[Tex/LaTex] Wrapfigure-Minipage Woes: How to correctly typeset wrapped text boxes within a \parcolumns environment modified for a two-sided document

double-sidedminipageparcolumnswrapfigure

This is a follow-up question concerning an experimental chapter layout I'm trying to implement for a novel I'm writing.

So. My initial problem of finding a way to modify the innards of the parcolumns package so that it alternates the order of the columns with each page break (producing a layout with outer/inner columns instead of left/right ones) has been solved, with many thanks to alexurba. However: in implementing the working modification of the \pc@placeboxes macro, whenever the page breaks switch from odd to even, the placement of the minipages inside wrapfigure environments intended to be placed along the inner margin of the outer column cause problems for the inner column. I'll let the code and images below speak for themselves:

\documentclass[11pt,letterpage,twosides]{bookest}
%
   \geometry{textheight=9in,vmarginratio=1:1,outermargin=1.5in,innermargin=.5in,%
marginparwidth=1.35in,marginparsep=.1in}
\usepackage{parcolumns}
\usepackage{marginnote}
\usepackage{wrapfig}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{changepage}
\strictpagecheck
% 
\newcommand{\warfe}{\begin{wrapfigure}{o}[.15in]{1.5in} \begin{minipage}[t]{1.4in} %
\noindent \Large}
\newcommand{\warfo}{\begin{wrapfigure}{i}{1.5in} \begin{minipage}[t]{1.45in} %
\noindent \Large}
\newcommand{\wraf}{\end{minipage} \vspace{-.28in} \end{wrapfigure}}
\newcommand{\stm}{\marginnote}
%
\makeatletter
%
\def\pc@placeboxes{%
  \global\let\@tempa\relax%
  \hb@xt@\linewidth{%
    \vfuzz30ex %
    \vbadness\@M%
    \splittopskip\z@skip%
    \checkoddpage\ifoddpage
      \count@\z@%
      \loop\ifnum\count@<\pc@columncount%
        \advance\count@\@ne%
        \my@placeboxes@body%
      \repeat%
    \else
      \count@\pc@columncount%
      \loop\ifnum\count@>\z@%
        \my@placeboxes@body%
        \advance\count@\m@ne%
      \repeat%
    \fi
  }%
  \@tempa%
}
%
\def\my@placeboxes@body{%
  \expandafter\ifvoid\csname pc@column@\number\count@\endcsname%
    \hskip\csname pc@column@width@\number\count@\endcsname%
  \else%
    \expandafter\setbox\expandafter\@tempboxa%
      \expandafter\vsplit\csname pc@column@\number\count@\endcsname%
        to \dp\strutbox%
    \vbox{\unvbox\@tempboxa}%
  \fi%
  \expandafter\ifvoid\csname pc@column@\number\count@\endcsname%
  \else%
    \global\let\@tempa\pc@placeboxes%
  \fi%
  \ifnum\count@>\z@%
    \strut%
    \hfill%
    \ifpc@rulebetween%
      \vrule%
      \hfill%
    \fi%
  \fi%
}
%
\makeatother
%
\begin{document}
%
%\chapter{Sample Experimental Chapter Layout}
%[Code and JPEGs ommitted.]
%
\chapter{My Wrapfigure-Minipage Woes}
%
\begin{parcolumns} %
[sloppy=true, %
sloppyspaces=true, %
nofirstindent=true, %
colwidths={1=3.5in, %
2=2.8in}]{2}
%
\colchunk[1]{\Large \indent \stm{\normalsize \textbf{Sample margin note, always to be on % 
the outer margin. \\ ---------- \\ The typesetting of this page is entirely correct, with %
no wrapfigure/minipage environments flying around as in the following page...}} \lipsum[10]%
\lipsum[11] \lipsum[12] \stm{\textbf{\normalsize As one can see quite clearly, the %
typesetting of this page with switched columns is troubled, to put it lightly. \\ %
---------- \\ While the wrapfigure-minipage boxes themselves are placed correctly, another%
phantom empty box (of the same width) is inserted, flush with the edge of the page at the %
inner margin, pushing the text of the larger column over into the box set in the smaller %
column. \\ ---------- \\ What gives, friends?\\}} \lipsum[13] \lipsum[14]}
%
\colchunk[2]{\small \indent \warfo{Sample  wrapped text box, using a minipage inside a %
wrapfig environment.} \wraf \lipsum[14] \warfo{Note: no problems on the odd pages...} \wraf%
\lipsum[15] \warfe{Another sample wrapped text box, placed along the inner side of the \\ %
column.} \wraf \lipsum[16]  \warfe{Yet another text box.}\wraf \lipsum[17]}
%
\end{parcolumns}
%
\end{document}

