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Article 72 of ucam.mlist.texhax:
From: owner-texhax-digest@nottingham.ac.UK
Subject: TeXhax Digest V1997 #5
Date: 27 May 97 12:00:06 GMT

TeXhax Digest               Tuesday, 27 May 1997        Volume 1997 : Number 005

(incorporating UKTeX Digest)

Today's Topics:

    multi-page tables/arrays
    passing a parameter to latex
    Numbering figures in LaTeX
    Re: Two Columns for two "documents"
    Hanging punctuation
    Re: Spell Checker for Windows Users who TeX

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Robert Bruner <rrb@math.wayne.edu>
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 97 12:48:48 EDT
Subject: multi-page tables/arrays

Dear TeXperts,

I have 140 tables/arrays (I am willing to use either), of varying
sizes, from 1/6 of a page to 4 or 5 pages in length, in a document I am
producing.  I would like them to appear one after another with only a
small break between them.  The behavior of the array and table
environments makes this difficult, however.

I need an array-like environment which would split the array across
pages as necessary, and would  preferably add a note saying "continued"
at the bottom and a header labelling the array at the top of each
continuation page.

The array environment (and table also) insists on putting the entire
array on one page.  I have manually inserted the end array- begin array
commands to break it, but this is tedious and doesn't produce optimal
results.

I could use tabbing, but would not get the headers or the "continued"
notes (except with manual insertion of them).

I am using AMSLaTeX, and would be willing to switch to
LaTeX or LaTeX2e to solve this.  Learning plain TeX or AMSTex to
do this would take longer, but if that's what it takes, so be it.

Robert Bruner
Department of Mathematics
Wayne State University
Detroit, Michigan  USA  48202
rrb@math.wayne.edu

------------------------------

From: "Cliff Bergman" <cbergman@iastate.edu>
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 12:42:37 CDT
Subject: passing a parameter to latex

Hello,

I have recently converted from amstex to latex2e. I work on a UNIX
system.  I have a question.  I would like to selectively load a package
depending on a parameter that I pass on the command line.  This seems to
work:

\documentclass{article}
\iffoo \usepackage{xyzpackage} \fi
\begin{document}

and then the command line:
  latex '\newif\iffoo \foofalse \input testfile'
will run the file and will cause the package not to be loaded.

This is only slightly unaesthetic, since I  have to define the switch as
well as set it on the command line.  A better solution would be to
create my own format file containing the switch.  However I have been
unsuccessful at creating a format built on top of latex2e.  (I tried the
'mylatex' method, but it did not work.)

Does anyone know how create such a format file, or does anyone know of
an obscure switch sitting around in latex that I could 'borrow' (at my
own risk!) for this purpose?  Or is there another way to implement my
scheme?

Thanks in advance,
cliff bergman

cbergman@iastate.edu

------------------------------

From: Mona.Jacobsen@termo.unit.no
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 97 13:17:54 +0200
Subject: Numbering figures in LaTeX

Is there a possibility to number figures and tables in report style with one
level (Figure 1, Figure 2 etc...) and not (Figure 1.1  Figure 1.2 etc...)

LaTeX version:
This is TeX, C Version 3.141
(artfl_97.tex
LaTeX Version 2.09 <25 March 1992>

BibTeX version:
This is BibTeX, C Version 0.99c

Mona Jacobsen

------------------------------

From: Jonathan Fine <J.Fine@pmms.cam.ac.uk>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 97 18:13 BST
Subject: Re: Two Columns for two "documents"

This is a response to a query in TeXHax.        18 April 1997
Dear TeXhax,
David Cook (D.Cook@sheffield.ac.uk) asks:
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Is there a cls file or a package which enables one to generate a document
in which the pages are two columns over the whole document but the
contents of the two columns are basically two different source files?
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Briefly, the answer to this question is no, and for reasons connected
to the architecture of TeX (the program) and LaTeX.  It is not
possible, with \input, to read a bit from one file and then a bit
from another, alternately.  This is the way things are.

It is possible, with \read, to alternate between two (or more) files,
but this would have the side-effect of rendering dysfunctional all
macros that depend on changing of \catcode's.

My advice is to use some external program or utility to weave
together the two different source files, and then use this new file
as the input to TeX (or LaTeX).

