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| − | LIKE EVERYTHING IN THIS SANDBOX, THIS IS ONLY A DRAFT AND SHOULD NOT BE USED YET.
| + | [[Introduction]] |
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| − | == The structure of ConTeXt ==
| + | [[Some Basic Commands]] |
| − | ConTeXt has a very logical structure. It has five basic notational conventions:
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| − | # '''square brackets''': Enclose arguments to ConTeXt commands in [ ].
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| − | # '''curly braces''': Use { } as delimiters to group text as a single self-contained unit.
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| − | # '''start-stop''': To apply ''something'' to some text, enclose the text in {{code|\start''something''}} {{code|\stop''something''}}.
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| − | # '''setup''': To configure ''something'', use {{code|\setup''something''}}.
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| − | # '''define''': To create a named customization of ''something'', use {{code|\define''something''}}.
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| − | == A minimal example: ''start-stop'' and ''setup'' notation ==
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| − | To see how these notational conventions get used, let’s start with a minimal example of a ConTeXt document:
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| − | <texcode>
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| − | \starttext
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| − | \input knuth
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| − | \stoptext
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| − | </texcode>
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| − | Compiling this document typesets a built-in quotation from Knuth, which is inserted with {{code|\input knuth}}. (Throughout the ConTeXt documentation, you'll find this and other similarly built-in texts used to illustrate examples.) You can already see start-stop at work: the usual way of processing the entire text of the document is named {{code|text}}, so to apply it you enclose the document text in {{cmd|starttext}} {{cmd|stoptext}}.
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| − | When you compile this document, you'll probably immediately see some things that you want to change. For example, the default paper size in ConTeXt is A4. This works well for most of the world, but if you’re in the United States, you might prefer your paper size to be letter. That’s easy enough: just use {{cmd|setuppapersize|[letter]}}.
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| − | <texcode>
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| − | \setuppapersize[letter]
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| − | \starttext
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| − | \input knuth
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| − | \stoptext
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| − | </texcode>
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| − | This example uses the ''setup'' notation. The way that paper is sized for a document in ConTeXt is called {{code|papersize}}, so you use {{cmd|setuppapersize}} to configure it. The use of [ ] to enclose the argument is an example of the ''square brackets'' notation.
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| − | Another thing you might like to change is the page numbering. By default, ConTeXt places a page number at the center of the top of the page. To put it at the center of the bottom of the page instead, you can use {{cmd|setuppagenumbering|[location{{=}}bottom]}}.
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| − | <texcode>
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| − | \setuppapersize[letter]
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| − | \setuppagenumbering[location=bottom]
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| − | \starttext
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| − | \input knuth
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| − | \stoptext
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| − | </texcode>
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| − | This is another example of the ''setup'' notation. The way that pages are numbered in ConTeXt is called {{code|pagenumbering}}, so you use {{cmd|setuppagenumbering}} to configure it. And the use of [ ] to enclose the argument is another example of the ''square brackets'' notation.
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| − | You also might want to change the way that paragraphs are indented. By default, they are not indented. To make them indented by a medium amount, use {{cmd|setupindenting|[yes, medium]}}. (Here {{code|yes}} turns the indenting on, but by default the amount is still {{code|none}}, so {{code|medium}} is used to specify the amount.)
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| − | <texcode>
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| − | \setuppapersize[letter]
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| − | \setuppagenumbering[location=bottom]
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| − | \setupindenting[yes, medium]
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| − | \starttext
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| − | \input knuth
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| − | \stoptext
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| − | </texcode>
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| − | The ''setup'' notation is being used here again. The way that paragraphs are indented in a ConTeXt is called {{code|indenting}}, so you use {{cmd|setupindenting}} to configure it. The use of [ ] to enclose the arguments is again the ''square brackets'' notation.
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| − | == Another example: ''define'' notation ==
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| − | Let’s look at another example. Suppose you have a ConTeXt document, and you want to place a box with rounded corners around some text. The way to place boxes around text in ConTeXt is called {{code|framed}}, so (in keeping with the Applying Principle) to apply that type of formatting you enclose the text in {{cmd|startframed}} {{cmd|stopframed}}. Since you want rounded corners, you specify the argument {{code|corner{{=}}round}} for rounded corners too:
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| − | <context source="yes">
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| − | \startframed[corner=round]
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| − | An example.
