Conference vaxuum::document_ft

50.0. "The condition tag adds space" by ATLAST::SEALY () Tue Mar 03 1987 10:32

    I have a small problem using the <condition> tag within some text
    that is treated as line art.  The tag itself adds a line. 
    
    I am using the <line_art> tag to show a sample form in the appendix
    of a book.  I must use the text from the form as line printer
    output in a different situtation.
    
    So -- the <line_art> tag is conditional when running the manual,
    and <p> tags (and other such formatting tags) are conditional when
    running the text for a line printer. Here is how a tag looks:
    
       <condition>(line)
       <p>
       <endcondition>                                        
    
    I expected to be able to insert the conditional 
    paragraph tags without affecting the text that appears as line art,
    but that's not the way it is.  I had to go back and remove some
    blank lines to get the original spacing.
    
    This is not a big problem in this particular case, but in general,
    I want to be able to insert <condition> tags within line art, code
    example, or display text without worrying about the affect that
    the tag, itself, may have on the spacing.
    

    It's not really the tag, but the act of putting the tag in a line_art
    region. I haven't tried it, but would something such as the following
    do the trick:
    
    <condition>(line) <p> <endcondition>
    
    If you didn't have any already-blank lines, you could put this at
    the end of a line: <condition>(line) <p> <endcondition>

    Ah ha, I see.  Its the return after the <endcondition> tag
    that adds the space.  Thanks for helping me think.

    
    Karl's trick really doesn't work in a monospaced example because
    there is no way to 'undo' the fact that the <condition> or
    <endcondition> or both occupy a line of space.
    
    I have fixed this for V1.0, with the restriction that the
    <conditioN> and <endcondition> tags in monospaced examples cannot
    occupy the same line as text for the example.
    
    -pa