sorted phone directory

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Problem with integral limits with...

Johan Sandblom

2 Aug 2011 2 Aug '11

3:08 a.m.

I am maintaining a small vademecum for my workplace. One of the things it contains is a list of handy phone numbers, which should be sorted. Until now I have used the attached hack. It has worked reasonably well until the directory outgrew the one page. Before I start to modify my hack it occurred to me that ConTeXt most likely has a machinery for this already. It is a sort of register, after all. I have looked in the manual at registers and sorted lists but have not been able to find what I want. The desired specifications are: 1. columns (to save space) 2. sorted (in a correct Swedish order) 3. spans several pages Thanks for any pointers, Johan -- Johan Sandblom, MD PhD m +46735521477 Sweden "What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite" - Bertrand Russell

Attachments:

minimaltele.tex (application/x-tex — 920 bytes)

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Jaroslav Hajtmar

2 Aug 2 Aug

4:44 a.m.

Hello Johan. I wonder whether it would be better to have a list of telephone numbers in an external file (eg csv file) that can handle aplication such as Excel or Calc. The list is sorted by this instrument and ConTeXt would just typed data from external file. For practical reasons it would be better to have that list in an external file. I do these things with my scancsv.lua tool. Now I finishing module for ConTeXt. see http://public.hajtmar.com/?cesta=JRsVFQdsBhwIWyAGFFsAJkBJQURsAgsVByYcDREAKh0... Jaroslav Hajtmar Dne 2.8.2011 11:08, Johan Sandblom napsal(a):

...

I am maintaining a small vademecum for my workplace. One of the things it contains is a list of handy phone numbers, which should be sorted. Until now I have used the attached hack. It has worked reasonably well until the directory outgrew the one page. Before I start to modify my hack it occurred to me that ConTeXt most likely has a machinery for this already. It is a sort of register, after all. I have looked in the manual at registers and sorted lists but have not been able to find what I want. The desired specifications are:

1. columns (to save space) 2. sorted (in a correct Swedish order) 3. spans several pages

Thanks for any pointers, Johan

___________________________________________________________________________________ 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://tex.aanhet.net archive : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________

Pontus Lurcock

5:15 a.m.

On Tue 02 Aug 2011, Johan Sandblom wrote:

...

I am maintaining a small vademecum for my workplace. One of the things it contains is a list of handy phone numbers, which should be sorted. Until now I have used the attached hack. It has worked reasonably well until the directory outgrew the one page.

So if I understand correctly, everything is fine except that your current solution only works for a single page? If so, replacing \bTABLE with \bTABLE[split=yes] should do the trick. (Sorry, don't have time to test this now, but it is documented at http://wiki.contextgarden.net/TABLE .) Hope this helps, Pont

Wolfgang Schuster

5:33 a.m.

Am 02.08.2011 um 11:08 schrieb Johan Sandblom:

...

I am maintaining a small vademecum for my workplace. One of the things it contains is a list of handy phone numbers, which should be sorted. Until now I have used the attached hack. It has worked reasonably well until the directory outgrew the one page. Before I start to modify my hack it occurred to me that ConTeXt most likely has a machinery for this already. It is a sort of register, after all. I have looked in the manual at registers and sorted lists but have not been able to find what I want. The desired specifications are:

1. columns (to save space) 2. sorted (in a correct Swedish order) 3. spans several pages

Alternative solution with ConTeXt’s sorting mechanism: \mainlanguage[swedish] \definedescription [TelefonEntry] [width=2em] \unexpanded\def\TelefonCommand#1#2#3% {\startTelefonEntry{#2}#3\stopTelefonEntry} \definesorting[Telefon][Telefone] \starttext \Telefon[a]{78423} \Telefon[b]{78264} \Telefon[ö]{78264} \Telefon[Ö]{23423} \Telefon[å]{23402394} \Telefon[åå]{23042} \Telefon[ååå]{098234} \startcolumns[n=3] \placelistofsorts[Telefon][criterium=all,command=\TelefonCommand] \stopcolumns \stoptext Wolfgang

Johan Sandblom

8:08 a.m.

