Re: [NTG-context] how to get thick and thin borders working in tables (ConTeXt)
On 12/9/2008 12:04 PM, Wolfgang Schuster wrote:
Am 09.12.2008 um 17:48 schrieb Lars Huttar:
Hello,
We are using ConTeXt (with XeTeX engine) to typeset some tables that have borders (rules) between cells.
In the previous edition of the book (which was not done in TeX), some of the lines between table cells were double, others single. This was done to show grouping of columns and rows. We have been told that in TeX, or at least in ConTeXt, you can't do double rules (we'd be happy to be corrected on that point), so we have been trying to use thick and thin lines to show grouping.
Thick or thin lines work fine if applied to whole tables or whole cells, but when there are cells with thick rules on some sides and thin rules on other sides, it gets confused.
For example, we tried (a) \setupTABLE[c][4][leftframe=on,rulethickness=0.5mm] to set the left border of the fourth column to be thick. This worked. But then if we use (b) \setupTABLE[c][4][rightframe=on,rulethickness=0.25mm] to set the right border of the same column to be thin, it overrides the thickness of both left and right borders, so setting (a) is lost.
In other words, we can't seem to get a given cell to have a thick border on one side and a thin border on the other side. (Well, we could fake it in some cases by setting rulethickness for an adjacent cell, but that adjacent cell would then have to have thick borders on all sides.)
Does anybody know if it's possible to do this in ConTeXt? or in TeX?
Thanks for any ideas, Lars
P.S. Incidentally, if you set the bottom border of row 1 and the top border of row 2 each to be thick, the result is additive: you get a doubly-thick border.
I can provide a patch for ConTeXt to draw rules with different thickness on each side but I can't assure it will work in the future.
With metapost you can nearly all types of borders you want.
\startuseMPgraphic{table:frame:double} draw OverlayBox enlarged -\the\dimexpr\linewidth/2\relax ; % outer frame draw OverlayBox enlarged -2pt ; % inner frame setbounds currentpicture to OverlayBox ; \stopuseMPgraphic
\startuseMPgraphic{table:frame:all} draw OverlayBox enlarged -\the\dimexpr\linewidth/2\relax ; setbounds currentpicture to OverlayBox ; \stopuseMPgraphic
\startuseMPgraphic{table:frame:left} linecap := squared ; draw leftboundary OverlayBox withpen pencircle scaled 2 ; setbounds currentpicture to OverlayBox ; \stopuseMPgraphic
\startuseMPgraphic{table:frame:right} linecap := squared ; draw rightboundary OverlayBox withpen pencircle scaled 2 ; setbounds currentpicture to OverlayBox ; \stopuseMPgraphic
\startuseMPgraphic{table:frame:top} linecap := squared ; draw topboundary OverlayBox withpen pencircle scaled 2 ; setbounds currentpicture to OverlayBox ; \stopuseMPgraphic
\startuseMPgraphic{table:frame:bottom} linecap := squared ; draw bottomboundary OverlayBox withpen pencircle scaled 2 ; setbounds currentpicture to OverlayBox ; \stopuseMPgraphic
\defineoverlay[table:frame:double][\useMPgraphic{table:frame:double}]
\defineoverlay[table:frame:all] [\useMPgraphic{table:frame:all}] \defineoverlay[table:frame:left] [\useMPgraphic{table:frame:left}] \defineoverlay[table:frame:right] [\useMPgraphic{table:frame:right}] \defineoverlay[table:frame:top] [\useMPgraphic{table:frame:top}] \defineoverlay[table:frame:bottom][\useMPgraphic{table:frame:bottom}]
\starttext
\startbuffer \bTABLE[frame=off,offset=2ex] \bTR \bTD One \eTD \bTD Two \eTD \bTD Three \eTD \eTR \bTR \bTD Four \eTD \bTD Five \eTD \bTD Six \eTD \eTR \bTR \bTD Seven \eTD \bTD Eight \eTD \bTD Nine \eTD \eTR \eTABLE \stopbuffer
\start \setupTABLE[background={table:frame:double}] \getbuffer \stop \blank
\start \setupTABLE[background={table:frame:all}] \setupTABLE[c][first][background={table:frame:all,table:frame:left}] \setupTABLE[c][last][background={table:frame:all,table:frame:right}] \setupTABLE[r][first][background={table:frame:all,table:frame:top}] \setupTABLE[r][last][background={table:frame:all,table:frame:bottom}] \setupTABLE[first][first][background={table:frame:all,table:frame:left,table:frame:top}]
\setupTABLE[last][first][background={table:frame:all,table:frame:right,table:frame:top}]
\setupTABLE[first][last][background={table:frame:all,table:frame:left,table:frame:bottom}]
\setupTABLE[last][last][background={table:frame:all,table:frame:right,table:frame:bottom}]
\getbuffer \stop
\stoptext
Wolfgang
Thanks for the very detailed example! We should be able to apply this to our document. I'm copying it to the list because I think it would be valuable for posterity. Thanks to Aditya too for the reply. Regards, Lars -- Lars Huttar
On 12/9/2008 2:01 PM, Lars Huttar wrote:
On 12/9/2008 12:04 PM, Wolfgang Schuster wrote:
We applied your example to our document, and were able to get it working with thick and thin lines. Thanks very much! Now since you included double lines in your example, I've been aspiring to use that instead of just thick lines...
\startuseMPgraphic{table:frame:double} draw OverlayBox enlarged -\the\dimexpr\linewidth/2\relax ; % outer frame draw OverlayBox enlarged -2pt ; % inner frame setbounds currentpicture to OverlayBox ; \stopuseMPgraphic
OK... the above results in triple lines between cells, so I modified the draw OverlayBox lines as follows: draw OverlayBox enlarged \the\dimexpr\linewidth*1\relax ; % outer frame draw OverlayBox enlarged -\the\dimexpr\linewidth*2\relax ; % inner frame This was mainly experimental, as I don't fully understand the model. (I looked up some Metapost references but couldn't find a definition of "enlarged".) But it seems to work: the double lines between two cells overlap exactly, so you get a consistent look. However, when I try to mix double frames with single frames, I'm having trouble. Here is what I tried, in order to get a cell with double frame on the left, and single frame everywhere else: \startuseMPgraphic{table:frame:Lrtb} % left border is double draw leftboundary OverlayBox enlarged \the\dimexpr\linewidth*1\relax ; % outer frame draw leftboundary OverlayBox enlarged -\the\dimexpr\linewidth*2\relax ; % inner frame draw rightboundary OverlayBox enlarged -\the\dimexpr\linewidth/2\relax ; draw topboundary OverlayBox enlarged -\the\dimexpr\linewidth/2\relax ; draw bottomboundary OverlayBox enlarged -\the\dimexpr\linewidth/2\relax ; setbounds currentpicture to OverlayBox ; \stopuseMPgraphic Now the graphic has double line on the left and a single line elsewhere. However, the lines are thicker than in the previous one... about twice as thick, too heavy for our requirements. And I can't tell why. This is true on all four sides. See http://www.huttar.net/lars-kathy/tmp/test-mp-tableframe.pdf, second table. Also, on the side that has double lines, the double lines don't go all the way to the top and bottom (see same pdf, second table), so that the double line is not continuous across multiple rows. Any suggestions? The above graphic is used as follows... \start \setupTABLE[c][first][background={table:frame:Lrtb}] \getbuffer \stop Thanks, Lars
participants (1)
-
Lars Huttar