Example, p.1
Example, p.2

I'll be taking a closer look at the implementation sections of the package documentation for wrapfig and parcolumns, reading against the modification of \pc@placeboxes to see if I can make any sense of what exactly might be going on here. I'll update this if I get anywhere near the realm of progress.

UPDATE:

In tinkering around with my code, I've discovered that if I use the {i} placement specifier for the wrapfigures on the even pages instead of {o}, this problem vanishes, and all is well except that the wrapfigures are on the wrong side of the column on the even pages. Thus, this problem seems to be specific to the wrapfigure not having any wrapped text between it and the adjacent column (or something to that effect, relating to having nothing but the space between columns separating the wrapfigures from the inner column).

Given this development, I'm now wondering about these two possibilities:

a) Might be possible to issue a series of commands to move the problemed wrapfigures to the right and have the adjacent wrapping text in the column move to the left after the initial typesetting run in which parcolumns first places the columns and boxes on the page?

b) Looking at the documentation for parcolumns has reminded me that there's plenty that the package does after the \pc@placeboxes process (i.e., \pc@alloccolumns, \pc@setcolumnwidths, \pc@setsinglecolwidth, and \pc@setcolumnwidth, as described on pp. 11-13 of the parcolumns documentation). In the (likely) event that the solution wouldn't necessarily have anything to do with setting the wrapfigures on the wrong side of the column (on even pages) and then flipping the positions of the text wrapping around the wrapfigures with that of the wrapfigure-minipage boxes themselves, perhaps the answer lies within the code for one of these post-\pc@placeboxes macros?

Also (for reference, if anyone needs it): alexurba has updated the answer to my original question with a more detailed explanation of how the \pc@placeboxes modification works, so check that out as well if you like.

Best Answer

Although there was indeed a bug in my patch to the parcolumns package in the thread about alternating columns, it turned out that the wrapfigure problem here is an incompatibility between the parcolumns and wrapfig packages. You can see that from the following example

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{parcolumns}
\usepackage{wrapfig}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\newcommand*{\dummypic}[1][dummy picture]{%
\setlength{\fboxsep}{0pt}%
\fbox{\begin{minipage}[t][2cm][c]{2cm}
\centering #1
\end{minipage}}%
}

\begin{document}
\begin{parcolumns}{2}

\colchunk[1]{%
  \begin{wrapfigure}{l}{22mm} 
    \dummypic[\emph{left}]
  \end{wrapfigure}\par
  \lipsum[4]\par
  \begin{wrapfigure}{r}{22mm} 
    \dummypic[\emph{right}]
  \end{wrapfigure}\par
  \lipsum[5]
}

\colchunk[2]{%
  \begin{wrapfigure}{l}{22mm} 
    \dummypic[\emph{left}]
  \end{wrapfigure}\par
  \lipsum[7]\par
  \begin{wrapfigure}{r}{22mm} 
    \dummypic[\emph{right}]
  \end{wrapfigure}\par
  \unskip\lipsum[8]
}

\end{parcolumns}
\end{document}

which compiles to:

wrapfig problem

The reason is that parcolumns inserts an \hfill between the two columns. wrapfigure, on the other hand, works by changing the width of the paragraph next to the figure. The \hfill will always shift the narrowed paragraph to the page margin.

The problem can be fixed by restricting the columns to their natural width, for example using an \hbox to <column width> {...}. I have implemented this into the small patch package parcolsx provided in the answer to the question about alternating columns. I do not know if that is the most elegant way to solve the problem, but it works.

enter image description here

I will for now not re-post the code here. If that is desired I (or someone else) can do it later.