Thank you for your suggestions! Jaroslav, having the numbers in a separate file and sorting there, while possible, would increase overhead in managing the document and make it impossible to enter phone numbers at other places in the text. Pontus, splitting the table over pages would interact poorly with columns since the first entry on the second page would be the one after the last in the first column on the first page: 1 6 11 2 7 12 3 8 13 4 9 14 5 10 15 Wolfgang, this is what I was hoping for, but there are some problems: - the numbers should be flush right - in the real file entries are longer than in my example file, but none so long as to require a line break. Here many entries require a line break and the next entry runs over the second line of the broken entry. See a slightly more realistic example below. Gratefully, Johan \mainlanguage[swedish] \definedescription [TelefonEntry] [width=2em] \unexpanded\def\TelefonCommand#1#2#3% {\startTelefonEntry{#2}#3\stopTelefonEntry} \definesorting[Telefon][Telefone] \starttext \Telefon[Eldallah Awdawebi]{78423} \Telefon[Nada Pipidepaulou]{78264} \Telefon[Aölaksd aölksd]{044578264} \Telefon[Ö]{320399} \Telefon[å]{23402394} \Telefon[åå]{23042} \Telefon[ååå]{098234} \startcolumns[n=3] \placelistofsorts[Telefon][criterium=all,command=\TelefonCommand] \stopcolumns \stoptext 2011/8/2 Wolfgang Schuster :

...

Am 02.08.2011 um 11:08 schrieb Johan Sandblom:

...
I am maintaining a small vademecum for my workplace. One of the things it contains is a list of handy phone numbers, which should be sorted. Until now I have used the attached hack. It has worked reasonably well until the directory outgrew the one page. Before I start to modify my hack it occurred to me that ConTeXt most likely has a machinery for this already. It is a sort of register, after all. I have looked in the manual at registers and sorted lists but have not been able to find what I want. The desired specifications are:

1. columns (to save space) 2. sorted (in a correct Swedish order) 3. spans several pages

Alternative solution with ConTeXt’s sorting mechanism:

\mainlanguage[swedish]

\definedescription [TelefonEntry] [width=2em]

\unexpanded\def\TelefonCommand#1#2#3% {\startTelefonEntry{#2}#3\stopTelefonEntry}

\definesorting[Telefon][Telefone]

\starttext

\Telefon[a]{78423} \Telefon[b]{78264} \Telefon[ö]{78264} \Telefon[Ö]{23423} \Telefon[å]{23402394} \Telefon[åå]{23042} \Telefon[ååå]{098234}

\startcolumns[n=3] \placelistofsorts[Telefon][criterium=all,command=\TelefonCommand] \stopcolumns

\stoptext

Wolfgang

___________________________________________________________________________________ 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://tex.aanhet.net archive : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________

-- Johan Sandblom, MD PhD m +46735521477 Sweden "What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite" - Bertrand Russell

Wolfgang Schuster

8:23 a.m.

Am 02.08.2011 um 16:08 schrieb Johan Sandblom:

...

Wolfgang, this is what I was hoping for, but there are some problems: - the numbers should be flush right - in the real file entries are longer than in my example file, but none so long as to require a line break. Here many entries require a line break and the next entry runs over the second line of the broken entry. See a slightly more realistic example below.

Gratefully, Johan

\unexpanded\def\TelefonCommand#1#2#3% {\startTelefonEntry{#2}#3\stopTelefonEntry}

\unexpanded\def\TelefonCommand#1#2#3% {\maxaligned{#2\hfil#3}\par} Wolfgang

Johan Sandblom

8:50 a.m.

