[Tex/LaTex] How to padding the content of a block in beamer presentation

beamer

I search the internet and get a nice redefinition of the block environment of beamer.
It has the ability to set the width of the block, instead of always spanning the whole page.

\newenvironment<>{varblock}[2][0.95\textwidth]{
  \begin{center}
    \begin{minipage}{#1}
      \setlength{\textwidth}{#1}
        \begin{actionenv}#3
          \def\insertblocktitle{#2}
          \par
          \usebeamertemplate{block begin}}
    {\par
          \usebeamertemplate{block end}
        \end{actionenv}
    \end{minipage}
  \end{center}
}

Now I want to add padding to the text inside the block. Please notice only text not block title. I want to do this because I am using a plain theme, which does not have the color background to get them easily distinguishable.

Please help me, thanks.

Best Answer

I'm not quite sure what the above definition is doing that the already defined columns environment doesn't...

\documentclass{beamer}
\usecolortheme{orchid}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
  \begin{columns}[t]
    \begin{column}{0.49\textwidth}
      \begin{block}{This is a headline}
        This is a block
      \end{block}
    \end{column}
    \begin{column}{0.49\textwidth}
      \begin{block}{}
      This is another block
    \end{block}
    \end{column}
  \end{columns}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

I've added a colour theme just to illustrate the extent of the blocks. So the question is: "How can I make the width of the body text thinner than that of the headline?" You can do that with a quote environment inside the block:

\documentclass{beamer}
\usecolortheme{orchid}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
  \begin{columns}[t]
    \begin{column}{0.49\textwidth}
      \begin{block}{This is a headline}
        \begin{quote}
          Here is some text that is shrunk a little bit isn't it?
        \end{quote}
      \end{block}
    \end{column}
    \begin{column}{0.49\textwidth}
      \begin{block}{}
      This is another block
    \end{block}
    \end{column}
  \end{columns}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

quote inside block inside column

Solution with minimal spacing

This method needs the tikzmark library: it could be find at http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~tex-sx/tex-sx/development/files, then download the files tikzmark.dtx and tikzmark_example.pdf. Once put in a temporary directory compile with pdflatex, then install is as a package.

The code:

\documentclass[t]{beamer}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usetheme{Madrid}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc,shapes,shadows,tikzmark}

% setting the block body color
\usebeamercolor{block body}
\definecolor{my block body}{named}{bg}

% Original by Peter Grill:
% https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/35319/a-boxed-alternative-with-minimal-spacing/#35357

\makeatletter
\newcommand*{\@DrawBoxHeightSep}{0.3ex}%
\newcommand*{\@DrawBoxDepthSep}{0.1em}%
\newcommand{\@DrawBox}[6][fill=my block body,draw=my block body!50!black]{
%#1= style,#2=height, #3=depth, #4 left marker,
%#5= right marker, #6= content
\tikz[overlay,remember picture,baseline]
 \draw[#1,drop shadow,rounded corners]
  ($(pic cs:#4)+(-0.2em,#2+\@DrawBoxHeightSep)$) rectangle
  ($(pic cs:#5)+(0.2em,-#3-+\@DrawBoxDepthSep)$);
\tikz[overlay,remember picture,baseline]
 \node[anchor=base] at ($(pic cs:#4)!0.5!(pic cs:#5)$) {#6};
}

\newcounter{image}
\setcounter{image}{1}
\newdimen\@myBoxHeight%
\newdimen\@myBoxDepth%
\newcommand{\NiceBlock}[2][fill=my block body,draw=my block body!50!black]{%
 \settoheight{\@myBoxHeight}{#2}% Height
 \settodepth{\@myBoxDepth}{#2}% Depth
 \tikzmark{l\theimage}#2\tikzmark{r\theimage}
\@DrawBox[#1]{\@myBoxHeight}{\@myBoxDepth}
  {l\theimage}{r\theimage}{#2}
 \stepcounter{image}
}
\makeatother

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}{Test}
\begin{gather*}
\NiceBlock{\ensuremath{c^2=a^2+b^2}}
\end{gather*}


\begin{gather*}
\NiceBlock{\ensuremath{x+z=100}}
\end{gather*}

\end{frame}
\end{document}

After two compilation runs, the result is:

enter image description here

Solution with hf-tikz

The previous solution is completely automatic, but could have some problems. Suppose to box:

\begin{gather*}
\NiceBlock{\ensuremath{
\sum_{l _1+\dots+ l _p=l}\prod^p_{i=1} \binom{n_i}{l _i}
}
}
\end{gather*}

You will end up with:

enter image description here

This because of one cannot say:

\NiceBlock{
\begin{gather*}
\sum_{l _1+\dots+ l _p=l}\prod^p_{i=1} \binom{n_i}{l _i}
\end{gather*}
}

That's the reason why a semi-automatic package like hf-tikz IMHO provides a good alternative: markers fit pretty well the dimensions automatically, but when needed the user could shift and extend as he needs the highlighted area.