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] \footnotemark and \footnotetext in minipage

Footnotes within minipage environments are printed with small letters. The definition in latex.ltx is

\def\thempfootnote{{\itshape\@alph\c@mpfootnote}}

You could redefine it. A quick way would be:

\let\thempfootnote\thefootnote

Afterwards the footnote symbols within a minipage will be an arabic number as well.

[Tex/LaTex] How to reverse the positions of two (unequal width) columns so that the wider one is always against the inner margin

EDIT (July 25, 2012)

There is a small bug concerning the column separating space in the version below. I fixed that and wrapped up the whole parcolumns patch in a tiny package named parcolsx, so that you can do something like:

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{parcolumns}
\usepackage{parcolsx}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\chapter{Chapter heading}
\begin{parcolumns}[%
  sloppy        = true,
  sloppyspaces  = true,
  nofirstindent = true,
  colwidths     = {1=0.43\textwidth, 2=0.53\textwidth}
]{2}
\colchunk[1]{\small\indent%
  \lipsum[14] 
  \lipsum[15]
  \lipsum[16]
  \lipsum[17]
}
\colchunk[2]{\Large\indent%
  \lipsum[10]
  \lipsum[11]
  \lipsum[12]
  \lipsum[13]
}
\end{parcolumns}
\end{document}

Note the additional key/value pair alternate = true in the arguments of the parcolumns environment. This way the alternating columns can be activated at will.

The package parcolsx to be saved in a file named parcolsx.sty:

\NeedsTeXFormat{LaTeX2e}
\ProvidesPackage{parcolsx}

\RequirePackage{changepage}
\strictpagecheck

% add the additional boolean key `alternate' 
% to the `parcolumns' environment
\newif\ifpc@alternate
\define@key{parcolumns}{alternate}[true]{%
\pc@boolkey{pc@alternate}{#1}%
}

% slightly modify the `\pc@placeboxes' macro to distinguish between odd
% and even pages, if the option `alternate=true' was passed to the
% `parcolumns' environment
\def\pc@placeboxes{%
  \global\let\@tempa\relax%
  \hb@xt@\linewidth{%
    \vfuzz30ex %
    \vbadness\@M%
    \splittopskip\z@skip%
    % odd is the default
    \ifpc@alternate \checkoddpage \else \oddpagetrue \fi%
    \ifoddpage
      % count up from 1 to N_col
      \count@\z@%
      \loop\ifnum\count@<\pc@columncount%
        \advance\count@\@ne%
        \pcx@placeboxes@body%
        \ifnum\count@<\pc@columncount%
          \strut\hfill\ifpc@rulebetween\vrule\hfill\fi%
        \fi%
      \repeat%
    \else
      % count down from N_col to 1
      \count@\pc@columncount%
      \loop\ifnum\count@>\z@%
        \pcx@placeboxes@body%
        \advance\count@\m@ne%
        \ifnum\count@>\z@%
          \strut\hfill\ifpc@rulebetween\vrule\hfill\fi%
        \fi%
      \repeat%
    \fi
  }%
  \@tempa%
}

% the fraction of `\pc@placeboxes' that does not depend on the page
% parity
\def\pcx@placeboxes@body{%
  \expandafter\ifvoid\csname pc@column@\number\count@\endcsname%
    \hskip\csname pc@column@width@\number\count@\endcsname%
  \else%
    \expandafter\setbox\expandafter\@tempboxa%
      \expandafter\vsplit\csname pc@column@\number\count@\endcsname%
        to \dp\strutbox%
    \expandafter\@tempdimb\csname pc@column@width@\number\count@\endcsname%
    \hbox to \@tempdimb {\vbox{\unvbox\@tempboxa}\hfill}%
  \fi%
  \expandafter\ifvoid\csname pc@column@\number\count@\endcsname%
  \else%
    \global\let\@tempa\pc@placeboxes%
  \fi%
}

On a side note: that patch also fixes the incompatibility of the parcolumns with the wrapfigure package. I will comment on this in the other thread: Wrapfigure-Minipage Woes

Original answer (including column separator bug)

You ask for many different things and your sample document contains a lot of stuff that might not be helpful here. However, I might have found a solution for your column switching problem.

