Learning ConTeXt: \setupitemize

Learning ConTeXt: \setupitemize

[Gary Pajer]

I'm learning ConTeXt, and I've chosen to beat up on \setupitemize to see how
things work.
(If the answers to my question are in some doc somewhere, please tell me
where it is!)

Consider the file below.  I expected to see a hairline above the second
itemization, and indeed I do.  But if I remove the "columns" specifier, the
hairline does not appear.  Is this the correct behavior, or a bug?

Also:  what does the keyword "beforehead" do?  If I replace "before" with
"beforehead" in the example, I get nothing.     Is it in the docs somewhere?

In the lists of keywords for many commands there are parameters listed that
I can't figure out.  Some of them seem to do nothing, but I always wonder if
they only operate in conjunction with some other feature, or I haven't
implemented them correctly.  Some of them do something, but I can't figure
out what the rule is.  Is there a doc somewhere describing the keywords?  Is
it in the manual and I've missed it?

Thanks,
Gary Pajer
ConTeXt 2003.3.9 / up-to-date MikTeX / Win98
-----------------------------------------
\setupitemize[1][n]
\setupitemize[2][a][before=\hairline]
%
\starttext
%
\startitemize
\item Level One
%
\startitemize
\item first
\item second
\item third
\stopitemize
%
\stopitemize
\stoptext

Re: Learning ConTeXt: \setupitemize

[Patrick Gundlach]

Gary Pajer <pajer@iname.com> writes:

Hello Gary,

> (If the answers to my question are in some doc somewhere, please tell me
> where it is!)

The answers to your questions are in the context's source code ;-) 

> Consider the file below.  I expected to see a hairline above the second
> itemization, and indeed I do.  But if I remove the "columns" specifier, the
> hairline does not appear.  Is this the correct behavior, or a bug?

I'd consider this a bug. A while ago I had the same problem with after=...

[ But, when looking at the source, I wonder why the
  \complexdoitemgroupitem ignores \itemlevel\c!voor ]


> Also:  what does the keyword "beforehead" do?  If I replace "before" with
> "beforehead" in the example, I get nothing.     Is it in the docs somewhere?

The beforehead has to do with the \head command also described in the
manual (cont-eni.pdf, cont-enp.pdf).

[...]
\setupitemize[1][][beforehead=\hairline,afterhead=\hairline]

\starttext
\startitemize
\head Level One

[...]

gives 

  --------------
* Level One
  --------------

It is not documented as far as I know. 

> In the lists of keywords for many commands there are parameters listed that
> I can't figure out.  Some of them seem to do nothing, but I always wonder if
> they only operate in conjunction with some other feature, or I haven't
> implemented them correctly.  

One never knows... I have the same problem here.

> Some of them do something, but I can't figure out what the rule
> is. Is there a doc somewhere describing the keywords? Is it in the
> manual and I've missed it?

No. There is documentation on special topics, such as tables or
flowchart module. But for the itemize there is afaik only the main
manual.


Patrick