@Section
@Title { Technical reports }
@Tag { reports }
@Begin
@PP
To make a technical report,
start off with the @Code "report" setup
reports. @Index { reports }
technical.reports. @Index { technical reports }
report. @Index @Code "@Report"
file and the @Code "@Report" symbol:
@ID @OneRow -1px @Break @Code {
"@SysInclude { report }"
"@Report"
" @Title {}"
" @Author {}"
" @Institution {}"
" @DateLine { No }"
" @AtEnd {}"
" @CoverSheet { Yes }"
" @ContentsSeparate { No }"
" @InitialFont { Times Base 12p }"
" @InitialBreak { hyphen adjust 1.2fx }"
" @InitialSpace { lout }"
" @InitialLanguage { English }"
" @PageOrientation { Portrait }"
" @PageHeaders { Simple }"
" @ColumnNumber { 1 }"
" @FirstPageNumber { 1 }"
" @OptimizePages { No }"
" @AbstractDisplay { Yes }"
" @AbstractTitle { Abstract }"
" @Abstract {}"
" @GlossaryText { @Null }"
" @IndexText { @Null }"
" @IndexAText { @Null }"
" @IndexBText { @Null }"
"//"
}
This shows all the options of {@Code "@Report"}
@FootNote {
Before Version 3.13, @Code "@Abstract" followed "//" rather than
preceded it, and had some options that are now withdrawn. Old
documents may therefore need some superficial rearrangement.
}
with their default values. As usual with options, they may be given in
any order, and only the ones whose values need to be changed need be
given at all. The meaning of the @Code "//" symbol is beyond our scope,
but disaster will ensue if it is forgotten.
@PP
The @Code "@Title" option holds the title of the report. It will be
printed using the @Code clines paragraph breaking style (Section
{@NumberOf paras}), which centres each line, so it makes sense
to have multi-line titles:
@ID @OneRow @Code {
"@Report"
" @Title {"
"The solution of real instances of"
"the timetabling problem"
"}"
" ..."
}
With a multi-line title, each line after the first should begin
at the left margin, not indented. It doesn't matter where the first
line begins, because space following an open brace is ignored.
@PP
The @Code "@Author" and @Code "@Institution" options hold the author's
name and institution or address, and will also be printed using the
@Code clines style. If there are several authors but only one
institution, list all the authors in the @Code "@Author" option:
@ID @Code "@Author { Tim B. Cooper and Jeffrey H. Kingston }"
With more authors, or with more than one institution, it is best to
ignore the @Code "@Institution" option and place all the information
within the @Code "@Author" option, enclosing institution information
in @Code "@I" symbols. In extreme cases, a table with columns of
authors might be necessary (Chapter {@NumberOf tables}).
@PP
@Code "@DateLine" may be set to {@Code No}, meaning no dateline,
{@Code Yes}, meaning print the current date, or anything else, which is
taken to be a date and printed:
@ID @Code "@DateLine { 4 July, 1776 }"
A good plan is to use @Code "@DateLine { Yes }" until
the report is finalized.
@PP
The {@Code "@AtEnd"} option will come out on a single unnumbered
page with no page headers or footers, and using the same margins as for
even pages, after the very last page of the report; even after the
index if there is one. It is intended to make it possible to
include a back cover, so @Code "@PageOf last.page" does not take
account of any @Code "@AtEnd" page.
@PP
The remaining options (except {@Code "@Abstract"}) are setup file options
(Section {@NumberOf setup}) that frequently need to be changed. If your
changes to the overall formatting are confined to these options, you can
change them here and avoid having your own setup file. If you already have
your own setup file, change them in either place and omit them in
the other.
@PP
If @Code "@CoverSheet" is {@Code Yes}, an unnumbered cover
cover.sheet. @Index @Code "@CoverSheet"
sheet will be produced containing the title, author, institution,
abstract, and dateline. Otherwise they will appear on the
first page. The `cover sheet' is in reality a sequence of Intro pages
(Section {@NumberOf headers}), numbered by default with Roman numerals
on pages after the first.
@PP
In order to get a table of contents, it is necessary to use your
own setup file (Section {@NumberOf setup} explains how to do this)
and to set the @Code "@MakeContents" option within it to
{@Code Yes}. The table of contents will ordinarily appear beginning
on the first page, but if the @Code "@ContentsSeparate" option of
@Code "@Report" is
contents.separate @Index @Code "@ContentsSeparate"
set to @Code "Yes" it will appear on separate pages.
@PP
@Code "@InitialFont" is the font of the bulk of the report,
and should contain a family, a face, and a size. The default
value selects the Times family, the Base face, and the 12 point size.
@PP
@Code "@InitialBreak" controls the behaviour of paragraph breaking in
the bulk of the report. It should have three parts: a paragraph
breaking style ({@Code adjust}, {@Code ragged}, etc.), an inter-line
spacing ({@Code "1.2fx"} for single spacing, {@Code "2.4fx"} for
double spacing, and so on), and either @Code "hyphen" or
@Code "nohyphen" for turning hyphenation on or off. It may also
have @Code "nobreakfirst" or @Code "nobreaklast" (or both), meaning
to disallow a page break after the first line of a paragraph, or
before the last, respectively.
