I am typesetting a document using pagecolumns to ensure that my footnotes are set ragged-bottom in columns. I have observed some unexpected behavior whenever the last column on a page is left incomplete: a blank page is added at the end of the document. A minimal working example follows:
```
\starttext
\startpagecolumns[n=2]
\dorecurse{3}{\par\input zapf}
\stoppagecolumns
\stoptext ```
I typeset this using ConTeXt version 2020.03.10, as released with TeXLive 2020. Notably, if \dorecurse{3} is changed to \dorecurse{2} or \dorecurse{6} (so that the text ends in the first column of a page), then there is no problem. I have tried to fix this by specifying page=no in the \startpagecolumns arguments, but it did not change anything. Is there something else I am missing?
Thank you,
Joey
I recently found the pagecolumns manual ( http://www.pragma-ade.com/general/manuals/pagecolumns.pdf), and in several of the examples (including those for side floats and footnotes), the addition of a blank page after the end of the pagecolumns environment also seems to occur. So when the manual says, "We always start at a new page and end on a new one," does it mean that this is a feature of pagecolumns? And if so, is there any way to disable it? I have no problem with a page break after the end of the pagecolumns environment, but an empty page added after the break seems unnecessary. I checked for a wiki page on the \definepagecolumns command to get more information on its accepted inputs, but there doesn't appear to be a page for this command.
Joey
On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 1:40 PM Joey McCollum jmccollum20140511@gmail.com wrote:
I am typesetting a document using pagecolumns to ensure that my footnotes are set ragged-bottom in columns. I have observed some unexpected behavior whenever the last column on a page is left incomplete: a blank page is added at the end of the document. A minimal working example follows:
\starttext \startpagecolumns[n=2] \dorecurse{3}{\par\input zapf} \stoppagecolumns \stoptextI typeset this using ConTeXt version 2020.03.10, as released with TeXLive 2020. Notably, if \dorecurse{3} is changed to \dorecurse{2} or \dorecurse{6} (so that the text ends in the first column of a page), then there is no problem. I have tried to fix this by specifying page=no in the \startpagecolumns arguments, but it did not change anything. Is there something else I am missing?
Thank you,
Joey
After continuing to look into this a bit, I noticed that a similar issue involving the insertion of a blank page after a columnset environment has been discussed on the mailing list in the thread "Blank page inserted when text reaches column's end" (dated 08 Dec 2019). In that thread, a proposed solution was to redefine the \page_grd_stop macro found in page-cst.mkiv as follows:
``` \unprotect \def\page_grd_stop{% \endgraf % needed, else wrong vsize in one par case \vfill % otherwise weird \placenotes[endnotes] \page_grd_command_set_vsize % needed \penalty\c_page_otr_eject_penalty %\page_grd_command_flush_page \page_otr_fill_and_eject_page \page_grd_command_set_vsize % why here \egroup \page_otr_command_set_vsize \page_otr_command_set_hsize } \protect ```
Unfortunately, this approach was found to have potential issues in that thread, and it does not fix the problem with pagecolumns in my MWE. Are pagecolumns commands aliased to pagegrid commands like columnset commands are, or are they defined somewhere else? I checked page-col.mkiv, but it seems to be too short to be the file that defines pagecolumns behavior.
Joey
On Sat, May 2, 2020 at 11:46 AM Joey McCollum jmccollum20140511@gmail.com wrote:
I recently found the pagecolumns manual ( http://www.pragma-ade.com/general/manuals/pagecolumns.pdf), and in several of the examples (including those for side floats and footnotes), the addition of a blank page after the end of the pagecolumns environment also seems to occur. So when the manual says, "We always start at a new page and end on a new one," does it mean that this is a feature of pagecolumns? And if so, is there any way to disable it? I have no problem with a page break after the end of the pagecolumns environment, but an empty page added after the break seems unnecessary. I checked for a wiki page on the \definepagecolumns command to get more information on its accepted inputs, but there doesn't appear to be a page for this command.
