Acronym: show only the long version and only once with the citation and/or footnote

Question

I think I've a use case / misuse hat is not yet covered by the nice acro package: I want to manage default citations and footnotes for some words - so not really acronyms in this case. A short MWE below.

Expected is something like: "This is \acx*{Metacomputing} and with \acx*{Metacomputing} we can do stuff" --> "This is Metacomputing[1]^1 and with Metacomputing we can do stuff" (without an entry in the acronym list).

I switched from the acronym package and used there the \aclu*{Metacomputing} command. Any idea how to simulate this behavior with the acro package?

\documentclass{scrartcl}

\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{mwe.bib}
@article{Smar1992,
author = {Smarr, Larry and Catlett, Charles E},
journal = {Communications of the ACM},
number = {6},
pages = {44--52},
publisher = {ACM},
title = {{Metacomputing}},
volume = {35},
year = {1992}}
\end{filecontents*}
\usepackage{acro}
\usepackage[style=ieee]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{mwe.bib}
\acsetup{single,sort}

\DeclareAcronym{Metacomputing}{short={Metacomputing}, long={Metacomputing}, cite={Smar1992}, long-post={\protect\footnote{\url{http://example.org}}}}

\begin{document}

\begin{itemize}
  \item Expected: Metacomputing[1]; Metacomputing.
  \item Instead:
    \begin{itemize}
      \item ac: \ac{Metacomputing}; \ac{Metacomputing}. \acresetall
      \item ac*: \ac*{Metacomputing}; \ac*{Metacomputing}. \acresetall
      \item acflike: \acflike{Metacomputing}{}; \acflike{Metacomputing}{}. \acresetall
      \item acs: \acs{Metacomputing}; \acs*{Metacomputing}{}. \acresetall
      \item acl: \acl{Metacomputing}; \acl*{Metacomputing}{}. \acresetall
      \item acf: \acf{Metacomputing}; \acf*{Metacomputing}{}. \acresetall
    \end{itemize}
\end{itemize}

\printacronyms
\printbibliography
\end{document}

Best regards, Alex

Answer 1

You can define a command \aclu, say, which exactly does what you want:

Expected is something like:

This is \acx*{Metacomputing} and with \acx*{Metacomputing} we can do stuff

This is Metacomputing[1]^1 and with Metacomputing we can do stuff

(without an entry in the acronym list).

Update 2015/08/26: with v2.0 or greater

The following defines a new conditional switch which is set to true if the acronym is used for the first time. This can be used to insert the footnote depending on the value of the switch. This is necessary because \acifused always gives false inside of the acronym properties.

\newif\ifacrousefootnote
\newcommand\acfootnote[1]{\ifacrousefootnote\footnote{#1}\fi}

\ExplSyntaxOn
\NewAcroCommand \aclu
  {
    \acro_is_used:nF {#1}
      { \acrousefootnotetrue \acro_cite: }
    \acro_long:n {#1}
  }
\NewAcroCommand \Aclu
  {
    \acro_if_acronym_used:nF {#1}
      { \acrousefootnotetrue \acro_cite: }
    \acro_first_upper:
    \acro_long:n {#1}
  }
\ExplSyntaxOff

Another possible definition would be the following:

\ExplSyntaxOn
\NewDocumentCommand \aclu {sm}
  {
    \acro_begin:
      \acro_reset_specials:
      \acro_check_acronym:nn {#2} {false}
      \acro_if_acronym_used:nF {#2} { \acro_cite: }
      \acro_long:n {#2}
      \IfBooleanF #1 { \acro_mark_as_used:n {#2} }
    \acro_end:
  }
% upper case version:
\NewDocumentCommand \Aclu {sm}
  {
    \acro_begin:
      \acro_reset_specials:
      \acro_check_acronym:nn {#2} {false}
      \acro_first_upper:
      \acro_if_acronym_used:nF {#2} { \acro_cite: }
      \acro_long:n {#2}
      \IfBooleanF #1 { \acro_mark_as_used:n {#2} }
    \acro_end:
  }
\ExplSyntaxOff

With this \acifused actually can be used in the properties of an acronym.