He also writes:
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
The existing multicolumn methods are basically for re-formatting a
single continuous whole and I guess could be made to do what I want
but it would be tremendously inconvenient keeping things in step.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Suppose that the \input problem has been solved.  Forming the two
files into two separate galleys should not be very difficult, but
deciding on page breaks will be hard.  Here is one way to do this.
First set each file by itself, at the column measure.  Print out the
results, and compare.  On the basis of this, decide where the page
breaks should be.  Now use \vadjust or the like to force these page
breaks (say in conjunction with \vsplit) in the source file, and use
a custom output routine to assemble the pages up.  Whatever algorithm
one uses, one will probably have to resort to such hand tuning to get
a decent result.  So let that be the first `algorithm'.

I'm sorry that there is probably not a LaTeX package for doing this,
so far as I know.  It would probably take a wizard to write one.

sincerely

Jonathan Fine
Mailing Address: 203 Coldhams Lane, Cambridge, CB1 3HY
Telephone: 01223 215389

------------------------------

From: Marcus Vinicius Mesquita de Sousa <sousa@ifi.unicamp.br>
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 20:29:56 -0300
Subject: Hanging punctuation

For TeXperts only!

In appendix D from the TeXbook, p. 394, DEK
gives some macros in order to get TeX typesetting
with hanging punctuation. With some minor modifications
and inclusions (given in the end of this mail),
these macros work fine with LaTeX2e,
except for the hyphen! According to DEK, you shoud
have a special font with a zero width \hyphenchar
and that is not the case with the font I use (Stempel Garamond).

Well, with the macro \hyphdisc

\newdimen\hyphenhang
\setbox0=\hbox{-}
\hyphenhang=\wd0

\def\hyphdisc{\ifhmode\allowhyphens%
\discretionary{-\kern-2\hyphenhang\kern\hyphenhang}%
{}{}\allowhyphens\fi}

I can get hanging hyphens, but I must introduce them
where they appear after a first LaTeX running
via the macro \hyphdisc .

So, for example

blablabla\hyphdisc blablabla blablabla

gives

blablabla-
blablabla
blablabla

My question is: is there any way to assign the macro
\hyphdisc to the \defaulthyphenchar ??

Marcus Sousa
State University of Campinas
E-mail: sousa@ifi.unicamp.br

**********************************************
% File hang.sty
% File for ``hangin punctuation'' for LaTeX
% Most macros taken from TheTeXbook, p. 395
% with some minor modifications and inclusions to work with LaTeX

\makeatletter
\def\allowhyphens{\penalty\@M\hskip\z@skip}
\makeatother

% Period
\newdimen\periodhang
\setbox0=\hbox{.}
\periodhang=\wd0
\def\period{\ifhmode.\kern-\periodhang\kern\periodhang%
\else\string.\fi}
\catcode`.=\active
\let.=\period

% comma
\newdimen\commahang
\setbox0=\hbox{,}
\commahang=\wd0
\def\comma{\ifhmode,\kern-\commahang\kern\commahang%
\else\string,\fi}
\catcode`,=\active
\let,=\comma
\commahang=0.2em
\def\commakern{\kern-\commahang}

% colon
\newdimen\colonhang
\setbox0=\hbox{:}
\colonhang=\wd0
\def\colon{\ifhmode:\kern-\colonhang\kern\colonhang%
\else\string:\fi}
\catcode`:=\active
\let:=\colon

% semicolon
\newdimen\semicolonhang
\setbox0=\hbox{;}
\semicolonhang=\wd0
\def\semicolon{\ifhmode;\kern-\semicolonhang\kern\semicolonhang%
\else\string;\fi}
\catcode`;=\active
\let;=\semicolon

% Interrogation mark
\newdimen\imarkhang
\setbox0=\hbox{?}
\imarkhang=\wd0
\def\imark{\ifhmode?\kern-\imarkhang\kern\imarkhang%
\else\string?\fi}
\catcode`?=\active
\let?=\imark

% Exclamation mark
\newdimen\emarkhang
\setbox0=\hbox{!}
\emarkhang=\wd0
\def\emarkkern{\kern-\emarkhang}
\def\emark{\ifhmode!\kern-\emarkhang\kern\emarkhang%
\else\string!\fi}
\catcode`!=\active
\let!=\emark

% Definition of \hyphdisc as a control word:

\newdimen\hyphenhang
\setbox0=\hbox{-}
\hyphenhang=\wd0

\def\hyphdisc{\ifhmode\allowhyphens\discretionary{-\kern-2\hyphenhang\kern\hyphenhang}{}{}\allowhyphens\fi}

% Special treatment for quotes

\newdimen\quotehang
\setbox0=\hbox{`}
\quotehang=\wd0
\newdimen\qquotehang
\setbox0=\hbox{``}
\qquotehang=\wd0