Joey
On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 1:40 PM Joey McCollum jmccollum20140511@gmail.com wrote:
I am typesetting a document using pagecolumns to ensure that my footnotes are set ragged-bottom in columns. I have observed some unexpected behavior whenever the last column on a page is left incomplete: a blank page is added at the end of the document. A minimal working example follows:
\starttext \startpagecolumns[n=2] \dorecurse{3}{\par\input zapf} \stoppagecolumns \stoptextI typeset this using ConTeXt version 2020.03.10, as released with TeXLive 2020. Notably, if \dorecurse{3} is changed to \dorecurse{2} or \dorecurse{6} (so that the text ends in the first column of a page), then there is no problem. I have tried to fix this by specifying page=no in the \startpagecolumns arguments, but it did not change anything. Is there something else I am missing?
Thank you,
Joey
Bump.
See also: https://tex.stackexchange.com/q/542993/2148
On Mon, May 4, 2020 at 11:46 AM Joey McCollum jmccollum20140511@gmail.com wrote:
After continuing to look into this a bit, I noticed that a similar issue involving the insertion of a blank page after a columnset environment has been discussed on the mailing list in the thread "Blank page inserted when text reaches column's end" (dated 08 Dec 2019). In that thread, a proposed solution was to redefine the \page_grd_stop macro found in page-cst.mkiv as follows:
\unprotect \def\page_grd_stop{% \endgraf % needed, else wrong vsize in one par case \vfill % otherwise weird \placenotes[endnotes] \page_grd_command_set_vsize % needed \penalty\c_page_otr_eject_penalty %\page_grd_command_flush_page \page_otr_fill_and_eject_page \page_grd_command_set_vsize % why here \egroup \page_otr_command_set_vsize \page_otr_command_set_hsize } \protectUnfortunately, this approach was found to have potential issues in that thread, and it does not fix the problem with pagecolumns in my MWE. Are pagecolumns commands aliased to pagegrid commands like columnset commands are, or are they defined somewhere else? I checked page-col.mkiv, but it seems to be too short to be the file that defines pagecolumns behavior.
Joey
On Sat, May 2, 2020 at 11:46 AM Joey McCollum jmccollum20140511@gmail.com wrote:
I recently found the pagecolumns manual (http://www.pragma-ade.com/general/manuals/pagecolumns.pdf), and in several of the examples (including those for side floats and footnotes), the addition of a blank page after the end of the pagecolumns environment also seems to occur. So when the manual says, "We always start at a new page and end on a new one," does it mean that this is a feature of pagecolumns? And if so, is there any way to disable it? I have no problem with a page break after the end of the pagecolumns environment, but an empty page added after the break seems unnecessary. I checked for a wiki page on the \definepagecolumns command to get more information on its accepted inputs, but there doesn't appear to be a page for this command.
Joey
On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 1:40 PM Joey McCollum jmccollum20140511@gmail.com wrote:
I am typesetting a document using pagecolumns to ensure that my footnotes are set ragged-bottom in columns. I have observed some unexpected behavior whenever the last column on a page is left incomplete: a blank page is added at the end of the document. A minimal working example follows:
\starttext \startpagecolumns[n=2] \dorecurse{3}{\par\input zapf} \stoppagecolumns \stoptextI typeset this using ConTeXt version 2020.03.10, as released with TeXLive 2020. Notably, if \dorecurse{3} is changed to \dorecurse{2} or \dorecurse{6} (so that the text ends in the first column of a page), then there is no problem. I have tried to fix this by specifying page=no in the \startpagecolumns arguments, but it did not change anything. Is there something else I am missing?
