[Tex/LaTex] How to pass parameters in a class file to different packages

babeldocumentclass-writingpackagesparameters

I'm writing a new class file that is based on book, and thought of making it available both in an English and in a Dutch version. Easiest to do seemed passing the arguments, so I constructed following class file :

...
\ProvidesClass{UGentCourse}[2011/07/28 v1.0 UGentCourse]

\DeclareOption*{\PassOptionsToClass{\CurrentOption}{book}}
\ProcessOptions \relax
\LoadClass[12pt,a4paper,twoside]{book}

\RequirePackage{babel} %francais, polish, spanish, ...
...

Which I believed would allow me to do :

\documentclass[dutch]{UGentCourse}

Strange thing, it doesn't work completely. If I switch it from dutch to English (or back), I get an error :

Package babel Error: You haven't loaded the option english (dutch) yet.

If I rerun the file, the error is gone. I have a faint idea about what is going on, but not really a clue of how I can prevent this from happening. All help appreciated.

Best Answer

You can avoid this error by modifying your class definition as follows:

\ProvidesClass{UGentCourse}[2011/07/28 v1.0 UGentCourse]

\DeclareOption{english}{\AtEndOfClass{\main@language{english}}}
\DeclareOption{dutch}{\AtEndOfClass{\main@language{dutch}}}

\DeclareOption*{\PassOptionsToClass{\CurrentOption}{book}}

\ProcessOptions\relax

\LoadClass[12pt,a4paper,twoside]{book}

\RequirePackage[dutch, english]{babel}

The last language in the option list passed to the babel package (i.e. english here) is the default language. It is active at the beginning of the document if no language has been specified in the optional argument of \documentclass.

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] LaTeX Errors: “\RequirePackage or \LoadClass in Options Section.” AND “File ‘article.cls’ not found.”

Update: that error occurs if you specify the times option and if txfonts is not installed. In that case elsarticle tries to load the obsolete times package, and it does it in the wrong way: \RequirePackage{times} causes the error. \AtEndOfClass{\RequirePackage{times}} would work.

Suggested solution: install the txfonts package. Use your package manager if possible.

It seems to me that you are using a modified elsarticle class, not an original one. According to the log file, you load:

Document Class: elsarticle 2009/09/17, 1.20b: Elsevier Ltd

But the original current version is elsarticle 2009/09/17, 1.2.0. You can get it from CTAN or use your package manager.

[Tex/LaTex] Write a class with language dependent strings

The spanish option is not passed to the class, to begin with.

I don't think you really need to have class options for this, however. Here is zunbeltz.cls:

\NeedsTeXFormat{LaTeX2e}[1999/12/01]
\ProvidesPackage{zunbeltz}[2012/10/22 v0.1]

\providecommand*{\conclusionsname}{Final conclusions}

\AtBeginDocument{
  \@ifpackagewith{babel}{spanish}{%
    \addto\captionsspanish{\renewcommand*\conclusionsname{Conclusiones finales}}%
  }{}
  \@ifpackagewith{babel}{english}{%
    \addto\captionsenglish{\renewcommand*\conclusionsname{Final conclusions}}%
  }{}
}


\DeclareOption*{\PassOptionsToClass{\CurrentOption}{report}}
\ProcessOptions\relax

\LoadClass{report}

and here the test document zunbeltz.tex:

\documentclass{zunbeltz}
\usepackage[english,spanish]{babel}
\begin{document}
\conclusionsname

\selectlanguage{english}
\conclusionsname
\end{document}

You'll get

Conclusiones finales
Final conclusions

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] LaTeX Errors: “\RequirePackage or \LoadClass in Options Section.” AND “File ‘article.cls’ not found.”

[Tex/LaTex] Write a class with language dependent strings

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