Thank you. Unfortunately I get the following: Running `LuaConTeXt' on `minimaltele2' with ``context minimaltele2.tex'' mtx-context | run 1: luatex --fmt="/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-cache/luatex-cache/context/5fe67e0bfe781ce0dde776fb1556f32e/formats/cont-en" --lua="/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-cache/luatex-cache/context/5fe67e0bfe781ce0dde776fb1556f32e/formats/cont-en.lui" --backend="pdf" "./minimaltele2.tex" This is LuaTeX, Version beta-0.70.1-2011051923 (rev 4277) \write18 enabled. (minimaltele2.tex ConTeXt ver: 2011.05.18 22:26 MKIV fmt: 2011.6.25 int: english/english system > cont-new.mkiv loaded (/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/cont-new.mkiv system > beware: some patches loaded from cont-new.mkiv ) system > minimaltele2.top loaded (minimaltele2.top) fonts > latin modern fonts are not preloaded languages > language en is active {/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-context/fonts/map/pdftex/context/mkiv-base.map}fonts > preloading latin modern fonts (second stage) (/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/type-siz.mkiv) (/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/type-otf.mkiv){/home/johans/context/tex/texmf/fonts/map/dvips/lm/lm-math.map}{/home/johans/context/tex/texmf/fonts/map/dvips/lm/lm-rm.map} fonts > virtual math > unable to resolve name mapsfromchar fonts > fallback modern rm 12pt is loaded system > begin file minimaltele2.tex at line 14 ! Undefined control sequence. system > tex > error on line 1 in file minimaltele2.tex: Undefined control sequence ... 1 >> \mainlanguage[swedish] 2 3 \definedescription 4 [TelefonEntry] 5 [width=2em] 6 7 %%\unexpanded\def\TelefonCommand#1#2#3% 8 %% {\startTelefonEntry{#2}#3\stopTelefonEntry} 9 \unexpanded\def\TelefonCommand#1#2#3% 10 {\maxaligned{#2\hfil#3}\par} 11 \TelefonCommand #1#2#3->\maxaligned {#2\hfil #3}\par l.1 ...tingentry{1}{Aölaksd aölksd}{044578264}{} \doplacelistofsorts ...gparameter \c!method ", })} \stoppacked \endgroup l.25 ...on][criterium=all,command=\TelefonCommand] ? 2011/8/2 Wolfgang Schuster :

...

Am 02.08.2011 um 16:08 schrieb Johan Sandblom:

...
Wolfgang, this is what I was hoping for, but there are some problems: - the numbers should be flush right - in the real file entries are longer than in my example file, but none so long as to require a line break. Here many entries require a line break and the next entry runs over the second line of the broken entry. See a slightly more realistic example below.

Gratefully, Johan

\unexpanded\def\TelefonCommand#1#2#3% {\startTelefonEntry{#2}#3\stopTelefonEntry}

\unexpanded\def\TelefonCommand#1#2#3% {\maxaligned{#2\hfil#3}\par}

Wolfgang

___________________________________________________________________________________ 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://tex.aanhet.net archive : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________

-- Johan Sandblom, MD PhD m +46735521477 Sweden "What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite" - Bertrand Russell

Wolfgang Schuster

9:01 a.m.

Am 02.08.2011 um 16:50 schrieb Johan Sandblom:

...

Thank you. Unfortunately I get the following:

! Undefined control sequence.

\TelefonCommand #1#2#3->\maxaligned

You can replace “\maxaligned” with “\hbox to \hsize”. The command is rather new and the ConTeXt version of \line (\hbox to \hsize) from plain TeX. Wolfgang

Johan Sandblom

9:10 a.m.