Thank you,
Joey
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!
maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://context.aanhet.net archive : https://bitbucket.org/phg/context-mirror/commits/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________
Okay, I think I'm getting close, but I'm not quite there yet. The pagecolumns source code is found in page-pcl.mkiv ( source.contextgarden.net/tex/context/base/mkiv/page-pcl.mkiv), and in that code, the \page_col_stop_yes macro seems to have something to do with the issue:
``` \unexpanded\def\page_col_stop_yes {\column % \page_otr_eject_page \page \endgroup % \setupoutputroutine[\s!singlecolumn]% \page_otr_command_set_vsize \page_otr_command_set_hsize \page \endgroup} ```
If I redefine this macro in my MWE as follows, I can remove the extra page that is added when the last page ends with text in the last column:
```
\unprotect
\def\page_col_stop_yes
{\column %\page_otr_eject_page
%\page
\endgroup
% \setupoutputroutine[\s!singlecolumn]%
\page_otr_command_set_vsize
\page_otr_command_set_hsize
%\page
\endgroup}
\protect ```
Commenting out the \page calls does the trick in this case, but now, if the last page ends with its text in a column before the last one, then the last page is not typeset at all, and a blank page takes its place.
On Sun, May 10, 2020 at 8:34 PM Thangalin thangalin@gmail.com wrote:
Bump.
See also: https://tex.stackexchange.com/q/542993/2148
On Mon, May 4, 2020 at 11:46 AM Joey McCollum jmccollum20140511@gmail.com wrote:
After continuing to look into this a bit, I noticed that a similar issue
involving the insertion of a blank page after a columnset environment has been discussed on the mailing list in the thread "Blank page inserted when text reaches column's end" (dated 08 Dec 2019). In that thread, a proposed solution was to redefine the \page_grd_stop macro found in page-cst.mkiv as follows:
\unprotect \def\page_grd_stop{% \endgraf % needed, else wrong vsize in one par case \vfill % otherwise weird \placenotes[endnotes] \page_grd_command_set_vsize % needed \penalty\c_page_otr_eject_penalty %\page_grd_command_flush_page \page_otr_fill_and_eject_page \page_grd_command_set_vsize % why here \egroup \page_otr_command_set_vsize \page_otr_command_set_hsize } \protectUnfortunately, this approach was found to have potential issues in that
thread, and it does not fix the problem with pagecolumns in my MWE. Are pagecolumns commands aliased to pagegrid commands like columnset commands are, or are they defined somewhere else? I checked page-col.mkiv, but it seems to be too short to be the file that defines pagecolumns behavior.
Joey
On Sat, May 2, 2020 at 11:46 AM Joey McCollum <
jmccollum20140511@gmail.com> wrote:
I recently found the pagecolumns manual (
http://www.pragma-ade.com/general/manuals/pagecolumns.pdf), and in several of the examples (including those for side floats and footnotes), the addition of a blank page after the end of the pagecolumns environment also seems to occur. So when the manual says, "We always start at a new page and end on a new one," does it mean that this is a feature of pagecolumns? And if so, is there any way to disable it? I have no problem with a page break after the end of the pagecolumns environment, but an empty page added after the break seems unnecessary. I checked for a wiki page on the \definepagecolumns command to get more information on its accepted inputs, but there doesn't appear to be a page for this command.
Joey
On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 1:40 PM Joey McCollum <
jmccollum20140511@gmail.com> wrote:
I am typesetting a document using pagecolumns to ensure that my
footnotes are set ragged-bottom in columns. I have observed some unexpected behavior whenever the last column on a page is left incomplete: a blank page is added at the end of the document. A minimal working example follows:
\starttext \startpagecolumns[n=2] \dorecurse{3}{\par\input zapf} \stoppagecolumns \stoptextI typeset this using ConTeXt version 2020.03.10, as released with
TeXLive 2020. Notably, if \dorecurse{3} is changed to \dorecurse{2} or \dorecurse{6} (so that the text ends in the first column of a page), then there is no problem. I have tried to fix this by specifying page=no in the \startpagecolumns arguments, but it did not change anything. Is there something else I am missing?
