Re: Fixed width form field

[Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl>]

Matthew Baker wrote:

> I want to design a form in which fields appear in table cells so that they
> line up correctly.  In order to deal with baseline alignment and things, I
> use the label field in the form.  I have a macro like
> 
> \def\putfield[#1]#2{\hbox{\field[#1][#2]}}
> 
> I would like the field to extend to fill the table cell (which I set to a
> fixed size with the w table format option).  How can I set the field up to
> fit to this size?  I can't simple set the field width to the desired size
> because I don't know how long the label is.  I'd like ideally to set the
> width of the frame around the field to something fixed and then set the
> label and field widths to "fit", eg
> 
> \setupfield [MyFieldSetup] [frame, label, horizontal] [width=60mm]
>   [width=fit] [width=fit]
> 
> But that doesn't work.  Any way to do this?

A quick tip (untested)

\setbox0=\hbox{#1}% label
\dimen0=60mm
\advance\dimen0 by -\wd0 
\advende\dimen0 by <offsets> % try some 2ex  
<set width of field to \dimen0> % if needed \edef\TheWidth{\the\dimen0}
... width=\TheWidth

or something along these lines. 

Hans

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                                          Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
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