Re: sidebyside figures

[Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl>]

Hi,

 > The normal double column mechanism tries to place a graphic, stores it when
> > there is no place, and flushes it as soon as possible.
> >
> > The \startcolumns mechanism works well intermixed with the standard one
> > column mode.
> >
> > In your case, esp for vertical chinese, use columnsets:
> >
> > \startcolumnset
> >
> > \placefigure[tblr:1]{}{}
> > \placefigure[tblr:2]{}{}
> >
> > \input tufte
> >
> > \stopcolumnset
> >
> > This will place the floats on top of the first and second column; an
> > alternative usage is:
> >
> > \placefigure[tblr]{}{}
> > \placefigure[tbrl]{}{}
> >
> > Think of tb meaning flush from top to bottom, and lr to mean from left to
> > right; so, there are quite some ways to place/flush a graphic.
>
>Thanks. It place the figures side by side correctly. But, there is another 
>problem.
>After the two figures, it force a page break and leave a large blank even 
>though
>the blank area can accommodate the next paragraph. I attached the test file
>and waht I really want is:
>
>One column texts
>two figures sidebyside
>One column texts

Well, here you run into the difference between columns and columnsets. 
Columnsets can be mixed with one column mode, but you need to balance 
(automatic balancing is pretty hard for complex columnsets, so this is not 
yet in the kernel, but manual balancing is (one can set the number of lines 
per column). However, it seems that you want something:

\starttext

\startbuffer

\startcombination
   {\externalfigure[cow][frame=on, width=3cm]} {\placefloatcaption[figure]{x}}
   {\externalfigure[cow][frame=on, width=3cm]} {\placefloatcaption[figure]{y}}
\stopcombination

\stopbuffer

\placefigure{none}{\getbuffer}

\stoptext

This special feature (separate captions) was introduced quite some time ago 
for Karel W so you should buy him a beer.

When testing this i foun dout that there is an error in the macro. A few 
days ago i added the 'distance' key to caption setups, and (of course) i 
didn't test that with free floating captions (unresolved intermediate 
macro). So, in page-flt you need to replace the following bit of trivial 
code:

\def\dodosetfloatcaption[#1][#2]#3% to do namespace for number/ascii
   {\ifnofloatnumber               % also handle trialtypesetting
      \letgvalue{@fl@r@#1}\relax
      \letgvalue{@fl@t@#1}\relax
    \else
      \verhoognummer[#1]%
      \maakhetnummer[#1]%
      \globallet\flhetnummer\hetnummer
      \setgvalue{@fl@r@#1}%
        {\dofloatreference
         \redofloatorder{#1}%
         \doschrijfnaarlijst{#1}{\flhetnummer}{#3}{#1}%
         \doglobal\convertargument#3\to\flasciititle % \asciititle is global
         \doifsomething{#2}
           {\rawreference\s!flt{#2}{{\flhetnummer}{\flasciititle}}}%
         \letgvalue{@fl@r@#1}\relax}% nills
      \setgvalue{@fl@t@#1}%
        {\preparethenumber{\??kj#1}\flhetnummer\preparednumber
         \doattributes{\??kj#1}\c!letter\c!kleur
           {\doattributes{\??kj#1}\c!kopletter\c!kopkleur
              {\labeltexts{#1}{\preparednumber}}%
            \doattributes{\??kj#1}\c!tekstletter\c!tekstkleur
              {\dotfskip{\getvalue{\??kj#1\c!afstand}}#3}}}% 
THIS LINE WAS WRONG
     \fi}

Hans

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                                   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
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