document-classesdocumentclass-writingtemplatesthesis
I want to design a new LaTeX for my college thesis, so that all students could use it. I have decent understanding of how LaTeX works.
I am looking for some nice article explaining how to write a LaTeX class file. Whether it would be nice to modify an existing one or start from the scratch?
listings package provides an elegant way to include an external programming source code as demonstrated below.
Assume that you have an external programming source code named project.cs:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;
namespace WpfApplication1
{
/// <summary>
/// Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
/// </summary>
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
}
You can import the code from within your report.
\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{listings}
\lstset
{
basicstyle=\tt\scriptsize,
identifierstyle=\color{blue},
commentstyle=\color{red},
breaklines=true,
backgroundcolor=\color{yellow!30},
numbers=none,
language=[Sharp]C
}
\begin{document}
\lstinputlisting{project.cs}
\end{document}
Output:
For further details how to use listings package, run texdoc listings to show the listings package manual. There are too many options that I cannot show one by one.
For drawing UML, you can use PSTricks package named as pst-uml.
You seem to confuse some things and terms here.
You should never edit existing class or package files, at least not without changing the file name. This is a major point of the LPPL license. If you want to customize a class rename it and make your changes there. Even better would be to load the existing class using \LoadClass or \LoadClassWithOptions and then (re-)define all macros and settings the way you want it.
Every class files is located in <name>.cls file, if it is an "original" class or a derived class (i.e. based on another class). There are no "templates" in LaTeX. People keep using this expression and keep confusing it with class files.
Best Answer
The first question you need to answer before you embark on such an endeavour is the raison d'être for writing a new class. In many cases a small package might be a better idea.
I would start from using and understanding an existing class such as classicthesis, make a list of the changes that you want and then fork it into something new.
My suggestion is to target any new thesis class for
XeLaTeXto get more freedom for fonts andutf-8encoding.A good source of information on the technicalities of writing a class is Reference guide to begin writing a class and/or a package.