\setvariables and database module

\setvariables and database module

[Otared Kavian]

Hi all,

I need to create a document using a database and the \setvariables command (which I understood thanks to Wolfgang Schuster). Everything works fine except that using the approach below I need to change the entries in the database by enclosing each entry between a pair of braces {}, because otherwise the macro I have imagined does not work as expected. In the example below the first line of entries is treated correctly, while the second one is understood wrongly by my macro \maketalk defined below in the minimal example.

It is indeed possible, in theory, to change the database file so that each entry is enclosed in a pair of braces, but I would like to avoid that mainly because I am not the one who produces nor maintains that file and I want to avoid modifying a copy of that file myself.

How can I change my approach to this problem in order to achieve what is needed?
Many thanks for any hint.
Best regards: OK

% begin database-command.tex
\usemodule[database]

\starttext
\startbuffer[pagetalk]
	\starttabulate[|f{\bi}l|p|][before=]%
	\NC Speaker \EQ 
	\goto{{\sc \getvariable{talk}{speakername}}}[fig:\getvariable{talk}{speakername}]
	 \NC\NR
	\NC Title   \EQ \getvariable{talk}{title}    \NC\NR
	\stoptabulate
	\startplacefigure[number=no]
		\externalfigure[\getvariable{talk}{picture}]
	\stopplacefigure
	\page
\stopbuffer

\setvariable{talk}{set}{\getbuffer[pagetalk]}

\define[3]\maketalk{%
	\setvariables[talk]%
		[speakername={#1},
		title={#2},
		picture={#3},
		]}

\defineseparatedlist[seplisttalk]
	[separator={;},
	first=\maketalk
	]

\startseplisttalk
{Hacker} ; {Up to date hacking} ; {hacker.jpg} % this works fine
Hacker ; Up to date hacking ; hacker.jpg % this does not work: the macro takes only the three characters H a c
\stopseplisttalk

\stoptext
% end database-command.tex
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Re: \setvariables and database module

[Wolfgang Schuster]

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> Otared Kavian <mailto:otared@gmail.com>
> 30. Januar 2018 um 15:44
> Hi all,
>
> I need to create a document using a database and the \setvariables 
> command (which I understood thanks to Wolfgang Schuster). Everything 
> works fine except that using the approach below I need to change the 
> entries in the database by enclosing each entry between a pair of 
> braces {}, because otherwise the macro I have imagined does not work 
> as expected. In the example below the first line of entries is treated 
> correctly, while the second one is understood wrongly by my macro 
> \maketalk defined below in the minimal example.
>
> It is indeed possible, in theory, to change the database file so that 
> each entry is enclosed in a pair of braces, but I would like to avoid 
> that mainly because I am not the one who produces nor maintains that 
> file and I want to avoid modifying a copy of that file myself.
>
> How can I change my approach to this problem in order to achieve what 
> is needed?
> Many thanks for any hint.
> Best regards: OK
>
> % begin database-command.tex
> \usemodule[database]
>
> \starttext
> \startbuffer[pagetalk]
> \starttabulate[|f{\bi}l|p|][before=]%
> \NC Speaker \EQ
> \goto{{\sc 
> \getvariable{talk}{speakername}}}[fig:\getvariable{talk}{speakername}]
> \NC\NR
> \NC Title \EQ \getvariable{talk}{title} \NC\NR
> \stoptabulate
> \startplacefigure[number=no]
> \externalfigure[\getvariable{talk}{picture}]
> \stopplacefigure
> \page
> \stopbuffer
>
> \setvariable{talk}{set}{\getbuffer[pagetalk]}
>
> \define[3]\maketalk{%
> \setvariables[talk]%
> [speakername={#1},
> title={#2},
> picture={#3},
> ]}
>
> \defineseparatedlist[seplisttalk]
> [separator={;},
> first=\maketalk
> ]

Use the command key which grabs the content of each column as argument 
(i.e. your commands needs as many arguments as your table has columns):

\defineseparatedlist
   [seplisttalk]
   [separator={;},
    command=\maketalk]

Wolfgang

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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: \setvariables and database module

[Otared Kavian]

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> On 30 Jan 2018, at 15:54, Wolfgang Schuster <schuster.wolfgang@gmail.com> wrote:
>> […]
> 
> Use the command key which grabs the content of each column as argument (i.e. your commands needs as many arguments as your table has columns):
> 
> \defineseparatedlist
>   [seplisttalk]
>   [separator={;},
>    command=\maketalk]


Thanks Wolfgang! That fixes the issues concerning the entries which are text, but now the filename is not understood by the command \maketalk: here is the modified code:

%% begin database-command.tex
\usemodule[database]

\starttext
\startbuffer[pagetalk]
	\starttabulate[|f{\bi}l|p|][before=]%
	\NC Speaker \EQ 
	\goto{{\sc \getvariable{talk}{speakername}}}[fig:\getvariable{talk}{speakername}]
	 \NC\NR
	\NC Title   \EQ \getvariable{talk}{title}    \NC\NR
	\stoptabulate
	\startplacefigure[number=no]
		\externalfigure[\getvariable{talk}{picture}]
	\stopplacefigure
	\page
\stopbuffer