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| − | \stopframed
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| − | </context>
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| − | As you can see, you put the arguments in with the ''square brackets'' notation. But what if you want to make this configuration the default for ''all'' of your frames in the document? You can use the ''setup'' notation for this. The command {{cmd|setupframed|[corner=round]}} will make this the default configuration for the rest of the document:
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| − | <context source="yes">
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| − | \setupframed[corner=round]
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| − | \startframed
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| − | An example.
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| − | \stopframed
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| − | </context>
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| − | When you have set it up this way, you no longer have to type in the arguments every time you have a box around text. But more importantly, by making this configuration separately at the beginning of your document, you have set up a uniform style throughout your document. This makes it easy to make global style adjustments, which is a very powerful feature.
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| − | But what if you want to have two types of frames, one with rounded corners and one without, and you'll be using both of them lots of times? This is where the ''define'' notation comes in. You can use {{cmd|defineframed}} twice to define two meaningfully named configurations (say {{code|definitionFrame}} with rectangular corners and {{code|exampleFrame}} with rounded corners) that you can refer to throughout your document:
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| − | <context source="yes">
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| − | \defineframed[definitionFrame][align=flushleft]
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| − | \defineframed[exampleFrame][align=flushleft, corner=round]
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| − | \startframed[definitionFrame]
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| − | A definition.
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| − | \stopframed
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| − | \startframed[exampleFrame]
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| − | An example.
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| − | \stopframed
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| − | </context>
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| − | Now if at some later time you want to change the way that you format the frames around your definitions and examples, it is easy to do so. You just change the {{cmd|defineframed}} commands where those frame formats are created, and the change will be applied consistently and globally to your whole document.
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| − | == Example: ''curly braces'' notation ==
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| − | You have now seen examples of four of the five notational conventions listed above: all of them except the ''curly braces'' notation.
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| − | To see one way that the ''curly braces'' notation is used, note that enclosing text in {{cmd|startframed}} {{cmd|stopframed}} is not the only way to put a box around text. Another way, which is really just syntactic sugar for the same thing, is to used the {{cmd|framed}} command. This will put a box around the next single unit following it (ignoring whitespace). For example:
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| − | <context source="yes">
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| − | \framed {An example.}
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| − | </context>
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| − | This is an example of how ''curly braces'' notation is used in ConTeXt. In order to delimit the single unit that follows it, you use { }. Although many of ConTeXt's commands involve {{code|start}}, {{code|stop}}, {{code|setup}}, or {{code|define}}, a fair number of them instead operate on the single unit following them, as {{cmd|framed}} does. Some, like {{cmd|framed}}, allow you to use either syntax.
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| − | Another situation where text needs to be treated as a single unit is when an argument to a command takes some text that involves [ ]. For example, the following code works fine because the text for the section title doesn’t contain [ ]:
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| − | <context source="yes">
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| − | \startsection[title=A section title]
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| − | \stopsection
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| − | </context>
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| − | However, because the following section title contains [ ], it won’t work unless you do something to tell ConTeXt that those square brackets are not signaling the end of the function’s arguments:
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| − | <context source="yes">
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| − | \startsection[title=a[5] and other list elements]
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| − | \stopsection
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| − | </context>
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| − | One way to get around this problem is to apply ''curly braces'' notation: enclose the title in { } so that ConTeXt will treat the title text as a single unit. Then it works just fine:
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| − | <context source="yes">
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| − | \startsection[title={a[5] and other list elements}]
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| − | \stopsection
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| − | </context>
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| − | == Summary ==
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| − | Naturally not everything in ConTeXt is written using these five notational conventions. There are many further notational details to learn, and not everything in ConTeXt is completely consistent with these conventions. However, the design of ConTeXt really is if not entirely consistent at least highly consistent in using these conventions, so they serve as a useful guide when you are trying to figure out how best to use the powerful tools that ConTeXt offers.
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| − | == Some commands that use this notation ==
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| − | Here I'll put some commands.
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