Document Classes ⇒ Construction Specifications

[shredator]

Has anyone ever used latex for construction specs? It seems to me like it would be a great tool, as specs are often very long and have a lot of formatting. If anyone has done this already, or knows or any good packages or templates, that might help, I would appreciate suggestions.

I am currently trying to write a document that will create specs. One thing that I am currently stumbling with is how to automate organization of the document. The way that this type of specification document works is that each chapter (usually called 'section' in the specs) is numbered based on its content. So you might have a chapter called '264216 Passive Cathodic Protection' and the next chapter might be '330130.61 Sewer and Pipe Joint Sealing'. It would be great if I could have one file that contained all of the preamble, formatting stuff and table of contents, and then have a folder that I could throw a bunch of files containing the text of the chapters into, and not have to include each individual file in the order i want it to appear in the master document. That is, have latex arrange the chapters in asending numerical order (but not necessarily sequential) on its own, and then of course generate an accurate toc.

any idea how one might go about doing this?

[mkalin]

We tried LaTeX for construction specifications but never got past the prototype stage. What most specifiers are looking for is a document assembly program, like a PDF form. Specs have never been graded on appearance. If you would like some sample short-form specs to try on your approach let me know. We have a family of 268 master sections.

[shredator]

I suppose that something like a pdf form might be more convienent to edit once the specs are written, but i am going to be writing almost everything myself in this case. We are a municipality that has decided to convert our specs and front-end documents, which are currently formatted similar to CalTrans specs to Masterformat in order to better mesh with specs that we typically get from consultants. anyway, Latex was attractive to me because I can 'just type' instead of having to type/mouse a bunch.

I would really appreciate being able to have a look at your 'prototype' if thats ok with you. Ill pm my email address.

[mtgibbs]

I've also been interested in this and have not seen much about it, though it seems like a perfect application for LaTeX. One issue for me in implementing it though is that others in my department have to work on the specs and I'm afraid I would get resistance because it doesn't work in a common word-processor that they are all "familiar" with. And a pdf form wouldn't really work as the specs need to be modified, possibly significantly, for each job.

[shredator]

Yeah, Im a bit worried about the reception that Ill get from the rest of my department as well. I have yet to unveil my intentions to them... I think that once I have a working template file, I will be able do demonstrate that compiling specs for individual projects will be much easier than it currently is with word.

I am going to research how to create a new document class, hopefully Ill come up with something usefull...

[mtgibbs]

Yes, compiling 300 or 400+ pages of specs for a project in Word and making sure all of the formatting and whatnot comes out correctly is a pain, to say the least. And, since not everyone that writes specs actually knows how to use Word effectively, perhaps it would not be any more difficult to teach them how to write specs in LaTeX than to write specs correctly in Word.

I've not made any LaTeX templates yet myself, but I might be able to give you a hand if you need it.