TeXblog

New packages and updates on CTAN in August

New packages on CTAN in August 2009:

• tablenotes – package by Matthias Borck-Elsner for placing notes in tables and list them, like endnotes and footnotes
• listings-ext – contains macros and a bash script that can be used to input parts of source code programs into a documentation, written by J. Hoffmann
• threeparttablex – extends threeparttable bringing it to longtable, by Lars Madsen
• font-change – macros for plain TeX written by Amit Raj Dhawan allowing to change the fonts (text and math) in a TeX document with only one statement
• JFlap2TikZ – converts JFlap jff files representing a finite automaton, push down automaton, or Turing machine to a LaTeX file depicting the automaton graphically using TikZ, programmed by Andrew Mertz
• suanpan – MetaPost macros for drawing Chinese and Japanese abaci by Denis Roegel
• garrigues – Metapost macros for the reproduction of Garrigues’ Easter nomogram by Denis Roegel
• spverbatim – provides a macro that is analogous to verb and an environment that is analogous to verbatim, but they allow LaTeX to break lines at space characters, developed by Scott Pakin
• titlepic – package by Thomas ten Cate that supports placing a picture on the title page of a LaTeX document

Updates in August:

boolexpr, curves, pst-geo, MWCLS, dvisvgm, pst-math, pst-barcode, pst-3dplot, keycommand, algorithms, fontinst, tablor, biblatex-dw, Asymptote, Boisik, latexmk, cleveref, autolatex, GaPFilL, ctanify, gbrief-creator, thailatex, etextools, biblatex-chem, biblatex, siunitx, findhyph, luaotfload, bibhtml, dashrule, pkfix-helper, pict2e, achemso, xwatermark, expl3, lhfonts, xeCJK, tablists, softmaker-freefont, makecell, hyph-utf8, cellspace, floatrow, bidi, blindtext. For package-specific information visit the package folder on CTAN.

01. September 2009 by stefan
Categories: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Fancy tables with TikZ

Today I wanted to create a table for a presentation and I remembered a suggestion made by Kjell Magne Fauske in comp.text.tex in August 2008, to use TikZ to create tables with rounded corners. I’ve investigated this idea further to achieve a colorful table layout in a shape that’s unusual for LaTeX. Here’s the result, displaying a ranking of Linux distributions produced by DistroWatch.com:

Click on the image to see it bigger, for a complete view open the pdf presentation.

The table has been put into a TikZ node, both at the top and at the bottom of the table I’ve used rectangles with rounded corners and some shading. A third rectangle is used to overlay parts of the other two rectangles.

The complete source code:

\documentclass{beamer}
\usetheme{default}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{colortbl}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\pgfdeclarelayer{background}
\pgfdeclarelayer{foreground}
\pgfsetlayers{background,main,foreground}
\setbeamertemplate{background canvas}[vertical shading]%
  [top=blue!1,bottom=blue!30]
\setbeamertemplate{navigation symbols}{}
\newcommand*\up{\textcolor{green}{%
  \ensuremath{\blacktriangle}}}
\newcommand*\down{\textcolor{red}{%
  \ensuremath{\blacktriangledown}}}
\newcommand*\const{\textcolor{darkgray}%
  {\textbf{--}}}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}[bg=lightgray]
\textbf{\Large Linux distribution ranking,
        26th August 2009}
\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node (tbl) {
\begin{tabularx}{.6\textwidth}{cXrcc}
\arrayrulecolor{purple}
\textbf{Rank} & \textbf{Distribution} &
  \textbf{Hits} & \\
1 & Ubuntu\rule{0pt}{2.5ex}  &  2114 & \down \\
\midrule
2 & Fedora & 1451 & \up \\
\midrule
3 & Mint & 1297 & \const \\
\midrule
4 & OpenSUSE & 1228 & \up \\
\midrule
5 & Debian & 910 & \down \\
\midrule
6 & Mandriva & 907 & \up \\
\midrule
7 & PCLinuxOS & 764 & \up \\
\midrule
8 & Puppy & 738 & \up \\
\midrule
9 & Sabayon & 671 & \up \\
\midrule
10 & Arch & 625 & \down \\[0.5ex]
\end{tabularx}};
\begin{pgfonlayer}{background}
\draw[rounded corners,top color=red,bottom color=black,
    draw=white] ($(tbl.north west)+(0.14,0)$)
    rectangle ($(tbl.north east)-(0.13,0.9)$);
\draw[rounded corners,top color=white,bottom color=black,
    middle color=red,draw=blue!20] ($(tbl.south west)
    +(0.12,0.5)$) rectangle ($(tbl.south east)-(0.12,0)$);
\draw[top color=blue!1,bottom color=blue!20,draw=white]
    ($(tbl.north east)-(0.13,0.6)$)
    rectangle ($(tbl.south west)+(0.13,0.2)$);
\end{pgfonlayer}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
\small
Data by DistroWatch.com, spanning over the last 6 months,
hits per day.
\end{frame}
\end{document}

It’s just a draft, some lengths have been adjusted to fit in order to demonstrate using TikZ with tables in a quick way.

26. August 2009 by stefan
Categories: Uncategorized | 21 comments

New packages and updates on CTAN in June

New packages on CTAN this month:

• pstdoc – SQLite database and Python script that provides extensive help with PSTricks commands from a terminal window.
• eltex – package for drawing simple electrical circuit diagrams in the picture environment withouth any special fonts. The circuit symbols follow the IEC 617 standard. eltex runs with LaTeX 2.09 and LaTeX 2e.
• asyfig – support for including standalone .asy figures into LaTeX documents allowing figures to be rapidly proofed before re-typesetting the document. See Asymptote language.
• getfiledate – fetches from the system the date of last modification or opening of a resident file, providing a user-friendly interface for obtaining and presenting the needed filedate in several formats.
• softmaker-freefont – LaTeX support files for the Softmaker Stone Handwriting font.
• grid – enables grid typesetting in double column documents.
• Steinmetz notation – provides a command for typesetting complex numbers in the Steinmetz notation used in electrotechnics.
• subdocs – provides a different approach for multidocument works, part of the Bezocs bundle, see documentation.
• cpssp – for drawing a two-dimensional representation of a protein’s secondary structure.
• Inconsolata – a monospaced font already described here.
• tabularew – tabular extension to improve alignment of multicolumn cells, described in an earlier post.
• collref – automatically collects multiple bibitem references which always appear in the same sequence into a single bibitem block.

Updates in June:

achemso, CodeDoc, recycle, hyph-utf8, dehyph-exptl, biblatex-mla, Asymptote, luaotfload, latexmk, tdclock, floatrow, xwatermark, tdsfrmath, amslatex-primer, sagetex, isomath, babelbib, biblatex-chicago-notes-df, keys3, prelim2e, xpackages, expl3, diagrams/taylor, chemstyle, xstring and glossaries. For package-specific information visit the package folder on CTAN.

More information about new packages and updates can be found in the ctan-ann archive.

30. June 2009 by stefan
Categories: Uncategorized | Leave a comment