November 2024 - ntg-context

Why is this description environment not showing the correct title?
by Joel 13 Feb '26

13 Feb '26

\definedescription[latexdesc][headstyle=bold, style=normal, align=flushleft, alternative=hanging, width=broad, margin=1cm] \starttext \latexdesc{1540} some event happened \latexdesc{1541} some other event happened \latexdesc{1542} some event happened quite different \stoptext I found the above code (the first line) in the ConTeXt Wiki, as a way to create the equivalent of a desc environment from LaTeX. The items inside {} should be bold, then there is a gap before the next text. I am using this to display a simple timeline. Though the formatting looks perfect, very strangely when I compile it, it changes all of the dates to say "1540" (or whatever date was used first). Why is it showing the wrong title on the desc environment? --Joel

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missing metadata in LMTX
by Pablo Rodriguez 18 Nov '25

18 Nov '25

Dear list, this issue has been bugging me for some time: \startbuffer[demo] <doc> <meta> <author>author</author> <title>title</title> </meta> <text> text </text> </doc> \stopbuffer \starttext \startxmlsetups xml:initialize \xmlsetsetup{#1}{code|meta|text}{xml:*} \stopxmlsetups \xmlregistersetup{xml:initialize} \startxmlsetups xml:doc \xmlflush{#1} \stopxmlsetups \startxmlsetups xml:meta \setupinteraction [author={\xmltext{#1}{/author}}, title={\xmltext{#1}{/title}}] \stopxmlsetups \startxmlsetups xml:text \xmlflush{#1} \stopxmlsetups \setupinteraction[state=start] \xmlprocessbuffer{main}{demo}{} \stoptext With LuaTeX, I get PDF metadata. With LuaMetaTeX, I cannot get them. For both, I’m using current latest (from 2024.02.27 09:21). Could anyone confirm the issue or explain me what I am missing? Many thanks for your help, Pablo

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context / auctex problem?
by hanneder＠staff.uni-marburg.de 24 Feb '25

24 Feb '25

Apologies for this question, which is probably an auctex problem. I have a new install of everything (LinuX, emacs, texlive) and the latest (?) context (ConTeXt ver: 2024.05.27 18:16 LMTX) installed in a separate directory. Running context from the commandline works fine, so I guess I did not misspell the path, but when running "Context All" from emacs, the error is: ----- Running `ConTeXt' on `context-test' with ``context --once --nonstop context-test.tex'' /bin/sh: Zeile 1: context: Kommando nicht gefunden. TeX Output exited abnormally with code 127 at Mon Jun 17 14:03:03 ------ I don't think the .emacs is at fault, it worked before the reinstall and contains, for instance: (setq-default TeX-master t) (setq TeX-parse-self t) (setq TeX-auto-save t) (setq ConTeXt-Mark-version "IV") Any ideas welcome, Jürgen --- Prof. Dr. Juergen Hanneder Philipps-Universitaet Marburg FG Indologie u. Tibetologie Deutschhausstr.12 35032 Marburg Germany Tel. 0049-6421-28-24930 hanneder(a)staff.uni-marburg.de

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images with alt text
by Steffen Wolfrum 06 Feb '25

06 Feb '25

Hi, as publishing houses (at least in Germany) are forced to provide «alt text» with their PDF-publications (from June 2025 on), I need to know how «images with alternate text» (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt_attribute) are typeset with ConTeXt LMTX. In HTML it looks like this: <img src="example.jpg" alt="Example text"> What is the equivalent in ConTeXt LMTX? Yours, Steffen

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On the use of btx datasets to manage images and plots
by marco.riggirello.98＠gmail.com 19 Dec '24

19 Dec '24

Dear all, since this is my first post on the mailing lists, let me make a small preamble: after years of LaTeX experience I decided in May to give ConTeXt a try. The journey has been extremely pleasant up to now, so I want to thank all the contributors to this project for making such a great piece of software. Now, let's dig into the topic: I'm a PhD student in High Energy Physics (HEP) and my typical work include producing lot of plots and then presenting them in various meetings, comparing my results with existing ones present in the literature. Tipically, many plots and figures are re-used in different meetings and they might end up in the final thesis. My current workflow is just copying in different directories these (mostly vector) images and copying the caption between different tex sources. This workflow clearly scales very bad, and I would like to exploit all the goodies of the ConTeXt dataset machinery. In the Bibliografies manual it is mentioned that one can use datasets to manage images as well [1]. My case however is (slightly) more complicated than the one showed in the manual. What I would like to have is four databases: - a bibliography dataset; - an "others' figure" dataset, with all the images I took from the references. This means that in some way in the caption I would like to cite the references included in the bibliography dataset; - a "own figures" dataset, with the plots I produced with external programs; - a "metafun figures" dataset, pointing at the metafun code corresponding to some diagram. In my idea, for each figure dataset the \placebtxrendering should plot the figure with the right label to refer to in the main text and the right caption. (Clearly for the metafun dataset it should not include the pdf of the diagrams but instead compile the metafun code). In this way, I could create a single ConTeXt project with different products for different presentations, posters and other documents. Do you think this workflow can be implemented in ConTeXt? If so, how? Is btx the right tool for the job? I hope I was clear, and sorry if I was not. Thanks in advance for the help. Cheers MR [1] https://www.pragma-ade.nl/general/manuals/mkiv-publications.pdf#%5B%7B%22nu…