Thank you,
Joey
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry
to the Wiki!
maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl /
http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://context.aanhet.net archive : https://bitbucket.org/phg/context-mirror/commits/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!
maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://context.aanhet.net archive : https://bitbucket.org/phg/context-mirror/commits/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net
All right, I've found a tentative solution that appears to work in all cases, but I'd like to know more about why the code I'm patching was implemented in the first place, because I don't want to break anything else. According to the code in page-pcl.mkiv, the \stoppagecolumns macro has two implementations, \page_col_stop_yes and \page_col_stop_nop. The choice of which implementation is used is determined by which of two implementations of \startpagecolumns (\page_col_start_yes and \page_col_start_nop) is used. That choice, in turn, is made in the \page_col_start macro, in the following lines:
``` \c_page_col_n_of_columns\pagecolumnsparameter\c!n\relax \ifnum\c_page_col_n_of_columns>\plusone \expandafter\page_col_start_yes \else \expandafter\page_col_start_nop \fi ```
so if the number of columns (i.e., the n option for the pagecolumns environment) is more than one, the "yes" implementation of the start and stop commands is used.
But this seems wrong. The naming convention for the two implementations ("yes" and "nop") suggests that they should be related the parameters "page=yes" and "page=no" (hence, no page, which is what I think "nop" abbreviates), but the choice of which implementation to use is determined not by the page parameter, but by the n parameter. Is this an error in the code, or am I just understanding this incorrectly? Is there some reason why a layout with more than one column would need special instructions to add a blank page after stopping the environment?
In any event, I was able to solve the problem by patching the \page_col_start_yes macro to invoke the \page_col_start_nop macro as follows:
```
\unprotect
\def\page_col_stop_yes
{\page_col_stop_nop}
\protect ```
With this fix, the MWE I provided works regardless of which column the text ends in. I'm content to consider the problem solved, but I would certainly appreciate any feedback on my thoughts and questions about page-pcl.mkiv.
Joey
On Thu, May 14, 2020 at 5:03 PM Joey McCollum jmccollum20140511@gmail.com wrote:
Okay, I think I'm getting close, but I'm not quite there yet. The pagecolumns source code is found in page-pcl.mkiv ( source.contextgarden.net/tex/context/base/mkiv/page-pcl.mkiv), and in that code, the \page_col_stop_yes macro seems to have something to do with the issue:
\unexpanded\def\page_col_stop_yes {\column % \page_otr_eject_page \page \endgroup % \setupoutputroutine[\s!singlecolumn]% \page_otr_command_set_vsize \page_otr_command_set_hsize \page \endgroup}If I redefine this macro in my MWE as follows, I can remove the extra page that is added when the last page ends with text in the last column:
\unprotect \def\page_col_stop_yes {\column %\page_otr_eject_page %\page \endgroup % \setupoutputroutine[\s!singlecolumn]% \page_otr_command_set_vsize \page_otr_command_set_hsize %\page \endgroup} \protectCommenting out the \page calls does the trick in this case, but now, if the last page ends with its text in a column before the last one, then the last page is not typeset at all, and a blank page takes its place.
On Sun, May 10, 2020 at 8:34 PM Thangalin thangalin@gmail.com wrote:
Bump.
See also: https://tex.stackexchange.com/q/542993/2148
On Mon, May 4, 2020 at 11:46 AM Joey McCollum jmccollum20140511@gmail.com wrote:
After continuing to look into this a bit, I noticed that a similar
issue involving the insertion of a blank page after a columnset environment has been discussed on the mailing list in the thread "Blank page inserted when text reaches column's end" (dated 08 Dec 2019). In that thread, a proposed solution was to redefine the \page_grd_stop macro found in page-cst.mkiv as follows:
\unprotect \def\page_grd_stop{% \endgraf % needed, else wrong vsize in one par case \vfill % otherwise weird \placenotes[endnotes] \page_grd_command_set_vsize % needed \penalty\c_page_otr_eject_penalty %\page_grd_command_flush_page \page_otr_fill_and_eject_page \page_grd_command_set_vsize % why here \egroup \page_otr_command_set_vsize \page_otr_command_set_hsize } \protectUnfortunately, this approach was found to have potential issues in that
thread, and it does not fix the problem with pagecolumns in my MWE. Are pagecolumns commands aliased to pagegrid commands like columnset commands are, or are they defined somewhere else? I checked page-col.mkiv, but it seems to be too short to be the file that defines pagecolumns behavior.
