February 2010 - ntg-context - NTG Mailing Lists

Re: [NTG-context] Automatically filled forms
by Vyatcheslav Yatskovsky 22 Feb '10

22 Feb '10

Ok, thanks. I will investigate the possibilities. Database module looks like the right choice. Vyatcheslav

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Re: [NTG-context] Automatically filling forms
by Vyatcheslav Yatskovsky 22 Feb '10

22 Feb '10

Wolfgang, editable pdf fields are also good idea, but this will be just another form or current workflow, and I want another thing. I want to generate pdf with data already filled in, taken from a database. The form should be repeated as many times as there are rows in the database. By database I mean xml or plain text or excel format (cvs), whatever easy editable. What about it? Vyatcheslav >> >> >> I have a rather specific question. In my workplace, there are many >> forms in Word format: >> >> TITLE OF THE FORM >> A student ___________________________ (name, surname) >> was employed at ________________ (place) _______ (date) >> bla-bla >> bla-bla >> >> The fields represented here by underlines should be filled in. >> Typically, it should be done electronically for a number (say, a >> group) of students, and then printed out. Performing this task in >> Word was proven to be error-prone and tedious. >> >> What is the best way to handle such forms in ConTeXt? Maybe, some >> generic examples are already available? > Look into the widgets manual: http://pragma-ade.com/show-man-22.htm > > Wolfgang

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pret-c.lua
by Peter Münster 22 Feb '10

22 Feb '10

Hello, Thanks to the wiki-page "Custom pretty printer" I managed to write the pret-c.lua module here: http://pmrb.free.fr/tmp/pret-c/ Comments and bug-reports are welcome. What about integrating it into the distribution, or is it better on http://modules.contextgarden.net/ ? Cheers, Peter -- Contact information: http://pmrb.free.fr/contact/

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Exams
by Roger Mason 22 Feb '10

22 Feb '10

Hello, Sorry, I sent this message to the list without a subject earlier today. I'm working on a project to set up exams, basing the work on Aditya's asignment class that was published in Practex in 2006. I have a problem getting title information printed correctly. This is a cut-down version: \setupcolors [state=start] \definecolor [colorone] [r=0.625,g=0,b=0] %dark red \definecolor [colortwo] [b=0.625,g=0,r=0] %dark blue \def\exam[#1] {\getrawparameters [Exam] [ title= course=, date=, start=, stop=, #1] \title{\Examtitle}} \definefont [BigFontOne] [RegularSlanted sa 2.5] \definefont [BigFontTwo] [Regular sa 1.5] \setuphead[title] [ style=\BigFontOne, command=\examtitle, before={}, after={\blank[big] \bgroup \colortwo Date: \expanded{\date[Examdate]} \hfill Start: \expanded{Examstart} Stop: \expanded{Examstop} \egroup\blank}, ] %D This macro does the actual typesetting of the title \def\examtitle#1#2% {\framed[ width=broad, frame=off, align=middle, foregroundcolor=colortwo, % I want a shadow around the title frame background=shadow] {#2\\{Examcourse}}} \exam[ title=Mid-term 2010, course=ES2917, date={d=17,m=2,y=2010}, start={9:00 am}, stop={11:00 am} ] I'm processing this with Mark II. The problems are that (1) The literal 'Examcourse' is typeset; (2) Today's date is typset, not the one entered in the interface; (3) The start and stop times are typeset as literals 'Examstart' & 'Examstop' Thanks for any help, Roger

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Footnote Failure
by John Haltiwanger 22 Feb '10

22 Feb '10

I'm having trouble understanding why the attached file fails with: structure : subject @ level 3 : 0.0.0 -> Information ! Undefined control sequence. \dododescriptioncomponent ...entdescriptioncoding \s!tex \fi \ifx \currentde... \@@notemakedescription ...list =,\c!bookmark =,][] \xdef \currentnotenumber {... l.79 ...r in light of Pasquinelli's presentation.} If I replace \footnote{} with parantheses, the included source compiles fine. I've had a separate issue where a URL containing %'s seems to gum up the system (that is, when I pared down the source to isolate the above peculiarity I removed the URLs with %s and the other error, which would stop compilation itself if the parantheses had solved the above issue, disappeared.) Is pandoc producing the proper, or preferred, \useURL syntax? I'm assuming pandoc aims for mkII over mkIV, but I thought I read that the interface had not changed. Sincerely, John Haltiwanger