If you also add a class to the acronym definition you can exclude it later from the list of printed acronyms. Full example that uses the first version of the macros:

\documentclass{article}

% for demonstration purposes only: make the page small!
\usepackage[paperheight=20\baselineskip]{geometry}

\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{\jobname.bib}
@article{Smar1992,
  author    = {Smarr, Larry and Catlett, Charles E},
  journal   = {Communications of the ACM},
  number    = {6},
  pages     = {44--52},
  publisher = {ACM},
  title     = {Metacomputing},
  volume    = {35},
  year      = {1992}
}
\end{filecontents*}
\usepackage{acro}[2015-04-08]
\usepackage[style=ieee]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}
\acsetup{single,sort}

% make \footnote and \url robust commands, needs package `etoolbox':
\robustify\footnote
\robustify\url

\newif\ifacrousefootnote
\newcommand\acfootnote[1]{\ifacrousefootnote\footnote{#1}\fi}

\ExplSyntaxOn
\NewAcroCommand \aclu
  {
    \acro_is_used:nF {#1}
      { \acrousefootnotetrue \acro_cite: }
    \acro_long:n {#1}
  }
\NewAcroCommand \Aclu
  {
    \acro_if_acronym_used:nF {#1}
      { \acrousefootnotetrue \acro_cite: }
    \acro_first_upper:
    \acro_long:n {#1}
  }
\ExplSyntaxOff

\DeclareAcronym{Metacomputing}{
  short     = {metacomputing} ,
  long      = {metacomputing} ,
  cite      = {Smar1992} ,
  long-post = {\acfootnote{\url{http://example.org}}} ,
  class     = exclude
}

\DeclareAcronym{foo}{
  short     = {foo} ,
  long      = {foo bar baz}
}

\begin{document}

\Ac{foo} and later \ac{foo}.

\Aclu{Metacomputing} and later \aclu{Metacomputing}.

\printacronyms[exclude-classes=exclude]

\printbibliography

\end{document}

---

With version 1.6a of acro:

\documentclass{article}

% for demonstration purposes only: make the page small!
\usepackage[paperheight=20\baselineskip]{geometry}

\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{mwe.bib}
@article{Smar1992,
  author    = {Smarr, Larry and Catlett, Charles E},
  journal   = {Communications of the ACM},
  number    = {6},
  pages     = {44--52},
  publisher = {ACM},
  title     = {Metacomputing},
  volume    = {35},
  year      = {1992}
}
\end{filecontents*}
\usepackage{acro}[2015-04-08]
\usepackage[style=ieee]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{mwe.bib}
\acsetup{single,sort}

% make \footnote and \url robust commands, needs package `etoolbox':
\robustify\footnote
\robustify\url

\ExplSyntaxOn
\NewDocumentCommand \aclu {sm}
  {
    \group_begin:
      \acro_check_acronym:nn {#2} {false}
      \acro_if_acronym_used:nTF {#2} {} { \acro_cite: }
      \acro_long:n {#2}
      \IfBooleanF #1 { \acro_mark_as_used:n {#2} }
    \group_end:
  }
% upper case version:
\NewDocumentCommand \Aclu {sm}
  {
    \group_begin:
      \acro_check_acronym:nn {#2} {false}
      \acro_upper:
      \acro_if_acronym_used:nTF {#2} {} { \acro_cite: }
      \acro_long:n {#2}
      \IfBooleanF #1 { \acro_mark_as_used:n {#2} }
    \group_end:
  }
\ExplSyntaxOff

\DeclareAcronym{Metacomputing}{
  short     = {metacomputing} ,
  long      = {metacomputing} ,
  cite      = {Smar1992} ,
  long-post = {\acifused{Metacomputing}{}{\footnote{\url{http://example.org}}}} ,
  class     = exclude
}

\DeclareAcronym{foo}{
  short     = {foo} ,
  long      = {foo bar baz}
}

\begin{document}

\Ac{foo} and later \ac{foo}.

\Aclu{Metacomputing} and later \aclu{Metacomputing}.

\printacronyms[exclude-classes=exclude]

\printbibliography

\end{document}