[NTG-context] \autoinsertedspace fails

[Hans Hagen]

On 1/6/2023 3:05 AM, Rik Kabel via ntg-context wrote:
> 
> On 2023-01-05 04:35, Hans Hagen via ntg-context wrote:
>> On 1/5/2023 4:21 AM, Rik Kabel via ntg-context wrote:
> 
>  Â Â Â  [ snipped by rik]
> 
>> Here is a more lmtx-ish variant:
>>
>> \starttexdefinition tolerant protected BD #=#*#=
>> Â Â  \removeunwantedspaces
>> Â Â  \space % insert a space
>> Â Â  (
>> Â Â  \ifparameter#2\or
>>        #1|–|#2
>> Â Â  \orelse\ifparameter#1\or
>>        #1–
>> Â Â  \else
>> Â Â Â Â Â Â  {\red I NEED A DATE OR DATES!}
>> Â Â  \fi
>> Â Â  )
>> Â Â  \autoinsertedspace
>> \stoptexdefinition
>>
>> Hans
> 
> Thank you for that. This works for me with \optionalspace, but fails in 
> some cases with \autoinsertedspace.
> 
> I have now re-read lowlevel-macros.pdf and have a better understanding 
> of what I read when first I approached it; I still have a way to go.
> 
> /Tolerant/ removes the need for /dodoubleempty/ and friends and the 
> two-step /macro/ and /doMacro/ dance. There was a small advantage to the 
> two-step, however. I had two separate macros, BD and BDNP (no parens), 
> as shown.
> 
> The old code in full was:
> 
>     %-------------------- Birth and death dates -----------------------%
>     % Ferdinand de Saussure\BD{1857}{1913}
>     % Noam Chomsky \BD{1928}
>     %
>     % Perhaps this could be tied to an acronym-like database so that the
>     %Â Â  dates are printed only once per person.
>     % \removeunwantedspaces allows this to directly follow, or follow
>     %Â Â  after whitespace, the associated name: Name\BD{1}{2} or
>     %Â Â  Name \BD{1}{2}.
>     % Using the compound indication (|–|) allows hyphenation after the
>     %Â Â  endash. Omitting it and using a bare endash inhibits hyphenation
>     %   ‘twixt the endash and the paren.
>     % By default, add parens around the dates. If none are needed due to
>     %Â Â  the context, use \BDNP.
>     %
>     \newif\ifBDParen
>     \starttexdefinition unexpanded BD
>      Â  \BDParentrue
>      Â  \dodoublegroupempty
>      Â  \doBD
>     \stoptexdefinition
>     \starttexdefinition unexpanded BDNP
>      Â  \BDParenfalse
>      Â  \dodoublegroupempty
>      Â  \doBD
>     \stoptexdefinition
>     \starttexdefinition doBD #1#2
>      Â Â  \removeunwantedspaces\
>      Â Â  \ifBDParen(\fi
>      Â Â  \ifsecondargument
>             #1|–|#2
>      Â Â  \else\iffirstargument
>             #1–
>      Â Â  \else
>      Â Â Â Â Â Â  {\red I NEED A DATE OR DATES!}
>      Â Â  \fi\fi
>      Â Â  \ifBDParen)\fi
>      Â Â  \autoinsertedspace
>     \stoptexdefinition
> 
> Both call the same doBD, but they set a flag (newif) to control 
> insertion or not of the parens. While there is no performance benefit 
> compared to having two fully separate macros, there is a maintenance 
> benefit in having only one place, doBD, to make changes should they be 
> required.
> 
> Can you suggest a way to do this under the new one-step scheme, or am I 
> over-thinking this?

just remove the #* in the example i sent,

\starttexdefinition tolerant protected BD #=#=

Hans


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