[Tex/LaTex] How to control the vertical height of boxes

boxesframedminipage

I would like to create boxes where I can control the height of the boxes. Right now I have used the command.

\colorbox{calcclr}\makebox[\textwidth-2\fboxsep][l]{#1}}}

This gives me a box that stretches vertically how I want. Depending on the content of the box however the box vertical size is adjusted accordingly. Fractions for example will automatically make the box vertical height larger (as it needs to contain a fraction), while linear equations makes the height smaller

How can I solve this problem?

Best Answer

You can use the {minipage}[<vertical alignment>][<height>]{<width>} environment to specify the width of the content. Here <vertical alignment> should be top, bottom or centered. Just give a constant <height> for all your framed equations.

If you instead want to set the height or depth you can use \raisebox{0pt}[<height>][<depth>]{...}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Exact height of \hbox

You are not taking into account \fboxsep (the separation between the framed box and its contents; default value: 3pt) and the "thickness" of the rules used (\fboxrule: 0.4pt, by default). If you set \fboxsep to 0pt, then the box on the right will have a total height of 2cm+0.4pt while the two stacked boxes on the left will have a total height of 1cm+1cm+(4*0.2pt)=2cm+0.8pt (if the middle horizontal rules don't overlap, but are immediately next to each other) or 1cm+1cm+(3*0.2pt)=2cm+0.6pt (if the middle horizontal rules overlap).

EDIT: by the way, instead of using $$...$$ for displayed math, you should use \[...\].

EDIT2: although I think that sometimes TikZ is overused, in this particular case I think that it would be sensible to give it a try (it facilitates the exact placement of the colored boxes):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}

\begin{document}

\def\MyUnit{ex}
\begin{tikzpicture}[x=1\MyUnit,y=1\MyUnit]

\def\MyBox#1#2#3#4{\node[draw,fill=#1,minimum width=#2\MyUnit,minimum height=#2\MyUnit,align=center] at (#4) {#3};}

\matrix [matrix of nodes,left delimiter=(,right delimiter=)]
{
  \MyBox{yellow}{4}{A}{0,0}
  \MyBox{green}{4}{B}{4,0}
  \MyBox{blue}{4}{C}{4,-4}
  \MyBox{red}{8}{D}{10,-2}\\
};

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

enter image description here

[Tex/LaTex] Fit text into given box by adjusting the fontsize

Using the suggestion in Fitting and centering text (both!) in a constrained area, together with Martin's answer that uses the environ package, the following provides the environment

\begin{fitbox}{<width>}{<height>}
  <stuff>
\end{fitbox}

which typesets <stuff> using a form of binary search to fit the text within the given height <height> while under a fixed width <width> constraint set by a minipage. This is required in order to maintain a proportionate scaling of the font and leading (\baselineskip).

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{environ}% http://ctan.org/pkg/environ
\usepackage{lipsum}% http://ctan.org/pkg/lipsum
\newdimen\fontdim
\newdimen\upperfontdim
\newdimen\lowerfontdim
\newif\ifmoreiterations
\fontdim12pt

\makeatletter
\NewEnviron{fitbox}[2]{% \begin{fitbox}{<width>}{<height>} stuff \end{fitbox}
  \def\buildbox{%
    \setbox0\vbox{\hbox{\minipage{#1}%
      \fontsize{\fontdim}{1.2\fontdim}%
      \selectfont%
      \stuff%
    \endminipage}}%
    \dimen@\ht0
    \advance\dimen@\dp0
  }
  \def\stuff{\BODY}% Store environment body
  \buildbox
  % Compute upper and lower bounds
  \ifdim\dimen@>#2
    \loop
      \fontdim.5\fontdim % Reduce font size by half
      \buildbox
    \ifdim\dimen@>#2 \repeat
    \lowerfontdim\fontdim
    \upperfontdim2\fontdim
    \fontdim1.5\fontdim
  \else
    \loop
      \fontdim2\fontdim % Double font size
      \buildbox
    \ifdim\dimen@<#2 \repeat
    \upperfontdim\fontdim
    \lowerfontdim.5\fontdim
    \fontdim.75\fontdim
  \fi
  % Now try to find the optimum size
  \loop
    %\message{Bounds: \the\lowerfontdim\space
    %         \the\fontdim\space \the\upperfontdim^^J}
    \buildbox
    \ifdim\dimen@>#2
      \moreiterationstrue
      \upperfontdim\fontdim
      \advance\fontdim\lowerfontdim
      \fontdim.5\fontdim
    \else
      \advance\dimen@-#2
      \ifdim\dimen@<10pt
        \lowerfontdim\fontdim
        \advance\fontdim\upperfontdim
        \fontdim.5\fontdim
        \dimen@\upperfontdim
        \advance\dimen@-\lowerfontdim
        \ifdim\dimen@<.2pt
          \moreiterationsfalse
        \else
          \moreiterationstrue
        \fi
      \else
        \moreiterationsfalse
      \fi
    \fi
  \ifmoreiterations \repeat
  \box0% Typeset content
}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\lipsum[1]
\begin{fitbox}{.5\textwidth}{0.5\textheight}
  \lipsum[1-2]
\end{fitbox}
\lipsum[2]

\clearpage

\lipsum[1]
\begin{fitbox}{300pt}{300pt}
  \lipsum[1-2]
\end{fitbox}
\lipsum[2]
\end{document}

In the figure below, two pages are typeset, each starting with \lipsum[1] and ending with \lipsum[2] to provide some frame of reference. The left page has a fitbox of dimension .5\textwidth x .5\textwidth while the page on the right is set at 300pt x 300pt (square).

Fixed-width-height box

Interestingly enough, I'm having trouble compiling this under TeXLive 2011. Although, there is no problem compiling it using the online LaTeX compiler ScribTeX, which runs TeXLive 2009. I don't know what the cause behind this is... This has been fixed by the replacement of \protected@edef\stuff{\BODY} with \def\stuff{\BODY}. The original code used this form since it provided two macros - one for parsing the content (called \fillthepage{<stuff>}) and another for updating a resized version of the content (called \buildbox). I assume the coding structure required this. However, with everything contained in a single environment fitbox above, this is not needed anymore.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Exact height of \hbox

[Tex/LaTex] Fit text into given box by adjusting the fontsize

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