January 2021 - ntg-context

SILE typesetter and other projects
by denis.maier＠ub.unibe.ch 03 Jan '21

03 Jan '21

Hi I just came across the SILE typesetter (https://sile-typesetter.org) which looks quite interesting and somehow similar to ConTeXt in some ways (e.g. lua), apart from the fact that it does not use TeX at all. ;-) Another project seems to be Patoline. Just out of curiosity: Has anyone some experience with these tools? Best Denis

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metapost graph and ConTeXt LMTX
by Jean-Philippe Rey 03 Jan '21

03 Jan '21

Dear List, I have used TikZ and pgfplots for a few years and I am considering switching to metapost/metafun which appears more efficient with LMTX. I have already designed several figures with metapost/metafun and some with the help of metaobj and I am fully satisfied with the result. I am now trying to draw graphs with the metapost graph module, but I haven't been integrated to my ConTeXt LMTX document. The following example works perfectly well when compiled directly with metapost (from TeXlive 2020). ===== mpost example ============= beginfig(1) input graph draw begingraph(150mm, 100mm); gdraw "test-mpgraph.txt"; endgraph; endfig; end ================================= Here is my demo data file ==== test-mpgraph.txt ======== 0 0 1 1 2 2 3 1 4 3 5 2 6 1 ============================== I tried the following to draw directly from a ConTeXt document ==== LMTX example ================= \starttext \startMPcode troffmode:=0; prologues:=0; input graph draw begingraph(150mm, 100mm); gdraw "test-mpgraph.txt"; endgraph; \stopMPcode \stoptext =================================== I had to define troffmode and prologues, otherwise I get error messages about undecidable expressions and now I get an error that I don't understand (see attached log file). I also tried \usemodule[graph] as documented on the wiki (https://wiki.contextgarden.net/MPgraph) but without success. I guess I am doing something wrong. Could someone help me see my error? Thanks, -- Jean-Philippe Rey jean-philippe.rey(a)centralesupelec.fr 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex - France Empreinte PGP : 807A 5B2C 69E4 D4B5 783A 428A 1B5E E83E 261B BF51

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upcoming lmtx
by Hans Hagen 03 Jan '21

03 Jan '21

Hi, I'm playing with future font trickery and as a consequence touching some low level font code. Now, of course we want to be compatible but it might be that I mess up something the process. At some point I'll do a more drastic split in the code paths (because when we use these new tricks we can drop/bypass some code). Anyway, one of these days I'll do the usual update so consider this a warning (invitation) to make a opy of the current tree so that we can see where things differ: for text as well as math. There can eb subtle differences due to calculations and rounding in different places (just different concepts). A teaser (mostly for MF whih probably runs the most demanding jobs): The luametatex manual has 290 pages and loads quite some fonts (half a dozen bodyfont setups in order to demo some things with different fonts). old mechanism: 10.8 sec, 292M lua, 99M tex, 158 instances new mechanism: 9.5 sec, 149M lua, 35M tex, 30 instances Where the new mechanmism uses: \enableexperiments[fonts.compact] (not yet in current lmtx). The new mechanism delays scaling and does it on the fly (which means more work for the engine and also means that some of the context font and lua magic has to follow). The added code actually makes the old one runs a bit slower, so the gain is a bit less than indicated (say, between 5-10% runtime on *this* document but definitely the mem saving remains). Of course in practice most documents are not that demanding but we'll see. (As mentioned before, it might have some positive impact on cjk usage). Also, if we follow this route, some code can be optimized (which compared to mkiv, but that is more in the small nmumbers because it is already optimized.) Hans ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: 038 477 53 69 | www.pragma-ade.nl | www.pragma-pod.nl -----------------------------------------------------------------

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Text editor support via Digestif
by Augusto Stoffel 03 Jan '21

03 Jan '21

Hi all, I have worked a bit on ConTeXt support in the Digestif language server [1], and I think it's pretty usable by this point, so I would like to invite everyone to check it out. Feedback is welcome. Digestif plugs into any editor that support the Language Server Protocol, and provides the usual IDE features: completion (of commands, keyword arguments, references, citations), go to definition, find references, document outline, etc. Among the fancier features is fuzzy-matching, so you can, say, find a citation by typing parts of the title or author names (and get away with using meaningless BibTeX identifiers). The newest (git) version reads the ConTeXt interface files at runtime, so it should be pretty accurate, and also work with third-party packages. It would be cool to also have some integrated documentation, but it looks like ConTeXt (or TeX in general) doesn't have anything of help in this direction currently, right? Another nice thing is that Digestif is a Lua program, and can run on the LuaTeX interpreter with no extra dependencies. On the other hand, I didn't get the change to test it on Windows or editors other than Emacs, although both things should work with minimal adjustments. Let me know if you have any issues. Best, Augusto [1]: https://github.com/astoff/digestif