@PP
@Code "@InitialSpace" determines how Lout treats white space between
two objects, as described in Section
{@NumberOf white}. @Code "@InitialLanguage" determines the language
of the bulk of the report.
@PP
@Code "@PageOrientation" determines the orientation of the page. Its
value may be {@Code Portrait} (the default), {@Code Landscape},
{@Code ReversePortrait}, or {@Code ReverseLandscape}. See
Section {@NumberOf pagesize} for further details.
@PP
@Code "@PageHeaders" determines the appearance of page headers and
footers. Its value may be {@Code None},
{@Code Simple}, {@Code Titles}, or {@Code NoTitles}. Section
{@NumberOf headers} has the details, but just briefly, {@Code None}
produces no page headers, {@Code Simple} produces a centred page number
between hyphens on every page except the cover sheet and the first
page, @Code Titles produces full running titles as in the present
document, and @Code "NoTitles" is like @Code "Titles" with the running
titles omitted, leaving just the page numbers.
@PP
@Code "@ColumnNumber" is the number of columns per page in the bulk of
the report, and may be anything from {@Code 1} (the default value) to
{@Code 10}. However, there is nothing analogous to the @Code "@FullWidth"
symbol of ordinary documents. Instead, the cover sheet, title material,
and all figures and tables will be printed full width, and the rest will
be set in columns. There is a separate @Code "@IndexColumnNumber" option
in the setup file which determines the number of columns in the index
(Section {@NumberOf indexes}).
@PP
@Code "@FirstPageNumber" is the page number given to the first page.
@PP
Lout ordinarily places lines onto a page until space runs out, then moves
to the next page and so on. This often produces ugly empty spaces at
the bottoms of pages preceding large unbreakable displays. Setting the
@Code "@OptimizePages" option to {@Code "Yes"} causes Lout to examine the
overall situation and try to minimize the ugliness, using the @TeX
optimal paragraph breaking algorithm. It takes two runs to do this,
with intermediate results stored in Lout's cross reference database
(Section {@NumberOf cross}); so deleting file {@Code lout.li} will reset
it, which might be wise after major changes. It is possible for the
optimizer to cycle, never settling on a single final best version; this
is usually caused by footnotes or floating figures inserted at points
which end up near page boundaries.
@PP
Finally we have three options that control the abstract.
@Code "@AbstractDisplay" may be @Code { Yes } or {@Code No};
it determines whether the abstract is displayed (occupying
the full page width except for an indent at each side like a quoted
display) or inline (occupying the column width). There is a more
general option, {@Code "@AbstractFormat"}, in the setup file that
offers more formatting choices. @Code "@AbstractTitle" is the title
of the abstract; its default value is @Code Abstract or its equivalent
in the current language. Finally, @Code "@Abstract" contains the
abstract. @Index @Code "@Abstract"
abstract itself; it may be empty or absent, in which case there will
be no abstract. The abstract may contain footnotes in the usual way.
@PP
The {@Code "@GlossaryText"}, {@Code "@IndexText"}, {@Code "@IndexAText"},
and {@Code "@IndexBText"} symbols allow you to insert some arbitrary
text after the title of the glossary, index, etc., and before the
entries.
@PP
After the compulsory {@Code "//"} comes the report body in the
form of a sequence of sections:
section.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
@ID @OneRow @Code {
"@Section"
" @Title { Introduction }"
"@Begin"
"@PP"
"..."
"@End @Section"
}
No @Code "@BeginSections" or @Code "@EndSections" symbols are needed. The
beginsections.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
endsections.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
general rule is that you need these bracketing symbols only when you are
inside something else. Sections lie inside @Code "@Text" in ordinary
documents, but they don't lie inside anything else in technical reports.
@PP
A section may have subsections, between
subsection.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
beginsubsections.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
endsubsections.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
@Code "@BeginSubSections" and {@Code "@EndSubSections"}:
@ID @OneRow @Code {
"preceding text"
"@BeginSubSections"
"@SubSection ... @End @SubSection"
"@SubSection ... @End @SubSection"
"..."
"@SubSection ... @End @SubSection"
"@EndSubSections"
}
Within each subsection there may be sub-subsections, each introduced
by {@Code "@SubSubSection"}, with the whole sequence bracketed by
subsubsection.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
beginsubsubsections.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
endsubsubsections.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
@Code "@BeginSubSubSections" and {@Code "@EndSubSubSections"}:
@ID @OneRow @Code {
"preceding text"
"@BeginSubSubSections"
"@SubSubSection ... @End @SubSubSection"
"@SubSubSection ... @End @SubSubSection"
"..."
"@SubSubSection ... @End @SubSubSection"
"@EndSubSubSections"
}
There are no sub-sub-subsections.