An example that shows how to highlight some equations with overlay specifications:

\documentclass[t]{beamer}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usetheme{Madrid}
\usepackage[beamer,customcolors]{hf-tikz}

% setting the block body color
\usebeamercolor{block body}
\definecolor{my block body}{named}{bg}
\hfsetbordercolor{my block body!50!black}
\hfsetfillcolor{my block body}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}{Test}
\begin{gather*}
\tikzmarkin<1->{a}(0.15,-0.1)(-0.15,0.4)c^2=a^2+b^2\tikzmarkend{a}
\end{gather*}

\begin{gather*}
\tikzmarkin<2->{x}x+z=100\tikzmarkend{x}
\end{gather*}

\begin{gather*}
\tikzmarkin<{1,3}>{c}(0.15,-0.6)(-0.15,0.7)
\sum_{l _1+\dots+ l _p=l}\prod^p_{i=1} \binom{n_i}{l _i}
\tikzmarkend{c}
\end{gather*}

\end{frame}
\end{document}

Also in this case two compilation runs are necessary; then the result is:

enter image description here

If instead you want to use blocks, there could be another solution, but is not automatic. Moreover, in contrast with hf-tikz where the overlay specification is just used to show or not the highlighting, here the equation is inside a block, so the overlay specifications show or not the equation with the block together.

Code:

\documentclass[t]{beamer}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usetheme{Madrid}
\usepackage[customcolors,shadow,roundedcorners]{dynblocks}
% setting the block body color
\usebeamercolor{block body}
\definecolor{my block body}{named}{bg}
\setbordercolor{my block body}
\setblockcolor{my block body}

% new enviroment always centered
\newenvironment{cdynblock}{\begin{center}\begin{dynblock}}{\end{dynblock}\end{center}}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}{Test}
\abovedisplayskip=0pt
\begin{cdynblock}
\opaqueblock<1->[0.2\textwidth]{
\begin{gather*}
c^2=a^2+b^2
\end{gather*}
}
\end{cdynblock}

\begin{cdynblock}
\opaqueblock<2->[0.2\textwidth]{
\begin{gather*}
x+y=400
\end{gather*}
}
\end{cdynblock}

\begin{cdynblock}
\opaqueblock<3->[0.3\textwidth]{
\begin{gather*}
\sum_{l _1+\dots+ l _p=l}\prod^p_{i=1} \binom{n_i}{l _i}
\end{gather*}
}
\end{cdynblock}
\end{frame}

\end{document}

The result:

enter image description here

Using the dynblocks and environ packages, allows to compute automatically the width of the formula.

Here is the key point:

% new enviroment always centered

\usepackage{environ}
\newsavebox\mybox
% new environment cdyn: #1 => overlay specification
\NewEnviron{cdyn}[1]{%
    \sbox{\mybox}{$\BODY$}%
    \begin{center}
    \begin{dynblock}
    \opaqueblock<#1>[\wd\mybox]{\[\BODY\]}
    \end{dynblock}
    \end{center}
}{}%

in which first I compute the width of the formula and then this width is passed to the \opaqueblock command.

The complete code:

\documentclass[t]{beamer}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usetheme{Madrid}
\usepackage[customcolors,shadow,roundedcorners]{dynblocks}
% setting the block body color
\usebeamercolor{block body}
\definecolor{my block body}{named}{bg}
\setbordercolor{my block body}
\setblockcolor{my block body}

% new enviroment always centered

\usepackage{environ}
\newsavebox\mybox
% new environment cdyn: #1 => overlay specification
\NewEnviron{cdyn}[1]{%
    \sbox{\mybox}{$\BODY$}%
    \begin{center}
    \begin{dynblock}
    \opaqueblock<#1>[\wd\mybox]{\[\BODY\]}
    \end{dynblock}
    \end{center}
}{}%

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}{Test}
\abovedisplayskip=0pt

\begin{cdyn}{1-}
c^2=a^2+b^2
\end{cdyn}

\begin{cdyn}{2-}
x+y=400
\end{cdyn}

\begin{cdyn}{3-}
\sum_{l _1+\dots+ l _p=l}\prod^p_{i=1} \binom{n_i}{l _i} + 
\sum_{l _1+\dots+ l _p=l}\prod^p_{i=1} \binom{n_i}{l _i}
\end{cdyn}

\begin{cdyn}{4-}
q_{n+1}=q_n-\Delta_n+\theta_n \qquad \Delta_n=
\begin{cases}
1 \quad q_n>0\\
0 \quad q_n=0
\end{cases}
\end{cdyn}

\end{frame}

\end{document}

The result:

enter image description here

[Tex/LaTex] Bibtex file content won’t appear in beamer presentation

I don't have any problems with your code.

\documentclass{beamer}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Literaturverzeichnis} 
\nocite{*} 
\bibliographystyle{amsalpha} 
\bibliography{bibliographie} 
\end{frame}


\end{document}

You have to compile the file multiple times:

pdflatex
bibtex
pdflatex
pdflatex

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to adjust the beamer block width to the size of its content

Solution with minimal spacing

Solution with hf-tikz

[Tex/LaTex] Bibtex file content won’t appear in beamer presentation

Related Question