November 2025 - ntg-context

Remove headers from empty pages
by alan.caruanambom＠gmail.com 09 Nov '25

09 Nov '25

Hi list, I need help removing headers from empty pages (in my example: pages 2, 4, 6, 8...) \setuppagenumbering [alternative=doublesided] \setupheadertexts [\getmarking[chapternumber] \enskip \getmarking[chapter]] \setupfootertexts [page\enskip\pagenumber] \starttext \dorecurse {5} {\chapter{Chapter \recurselevel} \input vallejo-trilce-es} \stoptext

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signature display in “Okular”/“Acrobat”
by Pablo Rodriguez 08 Nov '25

08 Nov '25

Dear list, with the following source: \setupinteraction[state=start] \setuppapersize[A6, landscape] \setuplayout[page] \setupfield[sl][horizontal] [frame=off, width=.5tw, height=.75th] \definefield[Signature 1][signature][sl] \definefield[Signature 2][signature][sl] \starttext \field[Signature 1] \field[Signature 2] \stoptext I compiled the previous source with this patch: https://mailman.ntg.nl/archives/list/ntg-context@ntg.nl/message/2KK657RHSAC…. After signing the output twice with `pdfsig` (from `poppler` in “Linux”), I get https://pdf.ousia.tk/sign-two.pdf. “Okular” displays it as https://pdf.ousia.tk/sign-two.pdf (`pdfsig sign-two.pdf` would also show to signatures). Would you be so kind to open it with “Acrobat Reader” to see whether there is any signature in the signature panel? Many thanks for your help, Pablo

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unit issues
by Henning Hraban Ramm 07 Nov '25

07 Nov '25

Hi ho, I’m preparing some technical data sheets, besides documenting … ->-[1. unit celsius bug] \unit{10 ˚C} is wrongly displayed as “10˚” (as \unit{10 degrees}), while \unit{10 celsius} or \unit{10 degrees celsius} correctly comes out as “10 ˚C”. Please fix! ->-[2. language dependent number formatting] For \unit, \digits and \spaceddigits, there are 3 different setups: \startmode[**de] \setupunit[ method=3, space=small, ] \setdigitmode{3} \let\spaceddigitsmethod=3 \stopmode I suggest to add "digitmode" and "digitspace" keys to \setuplanguage like \setuplanguage[de][ digitmode=3, digitspace=small, ] … let that set all three and also define a sensible default for each language. ->-[3. spreadsheet] The spreadsheet module uses its own number formatting and setup: \setupspreadsheet[rechnung][ period={,}, comma={\,}, split=yes] (example attached) Unfortunately, that replaces _every_ period and comma in that table, not only in numbers, i.e. “zzgl. MwSt.” becomes “zzgl, MwSt,”. I know the module is old and somewhat obscure, but integrating it with the usual behavior would make it more useful. Hraban

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OT: IBM Selectric type
by Henning Hraban Ramm 06 Nov '25

06 Nov '25

Interesting article about IBM’s Selectric Composer typewriters which were not monospaced but had differing glyph widths – with some odd decisions of the engineers: https://www.kutilek.de/selectric/ HR

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fix for signature fields?
by Pablo Rodriguez 05 Nov '25

05 Nov '25

Dear Hans, after checking signature fields, such as the one in: \nopdfcompression \setupinteraction[state=start] \setuppapersize[A6, landscape] \setuplayout[page] \starttext \setupfield[sl][horizontal] [frame=on, width=1tw, height=1th] \definefield[Signature][signature][sl] \field[Signature] \stoptext I have found Ulrike’s reply to https://github.com/latex3/hyperref/issues/335 and the PDF output validated fine against Arlington. In short, signature fields may have a widget annotation children, but the parent should be only a signature field and the child should be only a widget annotation (not having entries from each other). Also `/NeedAppearances true` with signature fields cause display (and probably other) issues with “Acrobat” (so I’m replacing it with `/SigFlags 1` [the document contains empty signature fields]). I attach a patch with the commented keys and the extra conditionals to avoid empty signature fields having `/NeedAppearances true` (providing `SigFlags 1` instead). Could you please consider merging it in ConTeXt? Many thanks for your help, Pablo

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OT: a font for curves
by Henning Hraban Ramm 04 Nov '25

04 Nov '25

I didn’t know I was missing a font that can be adjusted to a curve it runs on: https://www.futurefonts.com/hex/shop-sans (not open source) Interesting idea for an axis in a variable font! HR

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signature fields and “Acrobat“
by Pablo Rodriguez 04 Nov '25