I updated to no avail. Perhaps I need to get a newer luatex? I also tried to change \midaligned to \hbox to \hsize and got another problem. Curiously it is now located on line 4 of the input file regardless of whethter line 4 is a comment or not. Johan Running `LuaConTeXt' on `minimaltele2' with ``context minimaltele2.tex'' mtx-context | run 1: luatex --fmt="/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-cache/luatex-cache/context/2448223e6631addb83df348d74153606/formats/cont-en" --lua="/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-cache/luatex-cache/context/2448223e6631addb83df348d74153606/formats/cont-en.lui" --backend="pdf" "./minimaltele2.tex" \stoptext This is LuaTeX, Version beta-0.70.1-2011051923 (rev 4277) \write18 enabled. (minimaltele2.tex ConTeXt ver: 2011.07.26 09:17 MKIV fmt: 2011.8.2 int: english/english system > cont-new.mkiv loaded (/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/cont-new.mkiv system > beware: some patches loaded from cont-new.mkiv ) system > minimaltele2.top loaded (minimaltele2.top) fonts > latin modern fonts are not preloaded languages > language en is active {/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-context/fonts/map/pdftex/context/mkiv-base.map}fonts > preloading latin modern fonts (second stage) (/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/type-siz.mkiv) (/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/type-otf.mkiv) files > readfile > asked name: 'loc', not found {/home/johans/context/tex/texmf/fonts/map/dvips/lm/lm-math.map}{/home/johans/context/tex/texmf/fonts/map/dvips/lm/lm-rm.map} fonts > virtual math > unable to resolve name mapsfromchar fonts > fallback modern rm 12pt is loaded ! Undefined control sequence. system > tex > error on line 4 in file minimaltele2.tex: Undefined control sequence ... 1 \mainlanguage[swedish] 2 3 %%\definedescription 4 >> %% [TelefonEntry] 5 %% [width=2em] 6 7 %%\unexpanded\def\TelefonCommand#1#2#3% 8 %% {\startTelefonEntry{#2}#3\stopTelefonEntry} 9 \unexpanded\def\TelefonCommand#1#2#3% 10 {\hbox to \hsize{#2\hfil#3}\par} 11 12 \definesorting[Telefon][Telefone] 13 14 \starttext <argument> \fakewords {1}{1} \TelefonCommand ...#3->\hbox to \hsize {#2\hfil #3 }\par l.4 \sortingentry{1}{Ö}{\fakewords {1}{1}}{} \doplacelistofsorts ...gparameter \c!method ", })} \stoppacked \endgroup l.25 ...on][criterium=all,command=\TelefonCommand] ? 2011/8/2 Wolfgang Schuster :

...

Am 02.08.2011 um 16:50 schrieb Johan Sandblom:

...
Thank you. Unfortunately I get the following:

! Undefined control sequence.

\TelefonCommand #1#2#3->\maxaligned

You can replace “\maxaligned” with “\hbox to \hsize”.

The command is rather new and the ConTeXt version of \line (\hbox to \hsize) from plain TeX.

Wolfgang ___________________________________________________________________________________ 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://tex.aanhet.net archive : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________

-- Johan Sandblom, MD PhD m +46735521477 Sweden "What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite" - Bertrand Russell

Johan Sandblom

9:15 a.m.

Sorry that was my fault for not cleaning up the .tuc-file or some such. Thank you, now it works perfectly. Johan 2011/8/2 Johan Sandblom :

...

I updated to no avail. Perhaps I need to get a newer luatex? I also tried to change \midaligned to \hbox to \hsize and got another problem. Curiously it is now located on line 4 of the input file regardless of whethter line 4 is a comment or not.

