Dimensions and vertical alignment of "dynamic" PSTricks picture

Question

I am creating a environment in which I can add numbers of PSTricks objects (basically shapes, defined as macros, vertically arranged), each one with argument (content of the shape) so I don't know the actual height of each object.

I am now facing two problems :

1. I don't know the dimensions of the whole picture in order to save space around it! I can easily calculate them but I don't see how I can use them. For the moment, the whole picture has zero size (normal behaviour with PSTricks). If I wrap the picture into a pspicture environment, I know I can enter coordinates but I don't know them before all the shapes are drawn...

2. I'd like to be able to align the baseline of the surrounding text of the picture with the baseline of the content of one specific shape. I thought about using nodes with shapes numbering but no success as I couldn't know their position beforehand. I also tried a pspicture environment in order to use the shift option but the same problem remains: how to specify a value that will be calculated later... Furthermore, the whole picture may be scaled, so it modifies the baseline position. :(

(I know I can achieve this easily with TikZ and its baseline and scale option, but I want to do it with PSTricks).

Thx in advance if you could help me.

Here is a piece of code with only two different shapes, with and without the pspicture wrapping.

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{pstricks}
\usepackage{pstricks-add}

% shapes position
\newdimen\verticalOffset
\verticalOffset=0pt

% space between shapes
\newdimen\verticalSep
\verticalSep=15pt


\newsavebox{\shapebox}

% rectangle shape
\newcommand*{\shapeR}[1]{%
    \setbox\shapebox\hbox{\hspace{10pt}\bfseries#1\hspace{10pt}\vrule height20pt depth10pt width0pt\relax}%
    \rput[Bl](0,\verticalOffset){%
        \psframe(0,0)(\the\dimexpr\wd\shapebox,\the\dimexpr-\ht\shapebox-\dp\shapebox)%
        \rput[Bl](0,\the\dimexpr-\ht\shapebox){\copy\shapebox}%
    }%
    \advance\verticalOffset\dimexpr-\ht\shapebox-\dp\shapebox-\verticalSep\relax%
}

% oval shape
\newcommand*{\shapeO}[1]{%
    \setbox\shapebox\hbox{\hspace{15pt}\bfseries#1\hspace{15pt}\vrule height25pt depth15pt width0pt\relax}%
    \rput[Bl](0,\verticalOffset){%
        \psellipse(\the\dimexpr\wd\shapebox/2,\the\dimexpr-\ht\shapebox/2-\dp\shapebox/2)(\the\dimexpr\wd\shapebox/2,\the\dimexpr\ht\shapebox/2+\dp\shapebox/2)%
        \rput[Bl](0,\the\dimexpr-\ht\shapebox){\copy\shapebox}%
    }%
    \advance\verticalOffset\dimexpr-\ht\shapebox-\dp\shapebox-\verticalSep\relax%
}


\newsavebox{\drawbox}

% drawing env
\newenvironment{drawWithoutPspic}[1]%
{% begin def
    \def\drawscalefactor{#1}%
    \verticalOffset=0pt%
    \begin{lrbox}{\drawbox}%
}
{% end def
    \end{lrbox}%
    \psscalebox{\drawscalefactor}{\usebox{\drawbox}}%
}


% drawing env, shapes wrapped into a pspicture
\newenvironment{drawWithPspic}[1]%
{% begin def
    \def\drawscalefactor{#1}%
    \verticalOffset=0pt%
    \begin{lrbox}{\drawbox}%
        \begin{pspicture}[shift=0](0,0)(0,0)% <---- ??
}
{% end def
        \end{pspicture}%
    \end{lrbox}%
    \psscalebox{\drawscalefactor}{\usebox{\drawbox}}%
}


\begin{document}

Without \emph{pspicture}
\begin{drawWithoutPspic}{0.9}
    \shapeR{Hello World!}\shapeO{Foo bar baz}\shapeO{Ooooohhhhhh!}\shapeR{D/L}
\end{drawWithoutPspic}

\vspace{180pt}
With \emph{pspicture}
\begin{drawWithPspic}{0.7}
    \shapeR{Hello World!}\shapeO{Foo bar baz}\shapeO{Ooooohhhhhh!}\shapeR{D/L}
\end{drawWithPspic}

\end{document}

Here the picture:

---

EDIT - One solution

Well, I finally managed to obtain what I wanted. Given that I was placing shapes and texts explicitly with precise lengths, I decided to use the vertical offset to determine the height of the picture, and I added a new length and shapes numbering to determine which text of a specific shape will be on the baseline.

Now, the environment needs two arguments: the first one is the scale factor, the second is the shape number for the baseline.

Here is the code.

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{pstricks}
\usepackage{pstricks-add}

% shapes position
\newdimen\verticalOffset
\verticalOffset=0pt

% space between shapes
\newdimen\verticalSep
\verticalSep=15pt

% baseline position
\newdimen\baselineOffset
\baselineOffset=0pt

% shapes counter
\newcounter{shapeno}


\newsavebox{\shapebox}

% rectangle shape
\newcommand*{\shapeR}[1]{%
    \ifdim \verticalOffset = 0pt%
    \else%
        \global\advance\verticalOffset\dimexpr-\verticalSep\relax%
    \fi%
    \setbox\shapebox\hbox{\hspace{2pt}\bfseries#1\hspace{2pt}\vrule height14pt depth5pt width0pt\relax}%
    \rput[Bl](0,\verticalOffset){%
        \psframe(0,0)(\the\dimexpr\wd\shapebox,\the\dimexpr-\ht\shapebox-\dp\shapebox)%
        \rput[Bl](0,\the\dimexpr-\ht\shapebox){\copy\shapebox}%
    }%
    \ifnum\theshapeno = 1%
        \global\baselineOffset=\dimexpr\verticalOffset-\ht\shapebox\relax%
    \else%
        \ifnum\theshapeno = \baselineno%
            \global\baselineOffset=\dimexpr\verticalOffset-\ht\shapebox\relax%
        \fi%
    \fi%
    \global\advance\verticalOffset\dimexpr-\ht\shapebox-\dp\shapebox\relax%
    \stepcounter{shapeno}%
    \ignorespaces
}

