Customizing the height of the pages

Question

The question

I would like to control the height of the pages of the PDF documents I produce with LaTeX.

Starting with a LaTeX document and two parameters:

• a given page size (heightPage and widthPage)
• a given length called initialVerticalInset,

I would like to produce a PDF whose page lengths follow the pattern

• the normal height of the pages is heightPage
• BUT, the height of the first page is (heightPage - initialVerticalInset)
• AND, the height of the last page equals the "height of its content", i.e. "the last page is cut" after the end of its content

If possible, I would like also :

• if any of these pages are put next to another one, the baselines should be aligned
• the margins could be set a minimal value (such as 0pt)

---

Example 1

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Example 2

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Minimal documents to be tested

In a previous similar question, I noticed that one difficulty could be the compatibility with :

• itemize environments
• mdframed environments
• the case of short documents has to be dealt with too.

So, I prepared three MWE to be tested.

Short document

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[paperwidth=8cm, paperheight=10cm, hmargin=0mm, 
    top=0mm, bottom=0mm] {geometry}

\setlength{\initialVerticalInset}{4.5cm}


\begin{document}

This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? 

\end{document}

Documents with itemize environments

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[paperwidth=8cm, paperheight=10cm, hmargin=0mm, 
    top=0mm, bottom=0mm] {geometry}


\pagestyle{empty}

\setlength{\initialVerticalInset}{4.5cm}


\begin{document}


This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it?

This is a test:
\begin{itemize}
\item Hello

\item This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test.

\item Good Bye

\item Hello

\item This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test.
\end{itemize}

This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it?

This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it?

This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? 
\end{document}

Documents with mdframed environments

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[
  paperwidth=15cm,
  paperheight=15cm,
  hmargin=1cm,
  vmargin=0cm,
]{geometry}

\usepackage[framemethod=tikz, needspace=1.5cm]{mdframed}

\newmdenv[%
innerleftmargin = 2mm,
innerrightmargin = 2mm,
innertopmargin = 2mm,
innerbottommargin = 2mm,
leftmargin = 0mm,
rightmargin = 0mm,
splitbottomskip = 2mm,
splittopskip = 4mm,
middlelinewidth = 0mm,
linecolor = red,
backgroundcolor = red,
roundcorner = 0pt,
skipbelow = 0mm,
skipabove = 0mm,
]{mybox}

\pagestyle{empty}

\setlength{\initialVerticalInset}{5cm}

\begin{document}

\begin{mybox}
\lipsum[1]
\end{mybox}
\lipsum[1-7]

\end{document}

Answer 1

I think this does the job. Thnaks to the idea \pdfpageheight=\pagetotal from wipet's answer How to have a precise control on the size of each page?

\documentclass{article}

\newlength{\initialVerticalInset}
\setlength{\initialVerticalInset}{4.5cm}

\usepackage[paperwidth=10cm, 
            paperheight=-\dimexpr\initialVerticalInset- 10cm\relax,
            margin=0mm]{geometry}

\makeatletter

\newcommand{\setnewvsize}[1]{%
\global\paperheight\dimexpr#1+\initialVerticalInset\relax%
\global\pdfpageheight\paperheight%
\global\textheight\paperheight%
\global\@colht\textheight \global\@colroom\textheight \global\vsize\textheight%
\global\initialVerticalInset=0pt}


\let\mt@outputpage\@outputpage
\def\@outputpage{\mt@outputpage\setnewvsize\paperheight}

\makeatother

\AtEndDocument{\initialVerticalInset=0pt\vskip-\lastskip\nobreak\par\vskip1pt\par\setnewvsize\pagetotal}

\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}


This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it?

This is a test:
\begin{itemize}
\item Hello

\item This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test.

\item Good Bye

\item Hello

\item This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test.
\end{itemize}

This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it?

This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it?

This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? This is a test. This is a longer sentence with some more words, isn't it? 

\end{document}

Itemize

mdframed

Example 2 pages only

Example only one page

Answer 2

Problem with this answer

Floating objects

I have tried to see if this answer works with figure environments. If they appear to be at the last page, then it does not work as wanted (the last page has the \normalHeigt and not the "clipping height")

PS: Since I don't know anything about TeX and I am not a super user of LaTeX, maybe there are mistakes or bad syntax. If you think the following code can be improved, please comment!

Answer

This answer is elaborated on touhami's answer.

\documentclass{article}

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% Parameters
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\newlength{\initialHeight}
\setlength{\initialHeight}{5.5cm}

\newlength{\normalHeight}
\setlength{\normalHeight}{10cm}

\newlength{\normalWidth}
\setlength{\normalWidth}{10cm}

\newlength{\horizontalMargin}
\setlength{\horizontalMargin}{0mm}

\newlength{\topMargin}
\setlength{\topMargin}{0mm}

\newlength{\bottomMargin}
\setlength{\bottomMargin}{0mm}
% This is a crucial line
% see http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/268943/8323
\setlength{\maxdepth}{0pt}


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% Size
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\usepackage[paperwidth=\normalWidth, 
            paperheight=\initialHeight,
            left=\horizontalMargin,
            right=\horizontalMargin,
            top=\topMargin,
            bottom=\bottomMargin]{geometry}


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% Core
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\makeatletter


% Set the vertical size of the page
%
\newcommand{\setnewvsize}[1]{%
\global\paperheight\dimexpr#1\relax%
\global\pdfpageheight\paperheight%
\global\textheight\dimexpr\paperheight - \bottomMargin - \topMargin\relax%
\global\@colht\textheight%
\global\@colroom\textheight%
\global\vsize\textheight%
}

% Change the vsize after the first page
% (after the first output)
%
\newcommand\firstPassageInOutput{1}
\let\mt@outputpage\@outputpage
\def\@outputpage{\mt@outputpage\ifnum\firstPassageInOutput=1\setnewvsize\normalHeight\renewcommand\firstPassageInOutput{0}\fi}


% Change the vsize after the last page
%
\AtEndDocument{%
% The following line is needed is the case when the last page is only one line
\vskip-\lastskip\nobreak\par\vskip0pt\par
% Core
\global\paperheight\dimexpr\pagetotal + \bottomMargin + \topMargin \relax%
\global\pdfpageheight\paperheight%
\global\textheight\dimexpr\pagetotal
}
\makeatother




\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}
lipsum{}
\end{document}

Outputs of the MWE to be tested