Command/setupsidebar

\setupsidebar

Summary

The command \setupsidebar is used to customize vertical bars.

They are drawn starting from the left edge of the text, but you can move them anywhere horizontally.

\startsidebar[...] ... \stopsidebar can be placed inside the text of a paragraph to "vertically underline" portions of text. The bars follow the lines where there's the text between \startsidebar[...] and \stopsidebar. They are drawn from the top of the first line to the bottom of the last line of that portion of text.

You can fine-tune the starting and ending points of a bar with topoffset and bottomoffset.

\startsidebar[...] ... \stopsidebar can be nested: in this case the distance parameter is used to move the second bar (the inner one) relatively to the first one.

Settings

\setupsidebar[...,...][...=...,...]
[...,...]	name
rulethickness	dimension
rulecolor	color
alternative	number
topoffset	dimension
bottomoffset	dimension
distance	dimension
leftmargindistance	dimension
level	number

Option	Explanation
rulethickness	thickness of the bar, i.e. 1pt
rulecolor	the bar's color
alternative	a number specifying the style of the bar (currently 0=solid bar, 1=dashed bar) number 0 = solid bar 1 = dashed bar
topoffset	offset to start drawing the bar, from the top of the first line of text between \startsidebar...\stopsidebar
bottomoffset	offset to stop drawing the bar from the bottom of the last line of text between \startsidebar...\stopsidebar
distance	the distance from the left edge of the text or from the previous bar, in case of nested \startsidebar...\stopsidebar

Examples

A simple side bar

\definesidebar[simple][rulethickness=1pt,distance=3pt]
\starttext
\hsize=4cm
The sidebar follows the text between \type{\startsidebar[simple]} and \type{\stopsidebar},
\startsidebar[simple] {\blue from the top of the first line to the bottom of the last line.}\stopsidebar
Here the text between \type{\startsidebar[simple]} and \type{\stopsidebar} has been colored in blue.\par
\stoptext

produces

Custom fancy sidebars

You can define fancy, zig zag bars redefining the anch_sidebars_draw macro:

\definesidebar[zigzag1][rulecolor=black,distance=4pt,rulethickness=1pt,alternative=2]
\definesidebar[zigzag2][rulecolor=red,distance=4pt,rulethickness=1pt,alternative=3]
\definesidebar[wave1][rulecolor=blue,distance=4pt,rulethickness=1pt,alternative=4]
\definesidebar[wave2][rulecolor=cyan,distance=4pt,rulethickness=1pt,alternative=5]
\definesidebar[obliquedashes][rulecolor=darkgreen,distance=4pt,rulethickness=1pt,alternative=6]

\startMPcode
% draws a bar repeating a pattern defined from (0,0) to (0,1)
def draw_pattern_bar(expr a, b, pattern, patternlength, patternheight, linewidth, linecolor) =
   draw image (
       begingroup ;
           save p, q, stp ;
           pair p, q, stp ;
           stp := ( ( b - a ) / arclength( a -- b ) ) * patternlength ;
           path q ; q := pattern xscaled patternlength yscaled patternheight rotated (angle(stp)) ;
           p := a ;
           forever :
               draw
                   q shifted p
                   withpen pencircle scaled linewidth
                   withcolor linecolor ;
               p := p + stp ;
               exitif arclength( a -- p ) > arclength( a -- b ) ;
           endfor ;
       endgroup ;
       clip currentpicture to
           (xpart llcorner currentpicture, ypart b) --
           (xpart lrcorner currentpicture, ypart b) --
           (xpart urcorner currentpicture, ypart a) --
           (xpart ulcorner currentpicture, ypart a) -- cycle ;
   ) ;
enddef ;

% modified from metapost/context/base/mpiv/mp-apos.mpiv to add alternatives
def anch_sidebars_draw (expr p_b_self, p_e_self, y_b_self, y_e_self, h_b_self, d_e_self,
        x, y, w, h, alternative, distance, linewidth, linecolor, topoffset, bottomoffset) =
    % beware, we anchor at (x,y)
    begingroup ;
    if alternative = 1 :
        interim linecap := rounded ;
    else :
        interim linecap := butt ;
    fi ;
    save a, b ; pair a, b ;
    if p_b_self = p_e_self :
        a := (-distance,y_b_self+h_b_self-y) ;
        b := (-distance,y_e_self-d_e_self-y) ;
    elseif RealPageNumber = p_b_self :
        a := (-distance,y_b_self+h_b_self-y) ;
        b := (-distance,0) ;
    elseif RealPageNumber = p_e_self :
        a := (-distance,h) ;
        b := (-distance,y_e_self-d_e_self-y) ;
    else :
        a := (-distance,h) ;
        b := (-distance,0) ;
    fi ;
    a := (xpart a, min(ypart a + topoffset,   h)) ;
    b := (xpart b, max(ypart b - bottomoffset,0)) ;
    if alternative = 2 :
        draw_pattern_bar( a, b, ((0,0)--(0.25,-0.5)--(0.75,0.5)--(1,0)), 2pt, 2pt, linewidth, linecolor ) ;
    elseif alternative = 3 :
        draw_pattern_bar( a, b, ((0,0)--(0.25,-0.5)--(0.75,0.5)--(1,0)), 4pt, 1.5pt, linewidth, linecolor ) ;
    elseif alternative = 4 :
        draw_pattern_bar( a, b, ( ((0,0) .. controls (0,0.5) and (0.5,0.5) .. (0.5,0)) -- ((0.5,0) .. controls (0.5,-0.5) and (1,-0.5) .. (1,0)) ), 6pt, 4pt, linewidth, linecolor ) ;
    elseif alternative = 5 :
        draw_pattern_bar( a, b, ( (0,0) .. controls (0,1) and (1,1) .. (1,0) ), 4pt, 2pt, linewidth, linecolor ) ;
    elseif alternative = 6 :
        draw_pattern_bar( a, b, ( (0,0.5) .. (1,-0.5) ), 4pt, 2pt, linewidth, linecolor ) ;
    else :
        draw
            a -- b
            if alternative = 1 :
                dashed (withdots scaled (linewidth/2))
            fi
            withpen pencircle scaled linewidth
            withcolor linecolor ;
    fi ;
    endgroup ;
enddef ;
\stopMPcode

\def\samplewithbar#1{The sidebar follows the text
  between \type{\startsidebar[...]} and \type{\stopsidebar},
  \startsidebar[#1] {\blue from the top of the first line to the bottom of the last line.}\stopsidebar
  Here the text between \type{\startsidebar[...]} and \type{\stopsidebar} has been colored in blue.\par
  \blank}
\starttext
\hsize=4cm
\samplewithbar{zigzag1}
\samplewithbar{zigzag2}
\samplewithbar{wave1}
\samplewithbar{wave2}
\samplewithbar{obliquedashes}
\stoptext

The metapost macro draw_pattern_bar draws a repeating pattern along the bar length. The pattern is a sort of waveform defined with a path from (0,0) to (1,0). Its bounding box should have a height of 1, so that the base waveform has amplitude 1.

The length of the pattern and its "amplitude" are magnified according to patternlength and patternheight.

See also

• \definesidebar
• anch-bar.mkiv
• mp-apos.mpiv

Help from ConTeXt-Mailinglist/Forum

All issues with:

• \setupsidebar on the mailing list (all results)
• \setupsidebar on the mailing list (subject only)
• \setupsidebar on stack exchange
• \setupsidebar in ConTeXt's source