python command line tool for compiling tex documents to pdf online.

onlinetex

#!/usr/bin/env python

import requests

def compile2pdf(ifile, ofile):
    """
    Sends the tex file to sciencesoft.at and compiles it to pdf.
    
    requires two file objects.
    """
    URL = 'http://sciencesoft.at/image/latexurl/%s' % ofile.name
    OPTIONS = {'src' : unicode(ifile.read(), 'utf-8'),
               'dev' : 'pdfwrite',
               'papersize' : 'a4',
               'dpi' : 600,
               'result' : 'false',
               'template' : 'no'}
    r = requests.post(URL, params=OPTIONS)
    r.raise_for_status()
    with ofile as f:
        f.write(r.content)
    

if __name__ == '__main__':

    import argparse

    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='onlinetex', 
                description='Complile latex file to pdf using http://sciencesoft.at')
    parser.add_argument('infile', type=argparse.FileType('r'))
    parser.add_argument('--out', '-o', nargs='?', type=argparse.FileType('w'))

    args = parser.parse_args()
    IF = args.infile
    OF = args.out if args.out else open(IF.name.replace('.tex','.pdf'),'w')

    # ~~~ Magic ~~~ #
    compile2pdf(IF, OF)