Johan

Running `LuaConTeXt' on `minimaltele2' with ``context minimaltele2.tex''

mtx-context | run 1: luatex --fmt="/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-cache/luatex-cache/context/2448223e6631addb83df348d74153606/formats/cont-en" --lua="/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-cache/luatex-cache/context/2448223e6631addb83df348d74153606/formats/cont-en.lui" --backend="pdf" "./minimaltele2.tex" \stoptext This is LuaTeX, Version beta-0.70.1-2011051923 (rev 4277) \write18 enabled. (minimaltele2.tex

ConTeXt ver: 2011.07.26 09:17 MKIV fmt: 2011.8.2 int: english/english

system > cont-new.mkiv loaded (/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/cont-new.mkiv system > beware: some patches loaded from cont-new.mkiv ) system > minimaltele2.top loaded (minimaltele2.top) fonts > latin modern fonts are not preloaded languages > language en is active {/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-context/fonts/map/pdftex/context/mkiv-base.map}fonts > preloading latin modern fonts (second stage) (/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/type-siz.mkiv) (/home/johans/context/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/type-otf.mkiv) files > readfile > asked name: 'loc', not found {/home/johans/context/tex/texmf/fonts/map/dvips/lm/lm-math.map}{/home/johans/context/tex/texmf/fonts/map/dvips/lm/lm-rm.map} fonts > virtual math > unable to resolve name mapsfromchar fonts > fallback modern rm 12pt is loaded ! Undefined control sequence.

system > tex > error on line 4 in file minimaltele2.tex: Undefined control sequence ...

1 \mainlanguage[swedish] 2 3 %%\definedescription 4 >> %% [TelefonEntry] 5 %% [width=2em] 6 7 %%\unexpanded\def\TelefonCommand#1#2#3% 8 %% {\startTelefonEntry{#2}#3\stopTelefonEntry} 9 \unexpanded\def\TelefonCommand#1#2#3% 10 {\hbox to \hsize{#2\hfil#3}\par} 11 12 \definesorting[Telefon][Telefone] 13 14 \starttext

<argument> \fakewords {1}{1} \TelefonCommand ...#3->\hbox to \hsize {#2\hfil #3 }\par l.4 \sortingentry{1}{Ö}{\fakewords {1}{1}}{}

\doplacelistofsorts ...gparameter \c!method ", })} \stoppacked \endgroup l.25 ...on][criterium=all,command=\TelefonCommand]

?

2011/8/2 Wolfgang Schuster :

...
Am 02.08.2011 um 16:50 schrieb Johan Sandblom:

...
Thank you. Unfortunately I get the following:

! Undefined control sequence.

\TelefonCommand #1#2#3->\maxaligned

You can replace “\maxaligned” with “\hbox to \hsize”.

The command is rather new and the ConTeXt version of \line (\hbox to \hsize) from plain TeX.

Wolfgang ___________________________________________________________________________________ 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://tex.aanhet.net archive : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________

-- Johan Sandblom, MD PhD m +46735521477 Sweden "What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite" - Bertrand Russell

-- Johan Sandblom, MD PhD m +46735521477 Sweden "What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite" - Bertrand Russell

Wolfgang Schuster

9:19 a.m.

Am 02.08.2011 um 17:10 schrieb Johan Sandblom:

...

I updated to no avail. Perhaps I need to get a newer luatex? I also tried to change \midaligned to \hbox to \hsize and got another problem. Curiously it is now located on line 4 of the input file regardless of whethter line 4 is a comment or not.

Do you use the \fakewords command in your document? Wolfgang

Johan Sandblom

2:05 p.m.

I attempted to make a more realistic example without divulging names and numbers. There was no \fakewords in the file that I ran but apparently still in some auxiliary file with the same name. When I removed all other files it worked fine. Johan 2011/8/2 Wolfgang Schuster :

...

Am 02.08.2011 um 17:10 schrieb Johan Sandblom:

...
I updated to no avail. Perhaps I need to get a newer luatex? I also tried to change \midaligned to \hbox to \hsize and got another problem. Curiously it is now located on line 4 of the input file regardless of whethter line 4 is a comment or not.

Do you use the \fakewords command in your document?

Wolfgang ___________________________________________________________________________________ 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://tex.aanhet.net archive : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________

-- Johan Sandblom, MD PhD m +46735521477 Sweden "What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite" - Bertrand Russell

Thomas A. Schmitz

2:05 p.m.

