[Tex/LaTex] How to adapt IEEEconf layout settings

abstractieee-styleieeeconftemplates

I am a beginner in LaTeX so I was trying out the bare_conf.tex provided by IEEE which uses IEEEconf.cls. I am trying to use this as a template for writing my own paper. However the specific details for the format of the paper that I need are a bit different from the standard IEEE conference format. Hence I was wondering how I might override few of the default layout settings provided by the IEEE template.

For example, the template allows the use of a \abstract{} command which causes the abstract to appear in the left column with the abstract text beginning from the same line as the title "Abstract – ". However I want the abstract to appear before the column break begins, below the title, name and email of the authors and I want its font size to be different from the one specified in the IEEE template.

This is just an example and there are few more places where I need to override the default IEEE template layout settings. Please let me know how I can do this which will give me starting point for my work.

Best Answer

I agree with Dror that this is certainly not a good way to approach to the style file creation process. Many things are not comprehensible since everything is cascaded and you can only confuse yourself with that kind of approach.

I have managed to get what you wanted but this is just a quick fix and by no means tested extensively. What I did is to find the line (on my file line 3635) and changed it to 

\mbox{}\hfill\begin{@IEEEauthorhalign}\@author\end{@IEEEauthorhalign}\hfill\mbox{}\par\@abstract\par}%

Then, I have found the definition of the abstract environment removed all the if cases since we are only interested in the conference format, and defined the following

\def\abstract#1{\def\@abstract{%
\normalfont\begin{center}%
\@IEEEabskeysecsize\textbf{Abstract}%
\end{center}%
\quotation\@IEEEabskeysecsize\@IEEEgobbleleadPARNLSP#1\relax\vspace{1.34ex}\par\endquotation%
\normalfont\normalsize}

This makes it possible to define the abstract in the preamble. Save the new style file as myIEEEconf etc. After this the document looks like the following: 

\documentclass[conference]{myIEEEconf}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\IEEEoverridecommandlockouts
\overrideIEEEmargins

\title{Modifying the \texttt{IEEEconf} style }
\author{percusse%
\thanks{The author is with TeX.SX
        {\tt\small notavalidemail@stackexchng.com}
        }
}
\abstract{\lipsum[3]}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\section{The Section}
\lipsum[2-6]
\end{document}

Note that this works only when the conference option is given.

enter image description here

Related Question