Since I don't want to poke around in my default \texttt{/usr} directory (which would require \texttt{sudo} and is not something that can be backed up easily), the solution is to use our own \texttt{texmf} directory, where we can install our own packages and make modifications to them easily.\footnote{See \S 7.1.2 ``Method \#2'' in issue \#3 for more information.}
+
+I already had that folder, so I duplicated the file path (\texttt{/tex/latex/flas\\hcards}) there, copied over the \texttt{avery5371.cfg} file, and renamed it to \texttt{avery5389.cfg}, which is the format for a 2-up $4\times6$ index card, and opened it up for editing. 
+
+The first thing I did was to do a quick search and replace, swapping out ``5389'' for ``5371''. The second thing I did was to change the relevant lines in the config file to fit the $4\times6$ card format. So I changed all of these lines:
+
+\begin{Verbatim}[frame=lines, numbers=left, xleftmargin=5mm, framesep=3mm, breaklines=true, label=\fbox{Configuration for Avery 5371 Stock}]
+\newcommand{\cardpapermode}{portrait}
+\newcommand{\cardpaper}{letterpaper}
+\newcommand{\cardrows}{5}
+\newcommand{\cardcolumns}{2}
+\setlength{\cardheight}{2.0in}
+\setlength{\cardwidth}{3.5in}
+\setlength{\topoffset}{0.50in}
+\setlength{\oddoffset}{0.75in}
+\setlength{\evenoffset}{0.75in}
+\end{Verbatim}
+
+to have these values:
+
+\begin{Verbatim}[frame=lines, numbers=left, xleftmargin=5mm, framesep=3mm, breaklines=true, label=\fbox{Configuration for Avery 5389 Stock}]
+\newcommand{\cardpapermode}{portrait}
+\newcommand{\cardpaper}{letterpaper}
+\newcommand{\cardrows}{2}
+\newcommand{\cardcolumns}{1}
+\setlength{\cardheight}{4.0in}
+\setlength{\cardwidth}{6.0in}
+\setlength{\topoffset}{1.5in}
+\setlength{\oddoffset}{1.25in}
+\setlength{\evenoffset}{1.25in}
+\end{Verbatim}
+
+I then saved the file and closed it.
+
+The only thing left to do was to inform \TeX{} about this new file by running 
+
+\input{include/mktexlsr}
+
+I then changed the first line of my ``Rules of Acquistion'' flashcards project to 
+
+\begin{Verbatim}[]
+\documentclass[avery5389,grid]{flashcards}
+\end{Verbatim}
+
+I re-compiled the project, and indeed, I now had the Ferengi Rules of Acquistion on $4\times6$ index cards! Easy-peasy!
 

006/include/kpsewhich.tex

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+\begin{Verbatim}[]
+$ kpsewhich flascards.cls
+\end{Verbatim}

006/include/mktexlsr.tex

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+\begin{Verbatim}[]
+$ sudo mktexlsr
+\end{Verbatim}