On 08/02/2011 04:08 PM, Johan Sandblom wrote:

...

Thank you for your suggestions!

Jaroslav, having the numbers in a separate file and sorting there, while possible, would increase overhead in managing the document and make it impossible to enter phone numbers at other places in the text.

Ultimately, it is of course your decision what you want to do, but I think you were a bit quick to reject Jaroslav's suggestion. TeX isn't meant to store databases. Having the information in some external file will actually make things much easier in the middle and long run. It's easier to manage, it scales better, and it will allow you to reuse this information in other ways. And ConTeXt is excellent in that it can handle many different input formats. I wrote something about using databases in xml or sql format in the latest MAPS issue; csv is easy to produce (libreoffice calc can produce csv). You could even store the information in a raw lua table and then retrieve it via some macros. I think the sorting itself should be done in ConTeXt because language support for the other solutions is probably not as straightforward (if it exists at all), but I would definitely store the information in some other format. Again, it is your decision, and of course we don't know what special requirements you have, but using some sort of well-known format would make your solution much more future-proof. Good luck Thomas

Jaroslav Hajtmar

8:41 p.m.

Hello Johan, Certainly it is possible to combine solution of Wolfgang with retrieving data from an external file without having to sort the data by another application. Enough to define a simple ConTeXt macro that contains a piece of Lua code. Here my modification of Wolfgang last solution for your inspiration: \def\processexternalfile#1{ \startluacode myextfile=io.open('#1',"r") repeat line=myextfile:read() if line ~= nil then splitline=string.split(line, ",") context('\\Telefon['..splitline[1]..']{'..splitline[2]..'}') end until (line == nil) myextfile:close() \stopluacode } \mainlanguage[swedish] \definedescription [TelefonEntry] [width=2em] \unexpanded\def\TelefonCommand#1#2#3% {\hbox to \hsize{#2\hfil#3}\par} \definesorting[Telefon][Telefone] \starttext Wolfgang's solution: \Telefon[Eldallah Awdawebi]{78423} \Telefon[Nada Pipidepaulou]{78264} \Telefon[Aölaksd aölksd]{044578264} \Telefon[Ö]{320399} \Telefon[å]{23402394} \Telefon[åå]{23042} \Telefon[ååå]{098234} \startcolumns[n=3] \placelistofsorts[Telefon][criterium=all,command=\TelefonCommand] \stopcolumns \blank[big] % Create external CSV file "extfile.csv". % Structure of this file is: % Eldallah Awdawebi,78423 % Nada Pipidepaulou,78264 % Aölaksd aölksd,044578264 % Ö,320399 % å,23402394 % åå,23042 % ååå,098234 My solution - processing an external file \quotation{extfile.csv}: \processexternalfile{extfile.csv} \startcolumns[n=3] \placelistofsorts[Telefon][criterium=all,command=\TelefonCommand] \stopcolumns \stoptext Best regards Jaroslav Dne 2.8.2011 22:05, Thomas A. Schmitz napsal(a):

...

On 08/02/2011 04:08 PM, Johan Sandblom wrote:

...
Thank you for your suggestions!

Jaroslav, having the numbers in a separate file and sorting there, while possible, would increase overhead in managing the document and make it impossible to enter phone numbers at other places in the text.

Ultimately, it is of course your decision what you want to do, but I think you were a bit quick to reject Jaroslav's suggestion. TeX isn't meant to store databases. Having the information in some external file will actually make things much easier in the middle and long run. It's easier to manage, it scales better, and it will allow you to reuse this information in other ways. And ConTeXt is excellent in that it can handle many different input formats. I wrote something about using databases in xml or sql format in the latest MAPS issue; csv is easy to produce (libreoffice calc can produce csv). You could even store the information in a raw lua table and then retrieve it via some macros. I think the sorting itself should be done in ConTeXt because language support for the other solutions is probably not as straightforward (if it exists at all), but I would definitely store the information in some other format. Again, it is your decision, and of course we don't know what special requirements you have, but using some sort of well-known format would make your solution much more future-proof.