Joey
On Sat, May 2, 2020 at 11:46 AM Joey McCollum <
jmccollum20140511@gmail.com> wrote:
I recently found the pagecolumns manual (
http://www.pragma-ade.com/general/manuals/pagecolumns.pdf), and in several of the examples (including those for side floats and footnotes), the addition of a blank page after the end of the pagecolumns environment also seems to occur. So when the manual says, "We always start at a new page and end on a new one," does it mean that this is a feature of pagecolumns? And if so, is there any way to disable it? I have no problem with a page break after the end of the pagecolumns environment, but an empty page added after the break seems unnecessary. I checked for a wiki page on the \definepagecolumns command to get more information on its accepted inputs, but there doesn't appear to be a page for this command.
Joey
On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 1:40 PM Joey McCollum <
jmccollum20140511@gmail.com> wrote:
I am typesetting a document using pagecolumns to ensure that my
footnotes are set ragged-bottom in columns. I have observed some unexpected behavior whenever the last column on a page is left incomplete: a blank page is added at the end of the document. A minimal working example follows:
\starttext \startpagecolumns[n=2] \dorecurse{3}{\par\input zapf} \stoppagecolumns \stoptextI typeset this using ConTeXt version 2020.03.10, as released with
TeXLive 2020. Notably, if \dorecurse{3} is changed to \dorecurse{2} or \dorecurse{6} (so that the text ends in the first column of a page), then there is no problem. I have tried to fix this by specifying page=no in the \startpagecolumns arguments, but it did not change anything. Is there something else I am missing?
Thank you,
Joey
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry
to the Wiki!
maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl /
http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://context.aanhet.net archive : https://bitbucket.org/phg/context-mirror/commits/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!
maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://context.aanhet.net archive : https://bitbucket.org/phg/context-mirror/commits/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net
Joey McCollum schrieb am 16.05.2020 um 05:45:
All right, I've found a tentative solution that appears to work in all cases, but I'd like to know more about why the code I'm patching was implemented in the first place, because I don't want to break anything else. According to the code in page-pcl.mkiv, the \stoppagecolumns macro has two implementations, \page_col_stop_yes and \page_col_stop_nop. The choice of which implementation is used is determined by which of two implementations of \startpagecolumns (\page_col_start_yes and \page_col_start_nop) is used. That choice, in turn, is made in the \page_col_start macro, in the following lines:
\c_page_col_n_of_columns\pagecolumnsparameter\c!n\relax \ifnum\c_page_col_n_of_columns>\plusone \expandafter\page_col_start_yes \else \expandafter\page_col_start_nop \fiso if the number of columns (i.e., the n option for the pagecolumns environment) is more than one, the "yes" implementation of the start and stop commands is used.
But this seems wrong. The naming convention for the two implementations ("yes" and "nop") suggests that they should be related the parameters "page=yes" and "page=no" (hence, no page, which is what I think "nop" abbreviates), but the choice of which implementation to use is determined not by the page parameter, but by the n parameter. Is this an error in the code, or am I just understanding this incorrectly? Is there some reason why a layout with more than one column would need special instructions to add a blank page after stopping the environment?
Why do you think "yes" and "nop" are related to the page-key?
