Hi Patrick,

while browsing thru the source and trying some examples, I can't sensible output of the following code. (No MP stuff is visible)

right, this is because it's old crappy code; and so you got me in debugging mode again \setupcolors[state=start] \starttext \def\cw#1{\color[white]{#1}} \startMPpositiongraphic{tableshade} initialize_area(\MPpos{\MPvar{from}},\MPpos{\MPvar{to}}) ; color c ; c := \MPvar{color} ; linear_shade(pxy,0,.4c,.9c) ; anchor_area(\MPanchor{\MPvar{from}}) ; \stopMPpositiongraphic \setMPpositiongraphic{b:x}{tableshade}{from=b:x,to=e:x,color=red} \setMPpositiongraphic{b:y}{tableshade}{from=b:y,to=e:y,color=green} \setMPpositiongraphic{b:z}{tableshade}{from=b:z,to=e:z,color=blue} \starttable[|c|c|c|] \GFC[b:z] \cw{this is a small} \NC \cw{table} \NC in which we \NC \FR \NC \cw{will demonstrate} \GFC[c:y] \cw{that this} \GTC[c] \cw{positioning} \NC \MR \GSC[a:x] \cw{mechanism also} \GTC[b] \cw{works quite well} \NC in tables \NC \LR \stoptable \stoptext so, \startMPpositiongraphic is now named and handles vars btw, i leave it to you to figure out the \XC alternative (which is a nicer way of coding) there are a few more places where this kind of old code shows up (which is one reason why it's in the comments and not in manuals); last week i fixed something in a presentation style -) This kind of code is now reaching a more stable state because it's quite extensively used in some of the projects that we're involved in (i can show you some of the coding in bremen if you're interested; this kind of things is needed to make dtp competing/beating styles and it's a slow process to make the mechanisms programmable and the code readable) btw, the textbackground features work ok in tables as well, so in a way this kind of things are no longer needed, unless you want to span cells in complicated ways Hans ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE | pragma@wxs.nl Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: +31 (0)38 477 53 69 | fax: +31 (0)38 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- information: http://www.pragma-ade.com/roadmap.pdf documentation: http://www.pragma-ade.com/showcase.pdf -------------------------------------------------------------------------