Re: how to get thick and thin borders working in tables (ConTeXt)

[Lars Huttar <lars_huttar@sil.org>]

On 12/9/2008 12:04 PM, Wolfgang Schuster wrote:
>
> Am 09.12.2008 um 17:48 schrieb Lars Huttar:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> We are using ConTeXt (with XeTeX engine) to typeset some tables that
>> have borders (rules) between cells.
>>
>> In the previous edition of the book (which was not done in TeX), some of
>> the lines between table cells were double, others single. This was done
>> to show grouping of columns and rows. We have been told that in TeX, or
>> at least in ConTeXt, you can't do double rules (we'd be happy to be
>> corrected on that point), so we have been trying to use thick and thin
>> lines to show grouping.
>>
>> Thick or thin lines work fine if applied to whole tables or whole cells,
>> but when there are cells with thick rules on some sides and thin rules
>> on other sides, it gets confused.
>>
>> For example, we tried
>> (a)    \setupTABLE[c][4][leftframe=on,rulethickness=0.5mm]
>> to set the left border of the fourth column to be thick. This worked.
>> But then if we use
>> (b)    \setupTABLE[c][4][rightframe=on,rulethickness=0.25mm]
>> to set the right border of the same column to be thin, it overrides the
>> thickness of both left and right borders, so setting (a) is lost.
>>
>> In other words, we can't seem to get a given cell to have a thick border
>> on one side and a thin border on the other side. (Well, we could fake it
>> in some cases by setting rulethickness for an adjacent cell, but that
>> adjacent cell would then have to have thick borders on all sides.)
>>
>> Does anybody know if it's possible to do this in ConTeXt? or in TeX?
>>
>> Thanks for any ideas,
>> Lars
>>
>> P.S.
>> Incidentally, if you set the bottom border of row 1 and the top border
>> of row 2 each to be thick, the result is additive: you get a
>> doubly-thick border.
>
> I can provide a patch for ConTeXt to draw rules with different
> thickness on each side but I can't assure it will work in the future.
>
> With metapost you can nearly all types of borders you want.
>
> \startuseMPgraphic{table:frame:double}
> draw OverlayBox enlarged -\the\dimexpr\linewidth/2\relax ; % outer frame
> draw OverlayBox enlarged -2pt ;                            % inner frame
> setbounds currentpicture to OverlayBox ;
> \stopuseMPgraphic
>
> \startuseMPgraphic{table:frame:all}
> draw OverlayBox enlarged -\the\dimexpr\linewidth/2\relax ;
> setbounds currentpicture to OverlayBox ;
> \stopuseMPgraphic
>
> \startuseMPgraphic{table:frame:left}
> linecap := squared ;
> draw leftboundary OverlayBox withpen pencircle scaled 2 ;
> setbounds currentpicture to OverlayBox ;
> \stopuseMPgraphic
>
> \startuseMPgraphic{table:frame:right}
> linecap := squared ;
> draw rightboundary OverlayBox withpen pencircle scaled 2 ;
> setbounds currentpicture to OverlayBox ;
> \stopuseMPgraphic
>
> \startuseMPgraphic{table:frame:top}
> linecap := squared ;
> draw topboundary OverlayBox withpen pencircle scaled 2 ;
> setbounds currentpicture to OverlayBox ;
> \stopuseMPgraphic
>
> \startuseMPgraphic{table:frame:bottom}
> linecap := squared ;
> draw bottomboundary OverlayBox withpen pencircle scaled 2 ;
> setbounds currentpicture to OverlayBox ;
> \stopuseMPgraphic
>
> \defineoverlay[table:frame:double][\useMPgraphic{table:frame:double}]
>
> \defineoverlay[table:frame:all]   [\useMPgraphic{table:frame:all}]
> \defineoverlay[table:frame:left]  [\useMPgraphic{table:frame:left}]
> \defineoverlay[table:frame:right] [\useMPgraphic{table:frame:right}]
> \defineoverlay[table:frame:top]   [\useMPgraphic{table:frame:top}]
> \defineoverlay[table:frame:bottom][\useMPgraphic{table:frame:bottom}]
>
> \starttext
>
> \startbuffer
> \bTABLE[frame=off,offset=2ex]
>     \bTR
>         \bTD One   \eTD
>         \bTD Two   \eTD
>         \bTD Three \eTD
>     \eTR
>     \bTR
>         \bTD Four  \eTD
>         \bTD Five  \eTD
>         \bTD Six   \eTD
>     \eTR
>     \bTR
>         \bTD Seven \eTD
>         \bTD Eight \eTD
>         \bTD Nine  \eTD
>     \eTR
> \eTABLE
> \stopbuffer
>
> \start
> \setupTABLE[background={table:frame:double}]
> \getbuffer
> \stop
> \blank
>
> \start
> \setupTABLE[background={table:frame:all}]
> \setupTABLE[c][first][background={table:frame:all,table:frame:left}]
> \setupTABLE[c][last][background={table:frame:all,table:frame:right}]
> \setupTABLE[r][first][background={table:frame:all,table:frame:top}]
> \setupTABLE[r][last][background={table:frame:all,table:frame:bottom}]
> \setupTABLE[first][first][background={table:frame:all,table:frame:left,table:frame:top}] 
>
> \setupTABLE[last][first][background={table:frame:all,table:frame:right,table:frame:top}] 
>
> \setupTABLE[first][last][background={table:frame:all,table:frame:left,table:frame:bottom}] 
>
> \setupTABLE[last][last][background={table:frame:all,table:frame:right,table:frame:bottom}] 
>
> \getbuffer
> \stop
>
> \stoptext
>
> Wolfgang
>
>
>


Thanks for the very detailed example!
We should be able to apply this to our document.

I'm copying it to the list because I think it would be valuable for 
posterity.

Thanks to Aditya too for the reply.

Regards,
Lars


-- 

Lars Huttar

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