Customizing DBT

DBT is intended to be used for a wide variety of braille production needs for populations the world over. The developers have done what they can to make it versatile and useful. If DBT is not already perfect for your needs -- and it likely isn't -- there are things that you can do to make it better. Specifically:

• You can create custom templates.
• You can create custom embosser definitions.
• You can write macros to run on demand in the current document. (Other applications of macros are under discussion.)

The last facility is new in DBT 14.1. Macros are a very powerful tool, for they can be used to transform an entire document. Before you start to write macros for DBT, you need two things:

• An understanding of the Python language, and
• Information about DBT extensions to the Python language.