Re: [Texmacs-dev] Multiple column support

[Nix N. Nix]

On Wed, 2003-04-23 at 11:25, Joris van der Hoeven wrote:
> > The Good News:
> > After much thrashing about, I was able to implement multiple column
> > support in the LaTeX converter. It was easy to introduce (only 2 lines
> > added to the "with" drd table) however, I have learned that floating
> > stuff such as "figure" and "table" environments do not work.
> > Fortunately, there is a more generic environment in LaTeX called
> > "minipage", which works well for both figures and floating tables.
> > Consequently, I had to change the (tmtex-float-make ...) function to use
> > the "minipage" environment.
> 
> What is wrong with the figure and table environments?

They don't work inside the "multicols" environment, but "minipage" does.

> 
> > The Bad News:
> > Packages, packages, and more packages.  I needed to use two more:
> > "multicol" to provide support for multiple columns within one page, like
> 
> We absolutely need something to generate an appropriate \usepackage...
> in the header, where we mention only the packages which are really used.
> I think we should create a clean drd-latex.scm file soon with
> 1) all LaTeX constructs, 2) the arities of these constructs,
> 3) the packages required by each construct, 4) miscellaneous other data.
> 
> > The Debatable News:
> > So far, (tmtex-float-make ...) contained a statement whereby no caption
> > was created if the caption string passed to the function was empty.  I
> > think this is wrong.  A floating object should still say "Figure n" or
> > "Table n", even if there is no caption.  This is the default in TeXmacs
> > and, at least for \label and \ref purposes, it should be the same in
> > LaTeX.
> 
> So you want to add an empty \caption ? That is OK with me.

Cool.

> 
> > The Other News:
> > I may also be able to do this:
> >
> >        +--------------+
> >        |      __      |
> >        |     /  \     |
> >        |     \__/     |
> >        |     _||_/    |
> >        |    / ||      |
> >        |    _/  \_    |
> >        |              |
> >        +--------------+
> >     Figure 1.  Notice how
> >     the caption of this
> >     figure is bounded by
> >     the width of the
> >     graphic and not by
> >     the width of the line
> >
> > This is doable using yet another LaTeX package called "calc", which
> > contains the command "widthof" to be used like so:
> >
> > \widthof{\some{\LaTeX} code which \may{contain} anything, including \\
> > new lines.}
> >
> > This command could then constitute the width parameter to the minipage,
> > which would constrain the total width of the minipage, making it appear
> > more like a TeXmacs figure.  Unfortunately, this means that we have to
> > (tmtex ...) the contents of the figure twice, and it causes LaTeX to
> > complain about "Runaway Argument" and such, especially if the figure
> > contains a lot of text, instead of just an EPS image.
> 
> OK; I now understand your other email.
> 
> > Please have a look at the two patches (1400 - multiple columns and 1401
> > - minipage instead of figure) and let me know.
> 
> I will, I will, dozens of things waiting...

Well, when you have a chance :o)

> 
> 
> 
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