\setvariable{talk}{set}{\getbuffer[pagetalk]}

\define[3]\maketalk{%
	\setvariables[talk]%
		[speakername={#1},
		title={#2},
		picture={#3},
		]}

\defineseparatedlist[seplisttalk]
	[separator={;},
	command=\maketalk]

\startseplisttalk
{Hacker} ; {Up to date hacking} ; {hacker.jpg}
Hacker ; Up to date hacking ; hacker.jpg
\stopseplisttalk

\stoptext
%% end database-command.tex

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Re: \setvariables and database module

[Otared Kavian]

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Hi again Wolfgang,

I think I understood what is going wrong with my example after your hint: I have to remove all spaces around the separator and remove also the braces around each entry.
That is the following works fine:

\startseplisttalk
Hacker;Up to date hacking;hacker.jpg
Hacker;Up to date hacking;hacker.jpg
\stopseplisttalk

while the following does not (as far as the filename is concerned):

\startseplisttalk
{Hacker};{Up to date hacking};{hacker.jpg}
Hacker ; Up to date hacking ; hacker.jpg
\stopseplisttalk

Is there a way to make the \defineseparatedlist command to be more tolerant for the filename? 
Best regards: OK

> On 30 Jan 2018, at 16:28, Otared Kavian <otared@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>> On 30 Jan 2018, at 15:54, Wolfgang Schuster <schuster.wolfgang@gmail.com <mailto:schuster.wolfgang@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>> […]
>> 
>> Use the command key which grabs the content of each column as argument (i.e. your commands needs as many arguments as your table has columns):
>> 
>> \defineseparatedlist
>>   [seplisttalk]
>>   [separator={;},
>>    command=\maketalk]
> 
> 
> Thanks Wolfgang! That fixes the issues concerning the entries which are text, but now the filename is not understood by the command \maketalk: here is the modified code:
> 
> %% begin database-command.tex
> \usemodule[database]
> 
> \starttext
> \startbuffer[pagetalk]
> 	\starttabulate[|f{\bi}l|p|][before=]%
> 	\NC Speaker \EQ 
> 	\goto{{\sc \getvariable{talk}{speakername}}}[fig:\getvariable{talk}{speakername}]
> 	 \NC\NR
> 	\NC Title   \EQ \getvariable{talk}{title}    \NC\NR
> 	\stoptabulate
> 	\startplacefigure[number=no]
> 		\externalfigure[\getvariable{talk}{picture}]
> 	\stopplacefigure
> 	\page
> \stopbuffer
> 
> \setvariable{talk}{set}{\getbuffer[pagetalk]}
> 
> \define[3]\maketalk{%
> 	\setvariables[talk]%
> 		[speakername={#1},
> 		title={#2},
> 		picture={#3},
> 		]}
> 
> \defineseparatedlist[seplisttalk]
> 	[separator={;},
> 	command=\maketalk]
> 
> \startseplisttalk
> {Hacker} ; {Up to date hacking} ; {hacker.jpg}
> Hacker ; Up to date hacking ; hacker.jpg
> \stopseplisttalk
> 
> \stoptext
> %% end database-command.tex


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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: \setvariables and database module

[Wolfgang Schuster]

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> Otared Kavian <mailto:otared@gmail.com>
> 30. Januar 2018 um 16:53
> Hi again Wolfgang,
>
> I think I understood what is going wrong with my example after your 
> hint: I have to remove all spaces around the separator and remove also 
> the braces around each entry.
> That is the following works fine:
>
> \startseplisttalk
> Hacker;Up to date hacking;hacker.jpg
> Hacker;Up to date hacking;hacker.jpg
> \stopseplisttalk
>
> while the following does not (as far as the filename is concerned):
>
> \startseplisttalk
> {Hacker};{Up to date hacking};{hacker.jpg}
> Hacker ; Up to date hacking ; hacker.jpg
> \stopseplisttalk
>
> Is there a way to make the \defineseparatedlist command to be more 
> tolerant for the filename?
>
No but you can remove the space with Lua.

\externalfigure[\cldcontext{string.collapsespaces("\getvariable{talk}{picture}")}]

Wolfgang

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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: \setvariables and database module

[Otared Kavian]

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> On 30 Jan 2018, at 17:37, Wolfgang Schuster <schuster.wolfgang@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> […]
>> Is there a way to make the \defineseparatedlist command to be more tolerant for the filename? 
>> 
> No but you can remove the space with Lua.
> 
> \externalfigure[\cldcontext{string.collapsespaces("\getvariable{talk}{picture}")}]
> 

Thanks again! That does it.

However, it seems strange that the \externalfigure command does not accept a space in front of the file name nor after the file extension, while \input is very tolerant in that respect. Compare

\input   knuth.tex   
\input knuth.tex
\input{knuth.tex}

which are all accepted, while when there is a space after the extension,

\startplacefigure[number=no]
	\externalfigure[hacker.jpg ]
\stopplacefigure

or a space before the filename 

\startplacefigure[number=no]
	\externalfigure[ hacker.jpg]
\stopplacefigure

then ConTeXt does not recognize the file…
Maybe Hans has a reason to explain this behavior, but it is not clear to me.