% oval shape
\newcommand*{\shapeO}[1]{%
    \ifdim \verticalOffset = 0pt%
    \else%
        \global\advance\verticalOffset\dimexpr-\verticalSep\relax%
    \fi%
    \setbox\shapebox\hbox{\hspace{2pt}\bfseries#1\hspace{2pt}\vrule height18pt depth10pt width0pt\relax}%
    \rput[Bl](0,\verticalOffset){%
        \psellipse(\the\dimexpr\wd\shapebox/2,\the\dimexpr-\ht\shapebox/2-\dp\shapebox/2)(\the\dimexpr\wd\shapebox/2,\the\dimexpr\ht\shapebox/2+\dp\shapebox/2)%
        \rput[Bl](0,\the\dimexpr-\ht\shapebox){\copy\shapebox}%
    }%
    \ifnum\theshapeno = 1%
        \global\baselineOffset=\dimexpr\verticalOffset-\ht\shapebox\relax%
    \else%
        \ifnum\theshapeno = \baselineno%
            \global\baselineOffset=\dimexpr\verticalOffset-\ht\shapebox\relax%
        \fi%
    \fi%
    \global\advance\verticalOffset\dimexpr-\ht\shapebox-\dp\shapebox\relax%
    \stepcounter{shapeno}%
    \ignorespaces
}


\newsavebox{\drawbox}

% drawing env, shapes wrapped into a pspicture
\newenvironment{drawWithPspic}[2]%
{% begin def
    \def\drawscalefactor{#1}%
    \def\baselineno{#2}%
    \verticalOffset=0pt%
    \baselineOffset=0pt%
    \setcounter{shapeno}{1}
    \begin{lrbox}{\drawbox}%
}
{% end def
    \end{lrbox}%
    \begin{pspicture}[shift=\drawscalefactor\dimexpr\noexpand\verticalOffset-\noexpand\baselineOffset](0,\drawscalefactor\noexpand\verticalOffset)(2,0)% <--- last thing to do : calculation of the actual width
        \psscalebox{\drawscalefactor}{\usebox{\drawbox}}%
    \end{pspicture}%
}


\begin{document}

% Blue baseline
\leavevmode\rlap{\color{blue}\rule{\linewidth}{.1pt}}%
...text before...

% Red baseline
\leavevmode\rlap{\color{orange}\rule{\linewidth}{.1pt}}%
Aligned with 2\textsuperscript{nd} shape :
\begin{drawWithPspic}{0.5}{2}
    \shapeR{Hello World!}
    \shapeO{Foo bar baz}
    \shapeO{Ooooohhhhhh!}
    \shapeR{D/L}
\end{drawWithPspic}
\quad
Aligned with 3\textsuperscript{th} shape :
\begin{drawWithPspic}{0.6}{3}
    \shapeR{Hello World!}
    \shapeO{Foo bar baz}
    \shapeO{Ooooohhhhhh!}
    \shapeR{D/L}
    \shapeO{Hi!}
\end{drawWithPspic}

% Blue baseline
\leavevmode\rlap{\color{blue}\rule{\linewidth}{.1pt}}%
...text after...

\end{document}

Answer 1

I also do not know how to compute the bounding box in the way you describe, but I am not sure if you need this. All your shapes can be conveniently defined as nodes, which have their own bounding box. Here are a few examples:

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{pstricks}
\usepackage{pstricks-add,pst-blur}

% shapes position
\newdimen\verticalOffset
\verticalOffset=0pt

% space between shapes
\newdimen\verticalSep
\verticalSep=15pt

\newcommand{\boxnode}[2]{\rnode[c]{#1}{\psframebox[framearc=0.2]{#2}}}
\begin{document}
Again without \emph{pspicture}:
\begin{flushleft}
\boxnode{A}{Hello World!}\\[0.1cm]
\ovalnode{B}{Foo bar bz}\\[0.1cm]
\ovalnode{C}{Ooooohhhhhh!}\\[0.1cm]
\boxnode{D}{D/L}
\end{flushleft}
\renewcommand{\boxnode}[2]{\rnode[c]{#1}{\psframebox[framearc=0.2,shadow=true,blur=true]{#2}}}
And here we go on.
\begin{flushleft}
\boxnode{E}{Hello World!}\\[0.1cm]
\ovalnode[shadow=true,blur=true]{F}{Foo bar bz}\\[0.1cm]
\ovalnode[shadow=true,blur=true]{G}{Ooooohhhhhh!}\\[0.1cm]
\boxnode{H}{D/L}\ncarc[linecolor=blue]{->}{G}{H}
\end{flushleft}
\begin{tabular}{ll}
&\boxnode{I}{Hello World!}\\[0.1cm]
aligned with the second \rnode[r]{shape}{shape}:&\ovalnode[shadow=true,blur=true]{J}{Foo bar bz}\\[0.1cm]
&\ovalnode[shadow=true,blur=true]{K}{Ooooohhhhhh!}\\[0.1cm]
&\boxnode{L}{D/L}\ncarc[linecolor=blue]{->}{shape}{J}
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

And you could also put these things in scaleboxes and of course tables and so on. And you can do many things with them without explicitly starting a pspicture. As illustrated, you can connect them with arcs, but there are tons of other things, see e.g. section 31 of the pstricks manual.