[Tex/LaTex] custom header text and headrule

documentclass-writingfancyhdrheader-footerrules

Using mweclass LaTeX class (report based) is writing a document as follows:

\documentclass{mweclass}
\title{MWE}
\author{J. Doe}
\begin{document}
  \thispagestyle{mwetest}
  \maketitle
  \pagestyle{mwetest}
  \chapter{One}
  \section{First}
  % LaTeX code ...
\end{document}

In the header there must be a headrule on each page at a fixed offset in height.

But… when there are any g, q, p etc. letters in the text above (chapter or section names) the headrule is distanced correctly. Otherwise, the headrule is "attaching" to the text.

In a mweclass.cls I have this code for the mwetest pagestyle:

\newcommand{\ps@mwetest}{%
  \setlength\fancy@headwidth       {\mwe@textwidth}%
  \fancy@setoffs%
  \renewcommand\headrulewidth      {\mwe@headrulewidth}%
  \renewcommand\footrulewidth      {0pt}%
  \renewcommand\footruleskip       {0pt}%
  \def\headrule{\hrule\@height\headrulewidth\@width\headwidth\vskip-\headrulewidth}%
  \def\footrule{}%
  \def\f@ncyorh{\rightmark~\ \ \ \ \ ~\thepage}%
  \def\f@ncyelh{\thepage~\ \ \ \ \ ~\leftmark}%
  \def\@oddhead{\@fancyhead\fancy@Oolh\@empty\hfil\f@ncyorh\fancy@Oorh}%
  \def\@evenhead{\@fancyhead\fancy@Oelh\f@ncyelh\hfil\@empty\fancy@Oerh}%
  \def\@oddfoot{}\def\@evenfoot{}%
  \def\chaptermark##1{\markboth{##1\ -- \ \thechapter}{}}%
  \def\sectionmark##1{\markright{\thechapter.\arabic{section}\ --\ ##1}}%
}

Some code is taken from distributed fancyhdr.sty, version 3.2, lines 432-435. The \mwe@textwidth and \mwe@headrulewidth are calculated OK by the mweclass class before.

The problem is probably something to do with the baseline in letters. The headrule keeps attaching/detaching from the chapter / section names above, whether the text contains letters whose shape in the font prolongs below the baseline; or not.

Is there a way to insert invisible (that are not typeset) letters in a text? If there were, an easy workaround is to put a q in chapter and section names.
What is wrong? Except this mobile headrule, the header is but OK.

I appreciate any reply or suggestions.

Best Answer

You can put \strut command: it inserts a piece of nothing of the \height and \depth as large as the largest letters in current font, but having no \width.

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to increase the spacing between header text and the ‘headrule’ line with fancyhdr

\fancypagestyle{plain}{%
  \fancyhf{}
  \fancyhead[L]{\rule[-2ex]{0pt}{2ex}\small Thesis Title} 
  \fancyhead[R]{\small My Name} 
  \fancyfoot[L]{\small Project Name}
  \fancyfoot[C]{-- \thepage\ --}
  \fancyfoot[R]{\small Submission Date} 
  \renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0.4pt}
  \renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0.4pt}}
\pagestyle{plain}

The "modern" notation for fancyhdr is preferable. Note that \small is not a command taking an argument, but rather a declaration.

Adjust the dimension of the strut, that is, the invisible \rule[-2ex]{0pt}{2ex} to suit you.

A strut is an invisible object that, however, contributes to the height (what's above the baseline) or the depth (what's below) of the line in which it is inserted. A rule of width zero is the ideal object, as we can control precisely its size. The \rule command has two mandatory arguments (width and height). With the optional argument we can dictate that it has also a depth. With this trick, the headline has a depth of 2ex (or what we prefer), so TeX will move down the headrule in order not to overlap the headline. It might turn out to be necessary to increase the space reserved for the headline; in this case fancyhdr will issue a warning that can be found in the .log file.

Note that LaTeX has a \strut command, which inserts an invisible rule roughly as high and deep as a parenthesis (in this application it's insufficient).

[Tex/LaTex] Headrule length in fancyhdr

You can simply redefine \headrule; in the following example I used two new lengths \HFleft and \HFright to control the left and right trimming of the headrule, respectively; simply changing the values for those lengths you can shorten the headrule in the desired way. An auxiliary \FHoffset length is used as the argument of \fancyheadoffset. Some examples:

Initially, \FHoffset is set to 0cm as well as both trimmings:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}% just to generate filler text for the example
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhead[L]{Left}
\fancyhead[R]{Right}
\fancyhead[C]{Center}

% Length to control the \fancyheadoffset and the calculation of \headline
% simultaneously
\newlength\FHoffset
\setlength\FHoffset{1cm}

\addtolength\headwidth{2\FHoffset}

\fancyheadoffset{\FHoffset}

% these lengths will control the headrule trimming to the left and right 
\newlength\FHleft
\newlength\FHright

% here the trimmings are controlled by the user
\setlength\FHleft{1cm}
\setlength\FHright{0cm}

% The new definition of headrule that will take into acount the trimming(s)
\newbox\FHline
\setbox\FHline=\hbox{\hsize=\paperwidth%
  \hspace*{\FHleft}%
  \rule{\dimexpr\headwidth-\FHleft-\FHright\relax}{\headrulewidth}\hspace*{\FHright}%
}
\renewcommand\headrule{\vskip-.7\baselineskip\copy\FHline}

\begin{document}

\section{Test Section}
\subsection{Test Subsection}
\lipsum[1-20]

\end{document}

enter image description here

Setting \FHoffset to 1cm and \FHleft and \FHright to 1cm, the width of the headrule will be equal to \textwidth and the headrule will span the text width:

enter image description here

Changing the settings to

\setlength\FHoffset{1cm}
\setlength\FHleft{1cm}
\setlength\FHright{0cm}

the result is now

enter image description here

and with

\setlength\FHoffset{1cm}
\setlength\FHleft{2cm}
\setlength\FHright{4cm}

we get

enter image description here

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to increase the spacing between header text and the ‘headrule’ line with fancyhdr

[Tex/LaTex] Headrule length in fancyhdr

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