For these instructions, we start with a Duxbury *.dxp file that contains a combination of text and math. How do you create such a file? You can start in braille following other instructions here. Or you can start with a MathType/Word or Scientific Notebook file which you have imported into DBT 11.3.
To follow these instructions, you need to have a copy of Microsoft Word installed, plus a copy of MathType by Design Science. Both of these programs cost money.
From DBT's file menu, select Save As, specify the new name for your file, and choose Word Document as the File type.
Now launch Word. Open the newly created file. Use control-A to select All. From the MathType Menu, choose Publish, then choose Toggle TeX. You should see the entire file change to show text and math equations. You can now print out math equations and text which, depending on how you created your file, might have been in braille a minute or so ago.
If the Toggle TeX option is greyed out, it indicates the process of producing this file has hit a snag. One user reports that saving the Word file, closing Word, and then re-launching Word allows many files to "work". Your mileage may vary. The problem might be caused by an error in the text (such as starting a square root and not ending it), or a program bug in DBT. If you need help, send the source *.dxp file as an e-mail attachment to languages@duxsys.com.
For these instructions, we start with a Duxbury *.dxp file that contains a combination of text and math. How do you create such a file? You can start in braille following other instructions here. Or you can start with a .dxp file that you have created by importing a MathType/Word or Scientific Notebook file into DBT 11.3
To follow these instructions, you need to have a copy of Scientific Notebook or Scientific Viewer installed, Scientific Viewer is freeware, Scientific Notebook costs money.
From DBT's file menu, select Save As, specify the new name for your file, and choose LaTeX as the File type.
Now launch Scientfic Notebook or Scientific Viewer. Open the newly created file. You should see the entire file as text and math equations. You can now print out math equations and text which, depending on how you created your file, might have been in braille a minute or so ago.
If you do not get what you expected, it indicates the process of producing this file has hit a snag. This might be caused by an error in the text (such as starting a square root and not ending it), or a program bug in DBT. If you need help, send the source *.dxp file as an e-mail attachment to languages@duxsys.com.
A braille formatted file is a file containing the ASCII characters used to stand for braille laid out in a file the same way a braille page is laid out. Here is a sample file:
,! quadratic =mula says3 ,if
;;;ax9#b"6bx"6c "7 #j;'1 !n ;;;x "7
("-a_6%b9#b"-#d;ac+./#b;a);'4
Import the file into DBT, using either the English (UEB) - BANA or the English (UEB) - UK formatting DBT Template. Accept the default file type of Braille Formatted File. Once the file is imported, you can press control-T to translate to inkprint.
To produce this file in inkprint, use one of the top two sets of instructions in this group.
A braille formatted file is a file containing the ASCII characters used to stand for braille laid out in a file the same way a braille page is laid out. Here is a sample file:
,! quadratic =mula says3
,if _% ax^2"+bx+c .k #0 _:1 !n
_% x .k ?-a+->b^2"-4ac]/2a# _:4
Our first goal is to add _%_: or _%_: near the top of the file, so it looks like this:
_%_: ,! quadratic =mula says3
,if _% ax^2"+bx+c .k #0 _:1 !n
_% x .k ?-a+->b^2"-4ac]/2a# _:4
These extra 4 characters (shown here at the very beginning of the file) tell DBT to go into math mode, then go back into text mode. This appears to have no effect, but it allows DBT to know you want Nemeth Code braille translated into inkprint. Notice that the braille uses two characters to go into math and two braille characters to go back to text. Your braille file must follow this pattern.
Import the file into DBT, using the English (UEB) - BANA with Nemeth DBT Template. Do not accept the default file type of Braille Formatted File. Instead move down one position to select Formatted Pre-UEB to Print. Once the file is imported, it should be in inkprint.
To produce this file in inkprint, use one of the top two sets of instructions in this group.
In past versions of DBT, when you imported math files from Scientific Notebook into DBT using some of the DBT Templates set up for braille transcribing, the DBT file had very bad formatting. This has been fixed in DBT 11.3. So the instructions for achieving this improvmeent are easy: import files, and enjoy the better braille format.
In previous versions of DBT, we inserted blank lines when a MathType object was not marked as in-line. Experience has shown that MathType does not consistently make use of this paramater. The result was that many persons not wanting extra blank lines in their output got them through DBT.
The change we have made is to not put in blank lines in this situation. We hope this will make our users happy.
One choice offered braille producers in the United States is to use UEB text with Nemeth Code for math. DBT now supports this option. When you import your file, select the English (UEB) - BANA with Nemeth DBT Template.
One issue is that some text (such as problem numbers), is not handled correctly. In the inkprint *.dxp file, use the TextWithinMath DBT Style (you can press F8 in the DBT Editor).
Open a Word document with MathType equations or a LaTeX file from Scientific Notebook in DBT, selecting one of the supplied DBT templates. View the document in the Coded view. Where the original file has technical notation, you will see material marked with the math style in DBT. When you import a document with technical notation, the DBT importer checks to see if your DBT template has a style called math. If so, it assigns the style called math to all the technical notation. The importer places the codes to start and end the math style where in earlier versions it would place the codes [ts] and [te] (for technical notation start and technical notation end). In addition, where the document you are importing has material marked as text within the technical notation, for things like units of measure or words within the math, the DBT importer assigns the style TextWithinMath. In earlier versions of DBT this would be marked with [te] at the start and [ts] at the end.
Why have we started using the styles math and TextWithinMath in place of the [ts] and [te] codes? The user can customize these styles to give the braille math code they want. In previous versions choosing the braille math code required placing a file called altmath.sbt in the DBT program folder and was much more difficult.
To produce a document using Nemeth Code within UEB, use the DBT template called English (UEB) – BANA with Nemeth. In this template the math style begins by inserting the start Nemeth Code indicator _% (with spaces around it) and switches to Nemeth Code translation. The math style ends by switching back to UEB translation and inserting the end Nemeth Code indicator _: (with spaces around it). Anywhere within the math style, applying the style TextWithinMath stays in Nemeth Code with uncontracted braille but outside of technical notation. This allows for the Nemeth punctuation indicator followed by literary punctuation.
When preparing a document in Microsoft Word or Scientific Notebook (or another program producing LaTex) to be produced using Nemeth Code within UEB, you can insert codes to tell the DBT importer to create a section that stays in Nemeth mode even for the problem numbers. To start the section, enter the code [[*idle~ptims*]] or the alternative ImportStayInMathStart. To end the section, enter the code [[*idle~ptime*]] or the alternative ImportStayInMathEnd.
The codes described above are special codes for the DBT math importer. It is important to enter them in your Word document or Scientific Notebook file, not in your DBT document. If you enter them directly in your DBT file, they will have no effect except to become part of the actual text.
What happens where you have entered these special importer codes in your Word or LaTeX file? Where you placed the ImportStayInMathStart code, you will find the begin math style. In braille, that will give the start Nemeth indicator. Where you have entered the ImportStayInMathEnd code, you will find the end math style. In braille that gives the end Nemeth indicator. What happens between these two codes? The material you entered as regular text now has the style TextWithinMath, which is brailled in uncontracted braille in Nemeth context. That is especially useful for problem numbers in a list of problems in technical notation. This allows you to keep problem numbers in Nemeth Code, to avoid repetitive switching with indicators between UEB and Nemeth Code just for the problem numbers