@PP
After the sections comes an optional sequence of appendices:
appendix.reports @SubIndex { in technical reports }
@ID @OneRow @Code {
"@Appendix"
" @Title { Derivation of the renewal formula }"
"@Begin"
"@PP"
"..."
"@End @Appendix"
}
No @Code "@BeginAppendices" or @Code "@EndAppendices" symbols are needed,
beginappendices.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
endappendices.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
because (like the sections above) these appendices do not lie inside
any other large-scale structure symbol. The appendices are numbered
A, B, C, etc., as is conventional for them. Within each appendix
there may be a sequence of subappendices, obtained with the
@Code "@SubAppendix" symbol and bracketed by @Code "@BeginSubAppendices"
subappendix.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
beginsubappendices.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
endsubappendices.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
and {@Code "@EndSubAppendices"}:
@ID @OneRow @Code {
"preceding text"
"@BeginSubAppendices"
"@SubAppendix ... @End @SubAppendix"
"@SubAppendix ... @End @SubAppendix"
"..."
"@SubAppendix ... @End @SubAppendix"
"@EndSubAppendices"
}
There are sub-subappendices following the same pattern, but no
subsubappendix.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
beginsubsubappendices.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
endsubsubappendices.reports @SubIndex { in reports }
sub-sub-subappendices.
@PP
The report ends with the last section or appendix; any reference list or
index will be appended automatically. Although we have described how to
create reports as though everything was in one large file, in practice it
is much better to divide the report into multiple files, following the
method given in Section {@NumberOf organizing}.
@PP
In addition to the {@Code "@Title"} option, each large-scale structure
symbol ({@Code "@Section"}, {@Code "@SubSection"}, {@Code "@SubSubSection"},
{@Code "@Appendix"}, {@Code "@SubAppendix"},
and {@Code "@SubSubAppendix"}) has a @Code "@Tag" option for cross
referencing (Section {@NumberOf cross}), an @Code "@InitialLanguage"
option for changing the language of that part of the document, and a
@Code "@RunningTitle" option which will be used in place of @Code "@Title"
in running headers if given. @Code "@RunningTitle" is useful when the
full title is rather long.
@PP
The features described in other chapters are all available within
technical reports. To get a table of contents, change the @Code
"@MakeContents" option in the setup file to {@Code Yes}; the rest is
automatic, and you don't need the @Code "@ContentsGoesHere" symbol from
ordinary documents. To get an index, again you need only change the
@Code "@MakeIndex" setup file option to {@Code Yes}. Endnotes and
references appear at the end of the report. Figures and tables are
numbered 1, 2, 3, etc.
@PP
Within the @Code "report" setup file there is a @Code "@ReportSetup"
symbol whose options control the appearance of features specific to
report.setup @Index @Code "@ReportSetup"
reports (in other words, the features described in this section). Section
{@NumberOf setup} explains setup files and their options in general; here
is a representative sample of these options, showing their default values:
@ID @OneRow @Code {
"@Use { @ReportSetup"
" # @CoverSheet { Yes }"
" # @DateLine { No }"
" # @ReferencesBeforeAppendices { No }"
" # @AbstractWord { abstract }"
" # @ContentsWord { contents }"
" # @SectionNumbers { Arabic }"
" # @SectionHeadingFont { Bold }"
" # @SectionGap { 2.00v }"
" # @SectionInContents { Yes }"
"}"
}
@Code "@CoverSheet" and @Code "@DateLine" are as for {@Code "@Report"};
you can set them in either place as you prefer. @Code
"@ReferencesBeforeAppendices" determines whether the reference list is
printed out before or after any appendices. @Code "@AbstractWord"
determines the value of the title of the abstract if none is given there;
its default value, {@Code abstract}, produces `Abstract' in the current
language. @Code "@ContentsWord" is similar; its default value produces
`Contents' in the current language. The other four options
control the appearance of sections, and there are similar options for
controlling the other large-scale structure symbols.
@PP
@Code "@SectionNumbers" determines how sections will be numbered, and may
be @Code { None }, @Code { Arabic }, @Code { Roman }, @Code { UCRoman },
@Code { Alpha }, or @Code { UCAlpha }. The default value is @Code Arabic
for sections, and also for all large-scale structure symbols except
appendices, for which it is {@Code UCAlpha}. This produces the appendices
numbered in upper-case letters (A, B, C, etc.) that were mentioned earlier.
@PP
@Code "@SectionHeadingFont" is the font used for section headings. The
default value shown above produces the bold face from the family of the
initial font. A family name and size is acceptable here as well:
@ID @Code "@SectionHeadingFont { Helvetica Base +2p }"
produces section headings in the Helvetica font, two points larger
than the initial font size.
@PP
@Code "@SectionGap" determines how much space is left blank before each
section title; the default value shown above is twice the current
inter-line spacing. The special value @Code "2b" may be used to get a
page break rather than a space. @Code "@SectionInContents" determines
whether or not an entry is made in the table of contents for each section;
it may be @Code Yes or {@Code No}. There are similar options for other
large-scale structure symbols.
@End @Section