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Ducks in ConTeXt
by Jairo A. del Rio 02 Jan '21

02 Jan '21

Hi everyone! I've recently ported TikZducks to ConTeXt and finally removed TIkZ along the way. So a new module was created. The module is called "metaducks" (lol) and it's essentially a \useMPgraphic{...} with a lot of options, most of them ported from TikZducks. For those not familiar with the package, it draws customized rubber ducks :) I want to include some more, so I'll gladly read any feedback, recommendations and suggestions. Eventually I want it to be a module on its own. The module is already in the ConTeXt Group: https://modules.contextgarden.net/cgi-bin/module.cgi/action=details/id=105 in case anyone wants to give it a try. Here's a minimal example: \usemodule[metaducks] \starttext \ducks[santa=true,mug=true] \stoptext I wish the best for you all. Happy holidays! Cordially, Jairo :)

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xrightarrow specific size issue
by Johann Birnick 02 Jan '21

02 Jan '21

Hi there, \starttext $\xrightarrow[50pt]$ \stoptext doesn't work. But it should, right? In the manual \starttext $\xrightarrow[50]$ \stoptext is shown, but that doesn't work either. Best regards, Johann

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fatal error: return code: 256
by Saša Janiška 02 Jan '21

02 Jan '21

Hello, tried to install lmtx (Debian Sid) from scratch, did: * wipe the texmf-cache directory * mtx-install | - run: mtxrun --generate * mtx-install | - run: context --make but still getting: [...] languages > language 'en' is active runtime error : input file './t.tex' is not found, quitting mtx-context | fatal error: return code: 256 Any hint? Sincerely, Gour -- Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth.

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drop shadows with metapost/ metafun
by Garulfo 02 Jan '21

02 Jan '21

Which process would you advice to add « drop shadows » to any kind of metafun / metapost figures like: picture p; p := textext("MetaPost is fun!") shifted (10cm,10cm); My current understanding of the required steps : 1- fill p with the shadow color 2- write it to an external metapost file (with savebuffer ?) ready for png export (outputformat := "png »;) 3- with lua, os.execute, and imagemagick prepare the shadow - extent the png file with a transparent background, to have room for blurring - blur it 4- import this png in context / Metapost (externalfigure), and center it with p figure 5- shift it according to the desired shadows distance and angle 6- apply the initial bounding box of p to the shadow, draw the shadow, draw the p picture Actually, all this seems long and tedious, and contrasts with the already existing links between MetaPost / MetaFun and cairo + libpng. Thanks again for your help.

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blank pages bug [pagecolumns]
by Johann Birnick 01 Jan '21

01 Jan '21

Hi there, I noticed a bug when using pagecolumns. If there is a title on the right column, a blank page gets added at the end of the document. For example \starttext \startpagecolumns[n=2] \title{lorem} \title{ipsum} \stoppagecolumns \stoptext gives an additional blank page. If you remove the second title (ipsum) then not. Best regards, Johann

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About \includeMPgraphic and local presets
by Jairo A. del Rio 01 Jan '21

01 Jan '21

Hi, list! I've read elsewhere \MPrawvar allows a preset to be applied outside \start...\stopuseMPgraphic. \startuseMPgraphic{hi} draw fullcircle scaled \MPrawvar{hi}{u}; \stopuseMPgraphic \setupMPvariables[hi][u=1cm] \startMPcode \includeMPgraphic{hi} \stopMPcode However, \includeMPgraphic{...} only accepts one argument. I've come up with a somewhat ugly solution to pass a different value: \begingroup %\start \setupMPvariables[hi][u=2cm] \startMPcode \includeMPgraphic{hi} \stopMPcode \endgroup %\stop %Outside \MPrawvar{hi}{u} will be 1cm What should I do to keep redefinitions local or pass settings only for certain instances of \IncludeMPgraphic{...}? Is there a better solution? Thank you in advance. Best regards and best wishes for this New Year! Jairo

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