Good luck

Thomas ___________________________________________________________________________________

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://tex.aanhet.net archive : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________

Johan Sandblom

11:29 p.m.

I agree there may be advantages with a solution involving an external file. The phone directory is slowly growing, but it has taken it years to reach one page, so I am not sure the size of the database will ever be a problem. The current solution works for now, but it is good to be able to handle external files this way if the need arises. Thank you for your opinions. Johan 2011/8/3 Jaroslav Hajtmar :

...

Hello Johan, Certainly it is possible to combine solution of Wolfgang with retrieving data from an external file without having to sort the data by another application. Enough to define a simple ConTeXt macro that contains a piece of Lua code. Here my modification of Wolfgang last solution for your inspiration:

\def\processexternalfile#1{ \startluacode myextfile=io.open('#1',"r") repeat line=myextfile:read() if line ~= nil then splitline=string.split(line, ",") context('\\Telefon['..splitline[1]..']{'..splitline[2]..'}') end until (line == nil) myextfile:close() \stopluacode }

\mainlanguage[swedish]

\definedescription [TelefonEntry] [width=2em]

\unexpanded\def\TelefonCommand#1#2#3% {\hbox to \hsize{#2\hfil#3}\par}

\definesorting[Telefon][Telefone]

\starttext

Wolfgang's solution:

\Telefon[Eldallah Awdawebi]{78423} \Telefon[Nada Pipidepaulou]{78264} \Telefon[Aölaksd aölksd]{044578264} \Telefon[Ö]{320399} \Telefon[å]{23402394} \Telefon[åå]{23042} \Telefon[ååå]{098234}

\startcolumns[n=3] \placelistofsorts[Telefon][criterium=all,command=\TelefonCommand] \stopcolumns

\blank[big]

% Create external CSV file "extfile.csv". % Structure of this file is:

% Eldallah Awdawebi,78423 % Nada Pipidepaulou,78264 % Aölaksd aölksd,044578264 % Ö,320399 % å,23402394 % åå,23042 % ååå,098234

My solution - processing an external file \quotation{extfile.csv}:

\processexternalfile{extfile.csv}

\startcolumns[n=3] \placelistofsorts[Telefon][criterium=all,command=\TelefonCommand] \stopcolumns

\stoptext

Best regards Jaroslav

Dne 2.8.2011 22:05, Thomas A. Schmitz napsal(a):

...
On 08/02/2011 04:08 PM, Johan Sandblom wrote:

...
Thank you for your suggestions!

Jaroslav, having the numbers in a separate file and sorting there, while possible, would increase overhead in managing the document and make it impossible to enter phone numbers at other places in the text.

Ultimately, it is of course your decision what you want to do, but I think you were a bit quick to reject Jaroslav's suggestion. TeX isn't meant to store databases. Having the information in some external file will actually make things much easier in the middle and long run. It's easier to manage, it scales better, and it will allow you to reuse this information in other ways. And ConTeXt is excellent in that it can handle many different input formats. I wrote something about using databases in xml or sql format in the latest MAPS issue; csv is easy to produce (libreoffice calc can produce csv). You could even store the information in a raw lua table and then retrieve it via some macros. I think the sorting itself should be done in ConTeXt because language support for the other solutions is probably not as straightforward (if it exists at all), but I would definitely store the information in some other format. Again, it is your decision, and of course we don't know what special requirements you have, but using some sort of well-known format would make your solution much more future-proof.

Good luck

Thomas

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___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________ 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://tex.aanhet.net archive : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________

-- Johan Sandblom, MD PhD m +46735521477 Sweden "What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite" - Bertrand Russell

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participants (5)

Jaroslav Hajtmar
Johan Sandblom
Pontus Lurcock
Thomas A. Schmitz
Wolfgang Schuster