Best regards: OK



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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: \setvariables and database module

[Wolfgang Schuster]

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> Otared Kavian <mailto:otared@gmail.com>
> 30. Januar 2018 um 18:56
>
> Thanks again! That does it.
>
> However, it seems strange that the \externalfigure command does not 
> accept a space in front of the file name nor after the file extension, 
> while \input is very tolerant in that respect. Compare
>
> \input   knuth.tex
> \input knuth.tex
> \input{knuth.tex}
>
Spaces after a control sequence are gobbled and multiple spaces are skipped.

Braces around the filename are allowed because this function was added 
with the extensions to the TeX binary (which means it doesn’t work with 
Knuths original TeX), try this \input{ knuth.tex} to load a file with a 
space in the name.

Wolfgang

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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: \setvariables and database module

[Otared Kavian]

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> On 30 Jan 2018, at 19:05, Wolfgang Schuster <schuster.wolfgang@gmail.com> wrote:
>> […]
> Spaces after a control sequence are gobbled and multiple spaces are skipped.
> 
> Braces around the filename are allowed because this function was added with the extensions to the TeX binary (which means it doesn’t work with Knuths original TeX), try this \input{ knuth.tex} to load a file with a space in the name.

Yes, I understand now the rationale behind this behavior.
Many thanks!

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Re: \setvariables and database module

[Wolfgang Schuster]

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> Otared Kavian <mailto:otared@gmail.com>
> 30. Januar 2018 um 16:53
> Hi again Wolfgang,
>
> I think I understood what is going wrong with my example after your 
> hint: I have to remove all spaces around the separator and remove also 
> the braces around each entry.
> That is the following works fine:
>
> \startseplisttalk
> Hacker;Up to date hacking;hacker.jpg
> Hacker;Up to date hacking;hacker.jpg
> \stopseplisttalk
>
> while the following does not (as far as the filename is concerned):
>
> \startseplisttalk
> {Hacker};{Up to date hacking};{hacker.jpg}
> Hacker ; Up to date hacking ; hacker.jpg
> \stopseplisttalk
>
Add “strip=yes” to remove spaces around the cells.

\defineseparatedlist
   [seplisttalk]
   [separator={;},
    command=\maketalk,
    strip=yes]

Wolfgang

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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: \setvariables and database module

[Otared Kavian]

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> On 31 Jan 2018, at 17:40, Wolfgang Schuster <schuster.wolfgang@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> […]
>> 
> Add “strip=yes” to remove spaces around the cells.
> 
> \defineseparatedlist
>   [seplisttalk]
>   [separator={;},
>    command=\maketalk,
>    strip=yes]
> 

Yes it does the job! 
Thanks again, but I wonder where did you find this trick?… in i-context.pdf there is no entry for \defineseparatedlist…

Best regards: OK

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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: \setvariables and database module

[Wolfgang Schuster]

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> Otared Kavian <mailto:otared@gmail.com>
> 31. Januar 2018 um 17:58
>
> Yes it does the job!
> Thanks again, but I wonder where did you find this trick?… in 
> i-context.pdf there is no entry for \defineseparatedlist…

setup-en.pdf (and i-context.pdf) contains only commands from the core. 
There are lists for many modules (e.g. i-database.xml contains the 
options for the database module) but no PDF which shows them.

Wolfgang

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___________________________________________________________________________________

Re: \setvariables and database module

[Otared Kavian]

> On 31 Jan 2018, at 18:11, Wolfgang Schuster <schuster.wolfgang@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> […]
>> Thanks again, but I wonder where did you find this trick?… in i-context.pdf there is no entry for \defineseparatedlist…
> 
> setup-en.pdf (and i-context.pdf) contains only commands from the core. There are lists for many modules (e.g. i-database.xml contains the options for the database module) but no PDF which shows them.

Indeed looking for the file i-database.xml I discovered that in
	context-minimal/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/interface/mkiv/
there are lots of file such as i-ABC.xml, which can be typeset in order to obtain a pdf. 
A great piece of information… thanks!

Best regards: OK

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Re: \setvariables and database module

[luigi scarso]

On Wed, Jan 31, 2018 at 10:20 PM, Otared Kavian <otared@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>> On 31 Jan 2018, at 18:11, Wolfgang Schuster <schuster.wolfgang@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> […]
>>> Thanks again, but I wonder where did you find this trick?… in i-context.pdf there is no entry for \defineseparatedlist…
>>
>> setup-en.pdf (and i-context.pdf) contains only commands from the core. There are lists for many modules (e.g. i-database.xml contains the options for the database module) but no PDF which shows them.
>
> Indeed looking for the file i-database.xml I discovered that in
>         context-minimal/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/interface/mkiv/
> there are lots of file such as i-ABC.xml, which can be typeset in order to obtain a pdf.
> A great piece of information… thanks!
In the same folder:
i-context.pdf
i-readme.pdf



-- 
luigi
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