\def\lqq{``}
\def\rqq{''}

\def\rquote{'\kern-\quotehang\kern\quotehang}
\def\lquote{\ifhmode\kern\quotehang\vadjust{}\else\leavevmode\fi%
            \kern-\quotehang`\allowhyphens}

\catcode`'=\active
\def'{\futurelet\next\rqtest}
\catcode``=\active
\def`{\futurelet\next\lqtest}

\def\rqtest{\ifx\next'\let\next=\rquotes\else\let\next=\rquote\fi\next}
\def\lqtest{\ifx\next`\let\next=\lquotes\else\let\next=\lquote\fi\next}

\def\rquotes'{\rqq\kern-\qquotehang\kern\qquotehang}
\def\lquotes`{\ifhmode\kern\qquotehang\vadjust{}%
                 \else\leavevmode\fi%
              \kern-\qquotehang\lqq\allowhyphens}

------------------------------

From: Jaime Cuevas Dermody <dermody@xjcd.prestel.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 04:06:47 +0100
Subject: Re: Spell Checker for Windows Users who TeX

Hello,

I am an experienced TeXer who uses plain TeX via the commercial YandY TeX
package.  There must be a lot of TeX users who face the same problems as I
and whose productivity would be enhansed if they could be solved
efficiently.

I was browsing through your Web Site and got to a page on spell checkers,
where I found recommendations on spell checkers for people using UNIX,
Macintoish,DOS, and even VMS.  But I, like 90% of the PC users and most
TeXers, use Windows 95.  What recommendations do you have for spell
checkers that work well in a Windows 95 enviornment.

While we are on the topic of programs to use with TeX, what is there for
footnotes.  I now use a combersome big macro called Eplain, that has it
origins in Gnu.  I only use the footnote part of that macro.  It gives
me easy control over footnotes, e.g., I can control the vertical space
between
sucessive footnotes on the same page.  But it always puts a little extra
baselineskip just above the last line of each footnote.  Six years ago, I
spent many hours trying to write my own footnote little macro, by modifying
the original TeX instruction for \footnote, but could never get it to run.

I use Microsoft Word and its spell checker to prepare ASCII TeX files, but
have found no way to get it to avoid leading \ characters.  I
would actually prefer for a spell checker to recognize and remember lead \
characters so I could detect errors in TeX commands, via-a-via an
accumulated dictionary of TeX commands.  But Word and most editos do not
store \.

I would gladly switch to a good quality simple ASCII text editor or another
word processor, if I could find one that worked well with a good spell
checker.  I tried Epsilon and found it to be very cumbersome and
inappropriate.  It is optimal only for programmers with near repititions of
large code sections.  It requires far to many key strokes and attention per
page to type a TeX file.  I would like to be able to control the size and
style of font in the edit window of the text editor, so I can take
advantage of my 1600X1200-pixel 21-inch monitor.  Word does at least that.

I use PicTeX alot and am very frustrated that I cannot rotate text so that
it can follow a slanted line or a curve.  I may have to draw my diagrams in
Adobe Illustrator and then use encapulated postscript to insert TeX text
along lines or curves.  Unfortunately that is a lot of work and requires me
to become adept a Adobe Illustrator, which is like getting married.  Is
there a TeX Cad program that will allow me to draw functions and place
labels along the functions.  About five years ago, I tried a TeX CAD macro
and found it far too primitive.  As I recall it came with EM TeX.tug.

I downloaded pSTricks and found I could not TeX any of its files.  It has @
characters where I am used to seeing \ charaters.  The signal not to try
to use it came form the note that only the part of the manual pertaining to
the latest change was included, and that one need ot get all the manuals of
previuous version to have a complete manual.  That is a scarry to invite
thousands of to search for the same set of manuals instead of one person, who
knows far better where they all are, manking them available for downloading.
I had a nice talk with the author of TeXDraw and found that macro to be a
great package oriented to Unix rather than Windows 95.

       Cheers,
                Jaime

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Jaime Cuevas Dermody, Senior Lecturer
University of Strathclyde Department of Accounting and Finance
100 Cathedral St., Glasgow G4 0LN, Scotland   PHONE: 44(0)141 548-3891
                                                FAX:          552-3547
HOME: 159 Maxwell Drive                       PHONE: 44(0)141 419-0300
      Glasgow G41 5AE, Scotland                 FAX:          419-0301
Do not dial the (0)s from outside the U.K.   MOBILE:   (0)385 901-226
E-Mails:  j.c.dermody@strath.ac.uk     dermody@xjcd.prestel.co.uk

------------------------------

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End of TeXhax Digest V1997 #5
*****************************