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An easy-to-use, feature-rich Visual Studio Code Dev Container with a ready-to-use thesis style template for typesetting in LaTeX.

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MBerkayHamurcu/VSCTeX

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VSCTeX

An easy-to-use, feature-rich Visual Studio Code Dev Container
with a ready-to-use thesis style template for typesetting in LaTeX.

A Dev Container is a way to create a consistent and isolated development environment that runs inside a Docker container. This helps you avoid the hassle of installing and configuring the required tools and packages on your local machine.


Features

  • An extensive thesis styled LaTeX template free of errors and warnings
  • Fully containerized: No setup or configuration on your host machine needed (except for docker)
  • Works fully offline, after the initial setup
  • Major compilation time decrease: Custom LaTeX Workshop recipes that only compile the content you are currently working on and only update the bibliography references when explicitly selected.
  • Spelling and grammar checking via the automatically configured LTeX language server
  • Automatic import of .tex files from the content and appendix folder
  • Bibliography via BibLaTeX
  • Ready to use git version control setup
  • To-do notes feature
  • Acronyms package
  • Online collaboration feature via the VS Code live-share extension
  • Auxiliary files are hidden in a subfolder
  • Linux, Windows and MacOS compatibility

Setting up the Dev Container

In order to clone and run the Dev Container, you need to run the following operations on your host machine:

0. Install git

Linux and MacOS

  • You can find the official installation instructions for Linux and MacOS here

Windows

  • You can find the official installer for Windows here

1. Install git LFS

Linux and MacOS

  • You can find the official installation instructions for Linux and MacOS here

Windows

Git LFS is included in the distribution of Git for Windows. If you installed git via another method, you can download git LFS from the official source here

2. Clone this repository

  • Clone this repository by running git clone https://github.com/MBerkayHamurcu/VSCTeX.git. Only downloading the repository from GitHub will cause errors because of unresolved git LFS references.

3. Install Visual Studio Code

  • This is the IDE that you will use to edit your LaTeX files and interact with the Dev Container. You can download it from the official source here

3.1 Install VS Code extension

  • Install the Dev Containers (ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers) VS Code extension

3.2 (Windows only) Configure WSL

  • If you are on Windows, run the setWSLConfig.bat file from the .devcontainer folder:

Windows only: Setting a WSL config

It will add a .wslconfig file to your user directory if one does not already exist.

4. Docker

This is the software that runs the Dev Container. Depending on your operating system, the installation process will vary:

Linux

  • You can find the official installation instructions for Linux here

Windows

  • You can download the official installer for Windows here

MacOS

  • You can find the official installation instructions for MacOS here

5. Open the folder

  • Open the downloaded folder in VS Code. Confirm the "Yes, I trust the authors" option.

6. Reopen folder in container

  • VS Code will detect the .devcontainer folder in the project and prompt you to reopen the folder in a container. Confirm the Reopen in Container action. Alternatively, you can use the command palette (Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+P) and select Dev Containers: Reopen in Container.

Wait for the Dev Container to build and configure. Starting the Dev Container for the first time (effectively building the container) will take some time depending on your internet connection and computer. It may take a few minutes or longer. Starting the container after this first build process won't take much longer than a few seconds.

If the container has fully started, you can now edit your LaTeX files and use the features of VSCTeX!

Be sure to continue reading the template guide in order to avoid confusion due to a lack of knowledge about the behavior of this setup.

Bibliography management

Make sure to set the library mode to BibLaTeX when using a bibliography management tool with this template

Tip

You can use the bibliography management tool JabRef for managing the literature.bib file. It makes it easier to document and maintain your literature. You can install JabRef from the official source here

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An easy-to-use, feature-rich Visual Studio Code Dev Container with a ready-to-use thesis style template for typesetting in LaTeX.

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