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Line break after a Metapost picture at start of paragraph
by Florent Michel 29 Nov '24

29 Nov '24

Hi, I have just encountered a (to me) slightly surprising behaviour in ConTeXt LMTX 2024.10.31: there seems to be an automatic line break after a Metapost picture if it is at the start of a paragraph. Here is a simple example showing this behaviour: ------------------------------------------------------------------ \starttext % Two different lines \startMPcode fill fullcircle scaled 10pt; \stopMPcode text % Single line text \startMPcode fill fullcircle scaled 10pt; \stopMPcode \stoptext ------------------------------------------------------------------ I'm not sure whether this is a bug or intended behaviour, though - maybe this is the expected output for users more familiar with TeX and/or ConTeXt than I am. I would have two question, though: 1) Is there a canonical way to get the second behaviour (multiple Metapost pictures and text on the same line) if the first Metapost picture starts the paragraph? One workaround seems to be to add \noindent (plus \hskip if I do want indentation) before the first Metapost picture, but maybe there is a better way. 2) If this is intended behaviour, is there already a description of it in the Wiki or would it make sense for me to add it? Cheers, Florent

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"Missing number, case 7, treated as zero" error message.
by Jeong Dal 28 Nov '24

28 Nov '24

Dear lister, I have an error which I can not locate. Please help me what is wrong in the following example. Thanks for reading. Regards, Dalyoung \useMPlibrary[dum] \starttext \startplacefigure[location=,reference=fig:gateNOT,title=] \startcombination[nx=2,ny=1] {externalfigure[dummy][width=.25\textwidth]}{a} {externalfigure[dummy][width=.25\textwidth]}{b} \stopcombination \stopplacefigure \stoptext Log file: metapost > library 'dum' is loaded fonts > preloading latin modern fonts (second stage) fonts > 'fallback modern rm 12pt' is loaded tex error > tex error on line 5 in file /Users/graph/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Documents/test.tex: Missing number, case 7, treated as zero <to be read again> ] <line 3.5> {externalfigure[dummy][width=.25\textwidth] }{a} 1 \useMPlibrary[dum] 2 \starttext 3 \startplacefigure[location=,reference=fig:gateNOT,title=] 4 \startcombination[nx=2,ny=1] 5 >> {externalfigure[dummy][width=.25\textwidth]}{a} 6 {externalfigure[dummy][width=.25\textwidth]}{b} 7 \stopcombination 8 \stopplacefigure

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Why are my images floating away even though I used "here" and "force" settings?
by Joel 28 Nov '24

28 Nov '24

I have a textbook that includes images--and I don't care that they are placed wherever. But for the workbook, its confusing for the readers if the images float to another location. If the items don't appear in this order, it really gets confusing, as basically there is an activity that says "color the map" and students can't find the map--even if its just a page later. TitleInstructionsImageRequirements In other words, I can't have it float somewhere else, though if a page break is needed before it or after it, then that is okay, if that is what is needed to get it to appear. I thought "here" and "force" were supposed to be the commands to achieve this, but its still resulting in the image appearing after requirements or sometimes, after the next activity, which is too confusing to readers. \placefigure[here, force]{Map of New Mexico}{\externalfigure[map1a][width=.8\textwidth]} What more is needed to make it appear exactly as the next item after instructions, and before requirements, without floating away, even if that means a lot of empty space is going to be added to the page? --Joel

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Why is framed text crashing into and overlapping other text?
by Joel 28 Nov '24

28 Nov '24

I have a simple enumeration structure like this: 1. word a. _________ b. _________ c. _________ The students will write three properties of each word. The problem I had is it was putting some items on a next page, which confused students. For instance, maybe it shows 1. word(pagebreak) a. _________ b. _________ c. _________ This confused students where to write their answers. (see Attempt 1 code below). So I used a frame to keep the itemized text together. (see Attempt 2 code below). Though in my minimum working example below, it works just fine, somehow in my document it creates weird problems putting frames around the items. Sometimes it puts item 10 on top of 9, so its like the text is written on top of the other text. Sometimes the frames make the text crash over the items after it. Is frame the write tool to use to keep the itemized items together as a group without allowing column and page breaks to separate them? How do I stop the strange behavior of the frames seemingly floating to weird locations and appearing over other text? I'm afraid I couldn't find any way to recreate this affect in my minimum working example. --Joel \starttext \subject{Attempt 1} \startcolumns[n=2] \startitemize[n] \dorecurse{30}{ \item word \startitemize[a] \item \thinrule \item \thinrule \item \thinrule \stopitemize } \stopitemize \stopcolumns \input knuth \subject{Attempt 2} \startcolumns[n=2] \startitemize[n] \dorecurse{30}{ \startframedtext[frame=off] \item word \startitemize[a] \item \thinrule \item \thinrule \item \thinrule \stopitemize \stopframedtext } \stopitemize \stopcolumns \input knuth \stoptext

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Is there any way to forbid footnotes from appearing on current page?
by Joel 28 Nov '24

28 Nov '24

I have found some situations in which I have content that interferes with footnotes. Can I tell ConText to delay showing the footnote for a page or two? And then when its safe again, all the footnotes that weren't displayed would be displayed on a later page? --Joel

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