04 Nov '25

Dear list, I‘m testing signature fields with `pdfsig` (to be able to sign them with “Okular” and “Papers”) and I’m finding a very similar problem to the one we had with signed fields. In short, when the signature fields is signed with anything other than “Acrobat Reader”, neither “Acrobat” or “Edge” (new PDF viewer needs to enabled first with `edge://flags`) is able to display the signature in the signed document. To make things worse, “Acrobat“ offers saving the document, removing the signature in the output document. The problem is how the signature field is written. Given the following sample: \nopdfcompression \setupinteraction[state=start] \setuppapersize[A6, landscape] \setuplayout[page] \starttext \setupfield[sl][horizontal] [frame=on, width=1tw, height=1th] \definefield[Signature][signature][sl] \field[Signature] \stoptext The two objects related to the signature field would read: 3 0 obj << /DA (/rmtf 11.9552 Tf 1.1955 Ts 0 0 0 rg 0 0 0 RG) /DV () /F 4 /FT /Sig /Ff 0 /Kids 2 0 R /MaxLen 1024 /Q 0 /Subtype /Widget /T (Signature) /V () >> endobj 4 0 obj << /Type /Annot /DA (/rmtf 11.9552 Tf 1.1955 Ts 0 0 0 rg 0 0 0 RG) /F 4 /Parent 3 0 R /Q 0 /Subtype /Widget /Rect [ 1.685954 1.685954 417.841602 295.951841 ] >> endobj Analyzing the document, veraPDF with the Arlington model (https://software.verapdf.org/develop/arlington/) warns that annotation fields cannot have kids. I see that `lpdf-fld.lmt` contains both functions `makesignatureparent()` and `makesignaturechild()`. Both the signature field and the widget annotation have to be a single PDF object. As for the entries in the signature field dictionary, `/MaxLen` is exclusive for text fields, not for other kinds of fields. Also, `/V` and `/DV` should be removed, since default value makes no sense here and value should be added by the signing software. As with the signed field, `/NeedAppearances true` needs to be removed from the final PDF document. Otherwise, “Acrobat” won’t display the signature in the already signed document. To show the differences, https://pdf.ousia.tk/acrobat-wrong.pdf is the signed document with a signature “Acrobat“ cannot display (and removes the signature, when given the option to save the document). https://pdf.ousia.tk/acrobat-fine.pdf is my hand-edited version that “Acrobat” displays perfectly fine. Could you be so kind to test both documents with “Acrobat” (and “Edge“, if you are in the mood) to confirm the issue and the potential fixg? Many thanks for your help, Pablo

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[ howto get coordinates of a specific character ]
by vm 04 Nov '25

04 Nov '25

Given a chunk of text, 8<--- \setuppapersize[A1] \setupheader [state=empty, no] \usetypescript[ibmplex] \setupbodyfont[ibmplex, mono, 10pt] \setupinterlinespace[12=pt] \hyphenation[off] \definelayer[behindtext] \definelayer[beforetext] \setupbackgrounds[text][background={behindtext,foreground,beforetext}] \definecolor[achter][r=.95,g=.95,b=.95] \startTEXpage[offset=10mm] \setlayer[behindtext][x=63mm,y=0mm]{\framed[width=2mm,height=\textheight,background=color,backgroundcolor=achter,frame=off]{}} \setlayer[behindtext][x=139mm,y=0mm]{\framed[width=2mm,height=\textheight,background=color,backgroundcolor=achter,frame=off]{}} \startlines ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~haken~&~ogen~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~taxatie~&~advies~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~bloemen~&~planten~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~inspireren~&~innoveren~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~rijst~&~linzen~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~mager~&~bleek~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ \stoplines \stopTEXpage \stoptext --->8 what would be the simple way to extract the position of the two period (.) symbols in the first line, to be used in the two vertical bars definitions above. any hints? .Floris

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Searchable archive of this list
by Duncan Hothersall 03 Nov '25

03 Nov '25

Sorry for the noise folks, but neither of my bookmarked mailing list archives ( https://www.mail-archive.com/search?l=ntg-context%40ntg.nl&q=context&a=1 and https://lists.contextgarden.net/archives/list/ntg-context@ntg.nl/) are allowing me to search the archive of this list. Is there an alternative searchable archive that anyone is aware of? Thanks, Duncan

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error, no format found with name: cont-en, aborting
by 15620＠rharkins.com 03 Nov '25

03 Nov '25

Please advise on how to solve. The latest attempt to get ConTeXt up and running was by installing Tex Live network installation. Over the last month, https://lmtx.pragma-ade.com/install-lmtx/context-freebsd-amd64.zip has been downloaded and installed several times. Each effort ended with being unable to solve this problem. in all cases the file being processed is doc01.tex from https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Introduction/Installation#Check_the_installa… Using the current Tex Live installation, the command context --version yields mtx-context | ConTeXt Process Management 1.06 mtx-context | mtx-context | main context file: /zPoolData02/scratch3/TexLive/2025/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/mkiv/context.mkiv mtx-context | current version: 2025.10.27 22:10 mtx-context | main context file: /zPoolData02/scratch3/TexLive/2025/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/mkxl/context.mkxl mtx-context | current version: 2025.10.27 22:1 The operating system is FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE-p3 Thankyou

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