Howto custom figure with counter w/o using figure-environment

Question

I am trying to create a visually more appealing figure, that looks like the output of the MWE below.

\documentclass[a4paper]{book}

\usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}
\usepackage{kantlipsum}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{caption}

\newcommand{\CustomFigure}[3][.4\textwidth]
{
  \stepcounter{figure}
  %\captionof{figure}[The caption.]{}
  \begin{tikzpicture}    
    \draw (0,0) node(origin) {}; 
    %rectangle (.4\textwidth,40mm);
    \draw (origin.west) +(4pt,-8pt) node(caporg){}; 
    \draw [blue, fill=blue] (caporg.south) +(0.0,0.0) -- +(0.09,0.18) -- +(0.18,0) node (arroweast){} -- cycle;
    \draw [font=\sffamily\bfseries,blue] (arroweast.east) +(-2pt,+10pt) node[anchor=north west](caption) {　Figure \thefigure};
    \draw [font=\sffamily,black,text justified, text width=#1] (caporg.south west) +(-1pt,-2pt) node[anchor=north west](description)
    {
      \mdseries #3
    }; 
    \node[anchor=south west,inner sep=0pt] (image) (origin.north west)
      {\includegraphics[width=.4\textwidth]{#2}}; 
      \label{fig:NFb}
  \end{tikzpicture}


} % \CustomFigure ENDS


\begin{document}

\newgeometry{top=3cm,bottom=3cm,left=1cm,right=1cm,headsep=10pt}

\kant[7] 
Some more lipsum.\newline

\begin{figure}
  \begin{center}
    \includegraphics[width=.4\textwidth]{example-image-a};
    \caption{Just a figure.}
    \label{fig:NFa}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}

\CustomFigure{example-image-b}{\textbf{Header text.} The crazy monkey jumped over the sleeping lion. He met quick brown fox from his own lipsum.}

See figures '\ref{fig:NFa}' and '\ref{fig:NFb}'  for details. 

\newpage
\listoffigures

\end{document}

'example-image-a' is a figure as usual. Works of course.

Now the output of 'CustomImage' produces the desired visual outcome, but the list of figures is screwed up. It only shows the 'real' figure but not the custom-figure. (Btw. CustomFigure is not an environment because it would not draw more than a single char of the text.)

I though this could be solved by adding a \captionof{figure}[The caption.]{} (which it does indeed) but then there would also be the caption itself placed as well. Is there a way to JUST set the caption for \thefigure (the figure stepped with stepcounter) invisibly, without the need to use captionof?

The list of figures must show the content of the 'hidden' caption of course.

Or do I need to re-implement \listoffigures myself?

Many thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Since neither \caption nor \captionof are wanted/used, no command writes something to the .lof file -- \CustomFigure will not make entries to the .lof file.

Those have to be done manually with \addcontentsline{lof}{figure}{\protect\numberline{\thefigure}#4} where #4 is the caption text which is from an optional 4th argument which defaults to #3 if it is not specified. (see the 3rd usage).

\refstepcounter usage has been suggested by David Carlisle already.

\documentclass[a4paper]{book}

\usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}
\usepackage{kantlipsum}
\usepackage{tikz}

\usepackage{xparse}
\usepackage{caption}

\NewDocumentCommand{\CustomFigure}{O{.4\textwidth}+m+m+O{#3}}{%
  \refstepcounter{figure}
  %\captionof{figure}[The caption.]{}
  \begin{tikzpicture}    
    \draw (0,0) node(origin) {}; 
    %rectangle (.4\textwidth,40mm);
    \draw (origin.west) +(4pt,-8pt) node(caporg){}; 
    \draw [blue, fill=blue] (caporg.south) +(0.0,0.0) -- +(0.09,0.18) -- +(0.18,0) node (arroweast){} -- cycle;
    \draw [font=\sffamily\bfseries,blue] (arroweast.east) +(-2pt,+10pt) node[anchor=north west](caption) {　Figure \thefigure};
    \draw [font=\sffamily,black,text justified, text width=#1] (caporg.south west) +(-1pt,-2pt) node[anchor=north west](description)
    {
      \mdseries #3%
      \addcontentsline{lof}{figure}{\protect\numberline{\thefigure}#4}%
    }; 
    \node[anchor=south west,inner sep=0pt] (image) (origin.north west)
      {\includegraphics[width=.4\textwidth]{#2}}; 
  \end{tikzpicture}
} % \CustomFigure ENDS


\begin{document}

\newgeometry{top=3cm,bottom=3cm,left=1cm,right=1cm,headsep=10pt}

\kant[7] 
Some more lipsum.\newline

\begin{figure}
  \begin{center}
    \includegraphics[width=.4\textwidth]{example-image-a};
    \caption{Just a figure.}
    \label{fig:NFa}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}

\CustomFigure{example-image-b}{\label{fig:NFb}\textbf{Header text.} The crazy monkey jumped over the sleeping lion. He met quick brown fox from his own lipsum. }

\CustomFigure{example-image-b}{\label{fig:NFc}\textbf{Header text.} The crazy monkey jumped over the sleeping lion. He met quick brown fox from his own lipsum.}[And some shorter Text]

See figures '\ref{fig:NFa}' and '\ref{fig:NFb}'  for details. 

\listoffigures

\end{document}

Version without \NewDocumentCommand

\documentclass[a4paper]{book}

\usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}
\usepackage{kantlipsum}
\usepackage{tikz}

\usepackage{caption}

\newcommand{\CustomFigure}[3][0.4\textwidth]{%
  \refstepcounter{figure}
  \begin{tikzpicture}    
    \draw (0,0) node(origin) {}; 
    %rectangle (.4\textwidth,40mm);
    \draw (origin.west) +(4pt,-8pt) node(caporg){}; 
    \draw [blue, fill=blue] (caporg.south) +(0.0,0.0) -- +(0.09,0.18) -- +(0.18,0) node (arroweast){} -- cycle;
    \draw [font=\sffamily\bfseries,blue] (arroweast.east) +(-2pt,+10pt) node[anchor=north west](caption) {　Figure \thefigure};
    \draw [font=\sffamily,black,text justified, text width=#1] (caporg.south west) +(-1pt,-2pt) node[anchor=north west](description)
    {
      \mdseries #3%
      \addcontentsline{lof}{figure}{\protect\numberline{\thefigure}#3}%
    }; 
    \node[anchor=south west,inner sep=0pt] (image) (origin.north west)
      {\includegraphics[width=.4\textwidth]{#2}}; 
  \end{tikzpicture}
} % \CustomFigure ENDS


\begin{document}

\newgeometry{top=3cm,bottom=3cm,left=1cm,right=1cm,headsep=10pt}

\kant[7] 
Some more lipsum.\newline

\begin{figure}
  \begin{center}
    \includegraphics[width=.4\textwidth]{example-image-a};
    \caption{Just a figure.}
    \label{fig:NFa}
  \end{center}
\end{figure}

\CustomFigure{example-image-b}{\label{fig:NFb}\textbf{Header text.} The crazy monkey jumped over the sleeping lion. He met quick brown fox from his own lipsum. }

\CustomFigure{example-image-b}{\label{fig:NFc}\textbf{Header text.} The crazy monkey jumped over the sleeping lion. He met quick brown fox from his own lipsum.}

See figures '\ref{fig:NFa}' and '\ref{fig:NFb}'  for details. 

\listoffigures

\end{document}