Please see this more minimalistic example:

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{parcolumns}

\usepackage{changepage}
\strictpagecheck

\usepackage{lipsum}

\makeatletter

\def\pc@placeboxes{%
  \global\let\@tempa\relax%
  \hb@xt@\linewidth{%
    \vfuzz30ex %
    \vbadness\@M%
    \splittopskip\z@skip%
    \checkoddpage\ifoddpage
      \count@\z@%
      \loop\ifnum\count@<\pc@columncount%
        \advance\count@\@ne%
        \my@placeboxes@body%
      \repeat%
    \else
      \count@\pc@columncount%
      \loop\ifnum\count@>\z@%
        \my@placeboxes@body%
        \advance\count@\m@ne%
      \repeat%
    \fi
  }%
  \@tempa%
}

\def\my@placeboxes@body{%
  \expandafter\ifvoid\csname pc@column@\number\count@\endcsname%
    \hskip\csname pc@column@width@\number\count@\endcsname%
  \else%
    \expandafter\setbox\expandafter\@tempboxa%
      \expandafter\vsplit\csname pc@column@\number\count@\endcsname%
        to \dp\strutbox%
    \vbox{\unvbox\@tempboxa}%
  \fi%
  \expandafter\ifvoid\csname pc@column@\number\count@\endcsname%
  \else%
    \global\let\@tempa\pc@placeboxes%
  \fi%
  \ifnum\count@>\z@%
    \strut%
    \hfill%
    \ifpc@rulebetween%
      \vrule%
      \hfill%
    \fi%
  \fi%
}

\makeatother

\begin{document}

\chapter{Chapter heading}

\begin{parcolumns}[%
  sloppy        = true,
  sloppyspaces  = true,
  nofirstindent = true,
  colwidths     = {1=0.43\textwidth, 2=0.53\textwidth}
]{2}

\colchunk[1]{\small\indent%
  \lipsum[14] 
  \lipsum[15]
  \lipsum[16]
  \lipsum[17]
}

\colchunk[2]{\Large\indent%
  \lipsum[10]
  \lipsum[11]
  \lipsum[12]
  \lipsum[13]
}

\end{parcolumns}

\end{document}

I slightly modified the macro \pc@placeboxes from the parcolumns package, so that it distinguishes between odd and even pages. The actual check is done using macros from the changepage package, which is why it is loaded in the preamble. You will have to compile at least twice, since this relies on page lables.

The resulting output is, I think, what you desire, i.e. the columns interchange at every page break:

enter image description here

I have not bothered about the margin notes and you might experience side effects. If that is the case you should better open a new question and tackle one problem at a time.

EDIT (July 22, 2012)

The parcolumns package works in two steps: first, the contents of each column is typeset in a box. This is done by the \colchunk command. Second, for every line on the output page one line from each column box is extracted and placed on the page. That is done by the \pc@placeboxes macro.

So, assuming N columns, the original \pc@placeboxes in principle does the following: For colums i=1 up to i=N the first line of the i-th column box is cut and pasted on the page. If i<N a column separating space is inserted.

I simply hooked into this macro and inverted the order on every second page: the modified \pc@placeboxes does exactly the same as the original one for odd pages. However, for even pages it loops from i=N down to i=1 when cutting and pasting the lines from the column boxes.

The problem with the wrapfig stuff very likely stems from this two-step approach. Having not looked into the wrapfig package I can just guess that it uses \parshape to modify the shape of the typeset paragraph. This will influence what is typeset into the column boxes. Apparently, things go wrong when the lines of the column boxes are distributed on the page. I can not, unfortunately, offer a solution for this issue at the moment (actually I hoped that some of the TeX gurus here would have a suggestion for you).

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] \footnotemark and \footnotetext in minipage

[Tex/LaTex] How to reverse the positions of two (unequal width) columns so that the wider one is always against the inner margin

Related Question