choice for table material

choice for table material

[Eckhart Guthöhrlein]

I am a bit confused about the different possibilities to typeset tables, so 
let me first outline how I have understood things. If a table may be split 
across pages, tabulate is the one to choose. If not, there are two 
possibilities: table and TABLE. TABLE is the most recent development. Is it 
principally more advanced and preferrable to table, which would mean that 
table is there for backward compatibility reasons only, or are there 
effects which can be achieved with table, but not with TABLE?

Eckhart

Re: choice for table material

[Hans Hagen]

At 06:23 PM 7/4/01 +0200, Eckhart Guthöhrlein wrote:
>I am a bit confused about the different possibilities to typeset tables, so 
>let me first outline how I have understood things. If a table may be split 
>across pages, tabulate is the one to choose. 

right

If not, there are two 

wrong, you can also split \starttable .. [use \starttables instead 

>possibilities: table and TABLE. TABLE is the most recent development. Is it 
>principally more advanced and preferrable to table, which would man that 

wrong, it is advanced, but of a different kind, it acts a bit like
automatic hml tables, but (currently) is slow

>table is there for backward compatibility reasons only, or are there 
>effects which can be achieved with table, but not with TABLE?

there are some, yet undocumented ones that have to do with advanced
backgrounds, although one can do interesting things with TABLE too

btw, i will rewrite table from scratch some day

Hans

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: choice for table material

[Eckhart Guthöhrlein]

At 22:08 04.07.2001 +0200, you wrote:
>At 06:23 PM 7/4/01 +0200, Eckhart Guthöhrlein wrote:
> >I am a bit confused about the different possibilities to typeset tables, so
> >let me first outline how I have understood things. If a table may be split
> >across pages, tabulate is the one to choose.
>
>right
>
>If not, there are two
>
>wrong, you can also split \starttable .. [use \starttables instead
>
> >possibilities: table and TABLE. TABLE is the most recent development. Is it
> >principally more advanced and preferrable to table, which would man that
>
>wrong, it is advanced, but of a different kind, it acts a bit like
>automatic hml tables, but (currently) is slow
>
> >table is there for backward compatibility reasons only, or are there
> >effects which can be achieved with table, but not with TABLE?
>
>there are some, yet undocumented ones that have to do with advanced
>backgrounds, although one can do interesting things with TABLE too
>
>btw, i will rewrite table from scratch some day
>
>Hans

Just saw your mail after getting online and posting my own follow-up. In 
the meantime, I have gathered the various sources of documentation to a 
diffuse conglomerate in my head, so thanks a lot for your clarifications. I 
did my first ConTeXt table material today, so I think I have to gather some 
experience with the different possibilities before I will be able to 
discuss further about it (if this should still be necessary...). Thanks 
again in the meantime.

Eckhart

Re: choice for table material

[Eckhart Guthöhrlein]

At 18:23 04.07.2001 +0200, I wrote:
>I am a bit confused about the different possibilities to typeset tables, 
>so let me first outline how I have understood things. If a table may be 
>split across pages, tabulate is the one to choose. If not, there are two 
>possibilities: table and TABLE. TABLE is the most recent development. Is 
>it principally more advanced and preferrable to table, which would mean 
>that table is there for backward compatibility reasons only, or are there 
>effects which can be achieved with table, but not with TABLE?

Well, I have learned in the meantime, sorry if my posting was a bit 
premature. tabulate can very well be used for tables in floating objects, 
and it's interface is flexible and well documented, so it will probably 
become my preferred choice for now. TABLE is beta, and since the 
documentation is beta, too, it's perhaps a good idea to wait some time, 
especially if one is in a hurry to get things finished - like I am at 
present. But I must say that it looks like a very promising concept for the 
future.

