Tag Archives: purdue

Using todonotes with puthesis LaTeX class

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The LaTeX package todonotes provides a useful set of commands for marking todo items, including notes and missing figures. However, it doesn’t work with the puthesis class used for writing theses and dissertations in the Purdue format. The todonotes work fine for adding notes, but the compiling breaks when using the \listoftodos command.

I found the workaround, however. It seems the puthesis class redefines the table of contents lines for chapter, section, subsection, etc. But of course it does not redefine a “todo” table of contents line. Adding the following definition right after the todonotes package is loaded does the trick:

\usepackage{todonotes}
\makeatletter
 \if@todonotes@disabled
 \else
 \renewcommand*\l@todo{\@dottedtocline{1}{\smalltocskip}{0em}{2.3em}}
 \fi
\makeatother

It also works when using the hyperref package, so the list of todos links back to the original todo items.

Installing WordPress on Purdue Personal Webpage

WordPress is a blogging and content management system for creating websites, like this one. Every student and faculty at Purdue has space for a personal website in which WordPress can be installed to manage the site. This installation was fairly easy, but maybe not obvious. Here are the steps I went through to install WordPress into my Purdue website:

  1. Visit the WordPress site. Make sure to read up on what it does and does not do before deciding to install it. When ready, download and extract the latest version.
  2. WordPress requires a mySQL database. Don’t worry about what this is, all you need to do is create one. At Purdue, this can be done by visiting this location. You’ll need to enter your career account username and password, then it will ask for a different new password (it can’t be the same as your career account) for the database. This database password will be entered in plain text in a configuration file in the next step.
  3. In the WordPress folder you extracted in step 1, find the file wp-config-sample.php and rename it to wp-config.php. Open the newly renamed wp-config.php file using any text editor. I’m working on Mac, and like the free Smultron. A few lines down you’ll need to edit the following lines: 
    // ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'USERNAME');
/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', 'USERNAME');
/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'PASSWORDFROMSTEP2');
/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', 'mydb.ics.purdue.edu');
  4. Change both instances of USERNAME to your career account name, and PASSWORDFROMSTEP2 to the password you entered for the database in step 2. You will need to enter the DB_HOST as ‘mydb.ics.purdue.edu’.
  5. Visit https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/ to generate the four lines of random authentication keys, and copy these lines into the config file where indicated, overwriting the default lines.
  6. Save the config file.
  7. Copy all files in the folder to the ‘www’ folder on your career account home directory. If you’re on campus, this is your H: drive. If off campus, you can mount the drive, or use an FTP program.
  8. Open a web browser, and navigate to http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~USERNAME/wp-admin/install.php (replacing USERNAME with your career account) to run the install procedure for WordPress. You should get a page asking you to enter your email and the name of the blog (or site) you’re creating. Follow the steps on screen, you’ll need to create yet another password. Then you’ll be logged in to the WordPress interface where you can begin building your site.