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file names
by Hans van der Meer 22 Feb '10

22 Feb '10

A while ago I posted a question about spaces etc. in file names in mkiv. Hans Hagen diligently remedied that point and now context typesets files with names like "a/b, c and d/x.tex" without complaining. I fear however, that there are places where that same code is not being used for opening files. One such place is the inclusion of externalfigures. Here a file "a/b, c and d/x.jpg" is not found. I would be very pleased if it becomes possible to have uniform behaviour in file names everywhere in context. So, if Hans is willing to have a look at it again....... Thanks in advance, of course. Hans van der Meer

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Automatically filling forms
by Vyatcheslav Yatskovsky 22 Feb '10

22 Feb '10

Hello, First of all, thanks to NTG for the proceedings book. I have a rather specific question. In my workplace, there are many forms in Word format: TITLE OF THE FORM A student ___________________________ (name, surname) was employed at ________________ (place) _______ (date) bla-bla bla-bla The fields represented here by underlines should be filled in. Typically, it should be done electronically for a number (say, a group) of students, and then printed out. Performing this task in Word was proven to be error-prone and tedious. What is the best way to handle such forms in ConTeXt? Maybe, some generic examples are already available? Obviously, data could be stored in simple relational database-like columns: Name, Place, Data. But what format to choose? XML, CVS, plain text? Regards, Vyatcheslav

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Changing typeface for non-body text, using XeTeX -- how?
by James Fisher 22 Feb '10

22 Feb '10

Hi all, I'm new to TeX, ConTeXt, and XeTeX. I'm progressing fine except for in one area: even though I'm told I'm using the best possible software for easy typeface use in TeX, I'm finding this area (i.e., fonts) confusing and badly documented. This is all the more surprising as what I want to do seems entirely bog-standard: set some basic brand identity by using a body typeface and heading typeface. There's the \setupbodyfont command for, obviously, the body font -- but I can't identify any equivalent command like "\setupheadingfont". I can see other commands for *ad hoc* use of other fonts, but I want to stick with as much semantic markup as possible and apply style elsewhere. Presumably this is possible! Could someone explain to me how to do this? Best wishes James Fisher (p.s. -- I'm coming from HTML+CSS-ish paradigms here, if that would help someone explain to me how I should reorganise my mind.)

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Floats broken under some circumstances
by Vyatcheslav Yatskovsky 22 Feb '10

22 Feb '10

Hi, Weird, but when I use rather big linespace \setupinterlinespace[line=28pt] and set \setupfloats[spaceafter=medium], then the error rises. With less interlinespace value or without spaceafter all works ok. !pages : flushing realpage 1, userpage 1, subpage 1 floatblocks : 1 moved ! Missing number, treated as zero. <to be read again> m <argument> -m edium \addaskedblankskip ...nce \blankskip #1\dimexpr #2 \relax l.6 } \dovspacingyes ...ument #1\else \s!default \fi ")} \fi \betweenfloatblanko ...dparameter \c!spacebefore ] \fi \egroup ... l.25 B.R. Vyatcheslav

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linetables broken?
by Thomas A. Schmitz 22 Feb '10

22 Feb '10

Hi all, when I played a bit with linetables today, I found out that something's broken here. Minimal example (simplified from tabl-ltb.mkiv): \starttext \startlinetable \NC[background=color,backgroundcolor=darkred] xxx \NC yy \NC ddddd \NC eeee \NC ff \NC \NR \stoplinetable \stoptext I get ! Missing number, treated as zero. <to be read again> d \!!depth ->d epth \domakeblackrule ...!!height \@@bjheight \!!depth \@@bjdepth \stopcolor \complexblackrule ...[\??bj ][#1]\domakeblackrule \egroup <argument> ...depth }, \c!width =\wd \scratchbox ] \hskip -\wd \scratchbox \b... \firstoftwoarguments #1#2->#1 ... l.8 \NC yy \NC ddddd \NC eeee \NC ff \NC \NR All best Thomas

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