Eckhart

Re: choice for table material

[Hans Hagen]

At 10:21 PM 7/4/01 +0200, Eckhart Guthöhrlein wrote:
>At 18:23 04.07.2001 +0200, I wrote:
>>I am a bit confused about the different possibilities to typeset tables, 
>>so let me first outline how I have understood things. If a table may be 
>>split across pages, tabulate is the one to choose. If not, there are two 
>>possibilities: table and TABLE. TABLE is the most recent development. Is 
>>it principally more advanced and preferrable to table, which would mean 
>>that table is there for backward compatibility reasons only, or are there 
>>effects which can be achieved with table, but not with TABLE?
>
>Well, I have learned in the meantime, sorry if my posting was a bit 
>premature. tabulate can very well be used for tables in floating objects, 
>and it's interface is flexible and well documented, so it will probably 
>become my preferred choice for now. TABLE is beta, and since the 
>documentation is beta, too, it's perhaps a good idea to wait some time, 
>especially if one is in a hurry to get things finished - like I am at 
>present. But I must say that it looks like a very promising concept for the 
>future.

Wanna see some wild things? Overlapping table cells with shaded backgrounds: 

% output=pdftex

\starttext 

will go into mp-core, was somehow lost 

\startMPinclusions
def initialize_area (expr fn,fx,fy,fw,fh,fd,
                          tn,tx,ty,tw,th,td) =

  numeric fpos ; fpos := 1 ; initialize_box_pos(fpos,fn,fx,fy,fw,fh,fd) ;
  numeric tpos ; tpos := 2 ; initialize_box_pos(tpos,tn,tx,ty,tw,th,td) ;

  do_initialize_area (fpos, tpos) ;

enddef ;
\stopMPinclusions

\setupbodyfont[pos,10pt]

\setupcolors[state=start]

\def\cw#1{\color[white]{#1}}

% this one uses metapost, 

\def\TableShade#1#2%
  {\startMPpositiongraphic{shade}
     initialize_area(\MPpos{b:#1},\MPpos{e:#1}) ;
     linear_shade(pxy,0,.4#2,.9#2) ;
     anchor_area(\MPanchor{b:#1}) ;
   \stopMPpositiongraphic
   \MPpositiongraphic{shade}}

\dosetpositionaction{b:x}{\TableShade{x}{red}}
\dosetpositionaction{b:y}{\TableShade{y}{green}}
\dosetpositionaction{b:z}{\TableShade{z}{blue}}

% and this one doen't

%\definepositionframed[x][background=color,backgroundcolor=red]
%\definepositionframed[y][background=color,backgroundcolor=green]
%\definepositionframed[z][background=color,backgroundcolor=blue]

\starttabel[|c|c|c|]
\GFC[b:y] \cw{this is a small}  \NC       \cw{table}            \NC     in
which we      \NC \FR
\NC       \cw{will demonstrate} \GFC[c:z] \cw{that this}        \GTC[c]
\cw{positioning} \NC \MR
\GSC[a:x] \cw{mechanism also}   \GTC[b]   \cw{works quite well} \NC     in
tables        \NC \LR
\stoptabel

\stoptext

PS. The mp stuff can move to any layer you want
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Numbered definitions

[Tarik Kara]

How can one define a numbered definition environment (say "defn") which
works like:

Prints:

Definition 1      Bla Bla Bla

when one uses

\startdefn[ref]
BLa Bla Bla
\stopdefn

but prints:

Defintion 1 (Name)     Bla Bla Bla

when one uses

\startdefn[ref]{Name}
Bla Bla Bla
\stopdefn

i.e., an environement which works like the Theorem environment of LaTeX.
Thanks.

Tar{\i}k

Re: Numbered definitions

[Eckhart Guthöhrlein]

At 12:50 05.07.2001 +0300, you wrote:
>How can one define a numbered definition environment (say "defn") which
>works like:
>
>Prints:
>
>Definition 1      Bla Bla Bla
>
>when one uses
>
>\startdefn[ref]
>BLa Bla Bla
>\stopdefn
>
>but prints:
>
>Defintion 1 (Name)     Bla Bla Bla
>
>when one uses
>
>\startdefn[ref]{Name}
>Bla Bla Bla
>\stopdefn
>
>i.e., an environement which works like the Theorem environment of LaTeX.
>Thanks.
>
>Tar{\i}k

You can adapt this:

\defineenumeration
[guess]
[text=Conjecture,
location=left,
letter=it]
\starttext
This is the first one:
\guess All conjectures are interesting.

