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I am trying to insert a blank in a frame in ConTeXt ; below are the options I tried to use :

\defineframedtext[experiment]
                 [frame=on,
                   rulethickness=1pt,
                   offset=0pt,
                   width=fit,
                   height=broad,
                   strut=no,
                   location=middle]

\starttext
\startexperiment
  Plop \\
  \blank[3cm]
\stopexperiment
\stoptext

However, the frame is always just below the text, and the blank is ignored. How can I achieve this blank space ?

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1
  • 2
    The framedtext environment removes vertical space at the bottom of the box, to retain the space you can use \startframed to frame your text.
    – Wolfgang Schuster
    Aug 16, 2016 at 13:51

2 Answers 2

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3

If you don't want to or simply can't switch to a framed environment, just don't zero out \lastskip after the blank.

\defineframedtext
  [experiment]
  [
    frame=on,
    rulethickness=1pt,
    offset=0pt,
    width=fit,
    height=broad,
    strut=no,
    location=middle,
  ]

\starttexdefinition zerolastskip
  \ifvmode
    \scratchdimen=\prevdepth
    \hrule height \zeropoint
    \prevdepth=\scratchdimen
  \fi
\stoptexdefinition

\starttext

\startexperiment
  Plop \\
  \blank[3cm]\zerolastskip
\stopexperiment
\stoptext

You can add this to every experiment by introducing extra wrapping.

\defineframedtext
  [doexperiment]
  [
    frame=on,
    rulethickness=1pt,
    offset=0pt,
    width=fit,
    height=broad,
    strut=no,
    location=middle,
  ]

\definestartstop
  [experiment]
  [
    before={\startdoexperiment},
    after={\zerolastskip\stopdoexperiment},
  ]

\starttexdefinition zerolastskip
  \ifvmode
    \scratchdimen=\prevdepth
    \hrule height \zeropoint
    \prevdepth=\scratchdimen
  \fi
\stoptexdefinition

\starttext
\startexperiment
  Plop \\
  \blank[3cm]
\stopexperiment
\stoptext
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12
  • A alternative to \blank which works in a framedtext environment without being removed is \godown[<NUMBER>] which insert a given number of empty lines.
    – Wolfgang Schuster
    Aug 18, 2016 at 15:31
  • Be aware that \dontleavehmode adds a extra line to the frame and you end up with 3cm + 1 line of vertical space.
    – Wolfgang Schuster
    Aug 18, 2016 at 15:34
  • This is a good solution for me. Could someone explain me when I can know if I need \dontleavehmode ? It's the second time I use it to solve a problem (thanks to people here), and it seems like a magical thing to me right now...
    – A. Licari
    Aug 19, 2016 at 8:49
  • @A.Licari Well, I looked in pack-rul.mkiv where \start...\stopframedtext is defined and found that \stopframedtext executes \removelastskip. That means that one has to somehow clear \lastskip and because this is a read only register one has to insert something in vertical mode. I also revised my answer according to Metafox' comment.
    – Henri Menke
    Aug 19, 2016 at 9:23
  • 1
    @A.Licari: I would appreciate if you can elaborate, either here or somewhere else, what difficulties you had with ConTeXt as a beginner. I occasionally write short articles in TUGboat targeted at begibners, but it is always difficult to guess what difficulties beginners face because I am no longer a beginner.
    – Aditya
    Aug 20, 2016 at 17:40
1

ConTeXt removes a vertical skip at the end of a framedtext environment.

Missing skip at the end of framedtext

There are two ways to get around this, the first way is to add a extra skip with a value of 0pt.

\starttext

\startframedtext
Plop
\blank[3cm]
\blank[0pt]
\stopframedtext

\stoptext

Extra skip at the end of framedtext

The second way is to set a penalty after the skip which prevents ConTeXt from removing the skip, this can be done with the samepage keyword for the \blank command.

\starttext

\startframedtext
Plop
\blank[3cm,samepage]
\stopframedtext

\stoptext

Extra penalty at the end of framedtext

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2
  • I'm not sure about this, but it seems to me that the @Henri Menke's solution is more usable to a user-defined environment than yours, which is more of a general way to prevent a blank skip in an environment, am I right ?
    – A. Licari
    Aug 20, 2016 at 21:59
  • @A.Licari Creating another environment to use framedtext at the cost of losing \startframedtext’s optional argument and defining a command which prevents ConTeXt from removing the skip at the end of the environment isn’t more usable than adding samepage to \blank.
    – Wolfgang Schuster
    Aug 21, 2016 at 7:40

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