Re: [NTG-context] Listing of typical beginner-questions

30 Mar 2007


      On Mar 29, 2007, at 8:56 PM, Wolfgang Schuster wrote:
...
On Thu, 29 Mar 2007 19:36:10 +0200
Luuk Beurskens  wrote:
...
Dear all,
Last weekend I had my first hands-on experience with Context. I  
was told
that a listing of the type of problems that I encountered would  
have a
certain value to the Context project. That's why below you'll find an
overview of my beginner-questions, to some of which I already  
found answers.
My aim is not to have all questions answered via the list, but  
rather to
document them for later use in some kind of manual. For I know that
finding the answers is mostly a matter of searching the  
documentation.
Kind regards,
Luuk Beurskens
The Netherlands
PS: I have been using Latex for some years. The questions below  
came up
using a stand-alone Context environment in MS Windows.
Q: Starting with Context, the use of which language is to be  
preferred
for the commands?
A: The English version is most commonly applied, even in the  
Netherlands
Q: If one starts in a Context document in one language, can it be  
easily
converted to another language (form English to Dutch or German, for
example)?
A: This is possible, but no ready-available tool exists.
Q: Why does background=color not work inside \bTABLE ... \eTABLE?
A: Put \setupcolors[state=start] in the beginning of the document
Q: How to apply a background colour for the margin space?
A: This is possible but not easy to explain. See info by Patrick
Gundlach and the section Crossing Borders in the Metafun manual in
chapter Pagebackgrounds by Hans Hagen.
Hi Luuk,
\setupcolors[state=start]
\setupbackgrounds[text][rightmargin][background=screen]
\starttext
\input knuth
\stoptext
...
Q: Where to put the commands that apply to the whole document? Is  
there
a 'preferred sectioning' of a Context source?
A:
You should use \environment's:
http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Project_structure
Often I use a file with the name layout.tex to put there all kind of  
general issues to the document.

\startenvironment layout
	\setupbodyfont[ss,12pt]
	\setuplayout[	...]

	...

\stopenvironment

Load this file in the doucment with

\environment layout
\starttext
  	...
\stoptext
...
...
Q: What is the equivalent of the Latex \begin{thebibliography}  
environment?
A:
Q: The command \setupwhitespace[big] doesn't have an impact on the
paragraph spacing. What am I doing wrong?
A:
\setupwhitespace[big]
\starttext
\input knuth
\stoptext
...
Q: Using \startcombination[*] it is possible to display several  
pictures
into one figure. How could one achieve that several figures are  
treated
as one picture, i.e. that they are all forced to be placed on one  
page?
A:
\starttext
\setupframed[width=5cm,height=5cm]
\input knuth
\placefigure
  [page]
  []
  {Four blocks}
  {\startcombination[2*2]
     {\framed{}}{Block 1}
     {\framed{}}{Block 2}
     {\framed{}}{Block 3}
     {\framed{}}{Block 4}
   \stopcombination}
\input knuth
\stoptext
...
Q: One cell in a table (\bTABLE ... e\TABLE) should contain a unit  
(EJ
for example) in square brackets: [EJ]. The result is that the  
respective
row is not displayed at all. What is wrong? Could I possibly use the
Latex equivalent \symbol{code}?
A:
\starttext
\bTABLE
  \bTR
    \bTD
      {[EJ]}
    \eTD
  \eTR
\eTABLE
\bTABLE
  \bTR
    \bTD[left={[},right={]}]
      EJ
    \eTD
  \eTR
\eTABLE
\stoptext
...
Q: How can I change the fontsize inside a table?
A:
\starttext
Text
\setupTABLE[style=small]
\bTABLE
  \bTR
    \bTD Text \eTD
  \eTD
\eTABLE
\setuptables[bodyfont=small]
\starttable[|l|]
\NC Text \NC\AR
\stoptable
\setuptabulate[bodyfont=small]
\starttabulate[|l|]
\NC Text \NC\NR
\stoptabulate
\stoptext
you can also say \switchtobodyfont[rm,6pt] where ever you need to  
change the fontsize and or switch from rm to ss.
...
...
Q: How can I change the fontsize of an \inmargin?
A:
\starttext
Text
\setupinmargin[style=small]
\inmargin{Text}
\stoptext
...
Q: How can I make a line in the header or footer of a document?
A:
\setupheadertexts[left][right]
\setupfootertexts[left][right]
\starttext
Text
\stoptext
In case that you want to place a rule beneath the running header:
\setupbackgrounds[...][...,...,...][...,...=...,...]
	[...] top header text footer bottom page paper leftpage rightpage
	[...,...,...] leftedge leftmargin text rightmargin rightedge
			state = start stop repeat
	[...,...=...,...] see \setupframed

I.e. you can say things like \setupbackgrounds[header][text] 
[bottomframe=on]
...
...
Q: How can I define a fancy page numbering (i.e. large and coloured
number)?
A:
Q: How to make sure that numbers in a colomn align correctly, for  
example:
9400
   60
  100
    3
Inserting ~ works fine when using a proportional font. An extra
difficulty occurs when the figures should be centered below the  
heading
of the column.
A:
Q: a question related to the use of SciTE: changing the file
scite.properties for a proportional fontsize doesn't work,  
although it
is very well explained in the SciTE helpfile. What's the trick?
A:
I think this is a bug in the version shipped with the ConTeXt
distribution for Windows, because in the download version from the
Scite homepage everything works as expected.
Wolfgang
...
Q: Installing the minimal context distribution on a Windows 98  
machine
gives problems when copying on harddisk E:. Running the batch-file
cscite.bat results in the following message: "cscite root, e.g.  
cscite
d:\copyofcdrom" (more info: C: exists but D: is a non-writable linux
partition). On a different computer the same directory structure  
on C:
didn't give this message and worked well.
A:
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Willi Egger
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