In any event, I was able to solve the problem by patching the \page_col_start_yes macro to invoke the \page_col_start_nop macro as follows:
\unprotect \def\page_col_stop_yes {\page_col_stop_nop} \protectWith this fix, the MWE I provided works regardless of which column the text ends in. I'm content to consider the problem solved, but I would certainly appreciate any feedback on my thoughts and questions about page-pcl.mkiv.
You broke now now normal single columns text after the pagecolumns environment. A better fix is to add a check for the \column command at the end of the environment and add it only when we aren't in the last column.
\unexpanded\def\page_col_stop_yes {%\column % \page_otr_eject_page \ifnum\c_page_col_current<\c_page_col_n_of_columns \column \fi \page \endgroup % \setupoutputroutine[\s!singlecolumn]% \page_otr_command_set_vsize \page_otr_command_set_hsize \page \endgroup}
Wolfgang
I thought that the "yes" and "nop" suffixes were related to "page=yes" and "page=no" for a few reasons. First, because I thought "nop" could be shorthand for "no page." More importantly, however, I thought they might be related because setting page=no in \definepagecolumns does not appear to have any effect, and patching \page_col_stop_yes to do what \page_col_stop_nop does had the desired effect. But as you have shown, doing this causes problems with the transition back to a single-column layout, so I suppose that the \page_col_stop_yes and \page_col_stop_nop macros are meant to implement behavior dependent on the number of columns. Your suggestion to add a column if the column at the end of the environment is not the last one is elegant and works on different variations of the MWE, including cases with more than two columns.
Joey
On Sat, May 16, 2020 at 4:12 AM Wolfgang Schuster < wolfgang.schuster.lists@gmail.com> wrote:
Joey McCollum schrieb am 16.05.2020 um 05:45:
All right, I've found a tentative solution that appears to work in all cases, but I'd like to know more about why the code I'm patching was implemented in the first place, because I don't want to break anything else. According to the code in page-pcl.mkiv, the \stoppagecolumns macro has two implementations, \page_col_stop_yes and \page_col_stop_nop. The choice of which implementation is used is determined by which of two implementations of \startpagecolumns (\page_col_start_yes and \page_col_start_nop) is used. That choice, in turn, is made in the \page_col_start macro, in the following lines:
\c_page_col_n_of_columns\pagecolumnsparameter\c!n\relax \ifnum\c_page_col_n_of_columns>\plusone \expandafter\page_col_start_yes \else \expandafter\page_col_start_nop \fiso if the number of columns (i.e., the n option for the pagecolumns environment) is more than one, the "yes" implementation of the start and stop commands is used.
But this seems wrong. The naming convention for the two implementations ("yes" and "nop") suggests that they should be related the parameters "page=yes" and "page=no" (hence, no page, which is what I think "nop" abbreviates), but the choice of which implementation to use is determined not by the page parameter, but by the n parameter. Is this an error in the code, or am I just understanding this incorrectly? Is there some reason why a layout with more than one column would need special instructions to add a blank page after stopping the environment?
Why do you think "yes" and "nop" are related to the page-key?
In any event, I was able to solve the problem by patching the \page_col_start_yes macro to invoke the \page_col_start_nop macro as follows:
\unprotect \def\page_col_stop_yes {\page_col_stop_nop} \protectWith this fix, the MWE I provided works regardless of which column the text ends in. I'm content to consider the problem solved, but I would certainly appreciate any feedback on my thoughts and questions about page-pcl.mkiv.
You broke now now normal single columns text after the pagecolumns environment. A better fix is to add a check for the \column command at the end of the environment and add it only when we aren't in the last column.
\unexpanded\def\page_col_stop_yes {%\column % \page_otr_eject_page \ifnum\c_page_col_current<\c_page_col_n_of_columns \column \fi \page \endgroup % \setupoutputroutine[\s!singlecolumn]% \page_otr_command_set_vsize \page_otr_command_set_hsize \page \endgroup}
Wolfgang
-
Joey McCollum -
Thangalin -
Wolfgang Schuster