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[Witherweaver]

So I know there are a lot of software guys and LaTeX users on this forum, so I wonder if anyone has ever tried to do something like the following. 

We have a software project that does a bunch of things, and one of the functions is to do report generation based on some dynamic results.  I've worked out the logic of how to write a LaTeX file in the right way based on the outcomes of other stuff the program does.  Then it can be generated into a PDF using the LaTeX engines. It's neat, but it requires a LaTeX installation on the machine running the application in order to make the PDF.  This is not a complete show-stopper, but it makes the whole thing a lot heavier. (Installing the standard Windows MiKTeX with the required packages makes the whole thing much bulkier.)

So basically, we want to package up the LaTeX engine (specifically, xelatex) into the installer or as some small program that can be called without a full-on installation.  I think at a minimum it needs the base packages and the other packages the document requires, and I'm not sure there's a way around including all those files in the installation.  So anyway, my question is: does anyone have any experience trying to bundle up some kind of minimalistic LaTeX  functionality in some other software?  I haven't thoroughly checked out stack exchange or other forums yet; I just thought I'd see here since I know we have a lot of programmers.

[eHalcyon]

I think you posted this in the wrong subforum.

[Witherweaver]

Damn, sorry.  Can it get moved to General Discussion?

Or someone try to make a game out of it...

[Davio]

Here's a silly idea: How about making a web service to convert Tex files to PDF?

[Witherweaver]

Here's a silly idea: How about making a web service to convert Tex files to PDF?

That's a good thought; I'm not certain if it's feasible or not.

[ipofanes]

A starting point would be to process the file you want to generate and see which files are loaded. These files are denoted by opening parentheses, the file name, and closing parentheses. Much less tan a MikTeX installation would be needed.

[RobertJ]

Here's a silly idea: How about making a web service to convert Tex files to PDF?

I believe that Share Latex https://www.sharelatex.com/ does this kind of thing. I've not used it myself but I have heard positive things about it from people who have.

[Witherweaver]

A starting point would be to process the file you want to generate and see which files are loaded. These files are denoted by opening parentheses, the file name, and closing parentheses. Much less tan a MikTeX installation would be needed.

I actually found there is a \listfiles command that prints all the used files onto the log for ease. 

This is kind of the direction we're going, I think.  Seeing if we can package up just the minimal amount of files needed.  The biggest component will still be the actual xelatex.exe program and its dependencies (dlls and such), I think.   

[Witherweaver]

Here's a silly idea: How about making a web service to convert Tex files to PDF?

I believe that Share Latex https://www.sharelatex.com/ does this kind of thing. I've not used it myself but I have heard positive things about it from people who have.

Well it would be more direct to simply host it ourselves, I think.  Looks like sharelatex does a lot more.  The actual document creation is all done; we simply need to run the PDF conversion.

At any rate, I think for this project we need a solution which does not require connecting to a web service.

[ipofanes]

I think the barebones version could be run with pdftex -ini or the like, but then you'd have to do without LaTeX commands for your document formatting. Plus you would at least need some hyphenation tables.