This is the second one:
\startguess Except this one.\stopguess
\stoptext

I have taken this from 'LaTeX in proper ConTeXt' by Berend de Boer, a 
document you will probably be interested in. It is available here:
http://tex.loria.fr/formats/context/LaTeX2ConTeXt.pdf

Eckhart

Re: Numbered definitions

[Tarik Kara]

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This (as well as what Hans suggested) takes care of the first case. But
I also what it to print

Definition 1 (Name)    Bla Bla..

when I type

\startdefn[ref]{Name}
Bla Bla ..
\enddefn

i.e., when I supply the "Name" option to defn it should print "(Name)"
right after "Definition 1" and then leave some spacing (the amount that
it would have left normally). Just like

\begin{defn}[Name] \label{ref}
Bla Bla
\end{defn}

would have worked in LaTeX if I had 
\newtheorem{defn}{Definition}

I would also like to use this to
generate a table of definitions (of those definitions which had an
option).

Tar{\i}k

On Thu, 5 Jul 2001, Eckhart [iso-8859-1] Guthöhrlein wrote:

> At 12:50 05.07.2001 +0300, you wrote:
> >How can one define a numbered definition environment (say "defn") which
> >works like:
> >
> >Prints:
> >
> >Definition 1      Bla Bla Bla
> >
> >when one uses
> >
> >\startdefn[ref]
> >BLa Bla Bla
> >\stopdefn
> >
> >but prints:
> >
> >Defintion 1 (Name)     Bla Bla Bla
> >
> >when one uses
> >
> >\startdefn[ref]{Name}
> >Bla Bla Bla
> >\stopdefn
> >
> >i.e., an environement which works like the Theorem environment of LaTeX.
> >Thanks.
> >
> >Tar{\i}k
> 
> You can adapt this:
> 
> \defineenumeration
> [guess]
> [text=Conjecture,
> location=left,
> letter=it]
> \starttext
> This is the first one:
> \guess All conjectures are interesting.
> 
> This is the second one:
> \startguess Except this one.\stopguess
> \stoptext
> 
> I have taken this from 'LaTeX in proper ConTeXt' by Berend de Boer, a 
> document you will probably be interested in. It is available here:
> http://tex.loria.fr/formats/context/LaTeX2ConTeXt.pdf
> 
> Eckhart
> 
> 

Re: Numbered definitions

[Hans Hagen]

The next setup demos some of what you want: 

% output=pdftex

\starttext 

\defineblock[moretest] 

\defineenumeration 
  [test] 
  [location=serried,width=broad,distance=2em]

\def\startanothertest
  {\dosingleempty\dostartanothertest}

\def\dostartanothertest[#1]#2%
  {\bgroup
   \setupenumerations[test][right={\quad(#2)}]%
   \starttest[#1]}

\def\stopanothertest
  {\stoptest
   \egroup}

\beginmoretest [important]
\starttest 
\dorecurse{10}{the first one }
\stoptest
\endmoretest

\beginmoretest 
\startanothertest {name}
\dorecurse{10}{the second one }
\stopanothertest
\endmoretest

\beginmoretest [important]
\startanothertest {name}
\dorecurse{10}{the second one }
\stopanothertest
\endmoretest

well, 

\nomoreblocks \reset[test] \useblocks[moretest][important]

\stoptext

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: Numbered definitions

[Hans Hagen]

At 12:50 PM 7/5/01 +0300, Tarik Kara wrote:
>How can one define a numbered definition environment (say "defn") which
>works like:
>
>Prints:
>
>Definition 1      Bla Bla Bla
>
>when one uses
>
>\startdefn[ref]
>BLa Bla Bla
>\stopdefn

\defineenumeration[defn]

etc, 

Hans
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------