Command/showframe

\showframe

Syntax

\showframe

or

\showframe[...]
[...]	leftmargin text rightmargin

or

\showframe[...][...]
[...]	header text footer
[...]	leftmargin text rightmargin

Description

Draw a rectangle around, e.g, the right margin area's footer. If no arguments are specified, all text areas are outlined; if one argument is specified, it must specify one or more of the horizontal components; if both arguments are specified, any vertical part(s) of interest can be specified, too.

In every case a green rectangle is drawn around the page edge. To change the color of that rectangle, use e.g. \definepalet[layout][page=blue].

See also

• \showsetups to print all the of the layout's various dimension variables.
• \setupbackgrounds can do all that showframe can and more; in fact, \showframe is merely a wrapper around several calls to \setupbackgrounds.

Help from ConTeXt-Mailinglist/Forum

All issues with:

• showframe on the mailing list (all results)
• showframe on the mailing list (subject only)
• showframe in ConTeXt's source

Examples

Framing all areas, or only the page

\definepapersize[A11][height=26mm, width=18mm]
\setuppapersize[A11]
\setuplayout[
    % paperwidth - width - backspace
    %     = 6mm outer space
    backspace=6mm,  width=6mm,
    marginleft=2mm, marginright=2mm, 
    leftedge=2mm,   rightedge=2mm]
\showframe
asdf

\definepapersize[A11][height=26mm, width=18mm]
\setuppapersize[A11]
\setuplayout[
    % paperwidth - width - backspace
    %     = 6mm outer space
    backspace=6mm,  width=6mm,
    marginleft=2mm, marginright=2mm, 
    leftedge=2mm,   rightedge=2mm]
\showframe[]
asdf

Framing part of the page

\definepapersize[A11][height=26mm, width=18mm]
\setuppapersize[A11]
\setuplayout[
    backspace=6mm,  width=6mm, 
    marginleft=2mm, marginright=2mm, 
    leftedge=2mm,   rightedge=2mm]
\showframe[header, footer][leftmargin, rightmargin]
asdf

The areas

The table below shows what the horizontal and vertical components of \showframe highlight. The table's rows and columns ought to be transposed, really – currently the [header] is in the leftmost column, instead of the topmost row – but the table wouldn't fit that way round.

The examples all use the same page design:

\definepapersize[A11][height=26mm, width=18mm]
\setuppapersize[A11]

\setuplayout[
    backspace=6mm, 
    width=6mm, 
    marginleft=2mm, 
    marginright=2mm, 
    leftedge=2mm, 
    rightedge=2mm]

(one argument)	[header]	[text]	[footer]
[leftedge]	[header][leftedge]	[text][leftedge]	[footer][leftedge]
[leftmargin]	[header][leftmargin]	[text][leftmargin]	[footer][leftmargin]
[text]	[header][text]	[text][text]	[footer][text]
[rightmargin]	[header][rightmargin]	[text][rightmargin]	[footer][rightmargin]
[rightedge]	[header][rightedge]	[text][rightedge]	[footer][rightedge]