@Section
@Title { Boxes and rules }
@Tag { boxes }
@Begin
@PP
The @Code "@Box" symbol causes the following object to be enclosed in a
box. @Index @Code "@Box"
box:
@ID @OneRow @Code {
"@QuotedDisplay @Box {"
"@CentredDisplay @Heading Cheating"
"The Department uses assignments ... of that student alone."
"}"
}
The result of this is
@QuotedDisplay @Box {
@CentredDisplay @Heading Cheating
The Department uses assignments both as a teaching device and as a
major component of its assessment of each student. It therefore
requires that all programs, exercises etc. handed in bearing an
individual student's name be the work of that student alone.
}
showing that a box may enclose an arbitrarily complicated object.
@PP
The @Code "@Box" symbol has a @Code margin option which determines the
margin between the box and what it encloses. For example,
@ID @OneRow @Code {
"@Box"
" margin { 0.1c }"
"{}"
}
requests a box with a 0.1 centimetre margin enclosing an empty object,
so the result is a square whose width and height are 0.2 centimetres:
@ID @Box margin { 0.1c } {}
If the @Code "margin" option is omitted, it is assigned the default
value {@Code "0.3f"}, which means 0.3 times the current font size. It
is very useful to tie the margin to the font size in this way, because
large headings (in overhead transparencies, say) need large margins.
@PP
There is a @Code "linewidth" option which determines the width
(thickness) of the line drawn around the boundary of the box:
@ID @OneRow @Code {
"@Box"
" linewidth { 0.1c }"
"{ Hello world }"
}
produces
@ID @Code {
@Box
linewidth { 0.1c }
{ Hello world }
}
Lout does not take the line width into account when working out how
large everything is: as far as Lout is concerned, the line always
has width zero. If you draw really thick lines you might need a larger
margin and more space near the box. The default value of @Code linewidth
is empty, which means to use whatever width the PostScript interpreter
in your output device thinks is a good default value.
@PP
There is also a @Code "paint" option which paints a background of the
nominated colour:
@ID @Code "@Box paint { grey } WARNING!"
has result
@ID @Box paint { grey } WARNING!
This is quite different from {@Code "grey @Colour @Box WARNING!"},
which produces
@ID grey @Colour @Box WARNING!
The @Code "paint" option may be given any colour from the list in
Section {@NumberOf colour}; its default value is {@Code "none"}, which
is a special value (not a colour) which means no painting. White paint
comes into its own inside painted boxes:
@ID @Code "@Box paint { nochange } white @Colour { Hello world }"
produces a box painted in whatever colour we happen to be using at
the moment, with white text inside:
@ID @Box paint { nochange } white @Colour { Hello world }
This works because the box is painted before the object it encloses
is drawn on the page.
@PP
There are @Code "@CurveBox" and @Code "@ShadowBox" symbols that
curvebox. @Index @Code "@CurveBox"
shadowbox. @Index @Code "@ShadowBox"
produce other kinds of boxes:
@CD @Tab
@Fmta { @Col A ! @Col ! @Col B }
{
@Rowa
A { @CurveBox { A curve box } }
B { @ShadowBox { A shadow box } }
}
These also have @Code "margin" and @Code "paint" options, and
@Code "@ShadowBox" has a @Code "shadow" option which determines
the thickness of the shadow (its default value is {@Code "0.2f"}).
@PP
Boxes are quite at home inside paragraphs, as @Box { a box },
@CurveBox { a curve box }, and @ShadowBox { a shadow box }
show. Simply proceed as usual:
@ID @Code "... paragraphs, as @Box { a box }, @CurveBox { a curve box }, ..."
Boxes within paragraphs are never broken across two lines.
@PP
There are two symbols for producing horizontal rules. @Code "@FullWidthRule"
fullwidthrule. @Index @Code "@FullWidthRule"
rules. @Index rules
produces a rule which occupies the full page (or column) width:
@DP @FullWidthRule @DP
More precisely, the rule occupies as much horizontal space as it
legally can. @Code "@FullWidthRule" produces an object in the usual
way, so you will need paragraph or display symbols to separate it from
preceding and following things.
@PP
A variant called @Code "@LocalWidthRule" is more timid about zooming
localwidthrule. @Index @Code "@LocalWidthRule"
across the whole page:
@ID @Code {
"@OddPageTop { { My lovely document @LP @LocalWidthRule } @Right @PageNum }"
}
will draw a rule under just the three words. Of course, underlining using
the @Code "@Underline" symbol might be a better way to do this. Both
symbols have a @Code "linewidth" option which works like the one for
boxes described above. In particular, Lout leaves zero space for the
line, no matter how wide you make it.
@End @Section
