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From: marcel@cs.caltech.edu (Marcel van der Goot)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: Re: Help with trascript format.
Keywords: transcript, comment, double columns
Message-ID: <1991Jun19.015111.1748@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 19 Jun 91 01:51:11 GMT
References: <1991Jun18.190146.24798@cpsc.ucalgary.ca>
Sender: news@nntp-server.caltech.edu
Organization: California Institute of Technology (CS Dept)
Lines: 80

Gaston Groisman (gaston@cpsc.ucalgary.ca) needed help with:
> In my thesis I want to have transcripts of conversations with comments
> alongside.

Something like this will work. Between \conversation ... \endconversation
you need to write paragraphs in pairs: first the conversation paragraph,
then the corresponding comment paragraph. If you want an empty paragraph
(for instance because you don't have a comment) you can write a paragraph
consisting of a `tie' (`~') only.

A problem is that a page can only be broken between paragraphs, not
between lines. (To make page breaks between lines possible is a harder
problem.) If you write your own output routine (but you probably don't),
you can insert extra glue at the bottom of the page to make page breaks
easier. But even as it is, it will probably work ok as long as you don't
have excessively long paragraphs.


                                          Marcel van der Goot
 .----------------------------------------------------------------
 | Blauw de viooltjes,                    marcel@vlsi.cs.caltech.edu
 |    Rood zijn de rozen;
 | Een rijm kan gezet
 |    Met plaksel en dozen.
 |

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\def\convpar % settings for a `conversation paragraph'
   {\hsize=7cm
    \parindent=-0.5cm
   }

\def\commpar % settings for a `comment paragraph'
   {\hsize=6cm
    \parindent=0pt
   }

\newbox\convbox
\newbox\commbox
\newif\ifdoingconv

\def\conversation{\global\doingconvtrue\doconv}
\def\endconversation{\global\doingconvfalse}

\def\doconv#1\par
   {\setbox\convbox=\vtop{\convpar#1\strut}%
    \ifdoingconv\expandafter\docomm\fi
   }

\def\docomm#1\par
   {\setbox\commbox=\vtop{\commpar#1\strut}%
    % here you may want to insert a \smallskip or so
    \hbox to\hsize{% or something else than \hsize
	\strut\hss\box\convbox
	\qquad % the space between conversation and comment
	\box\commbox\hss}%
    \ifdoingconv\expandafter\doconv\fi
   }

\conversation
person 1: This is what person one is saying. Notice that it goes in the
left column.

Here I comment on the transcript.

person 2: Now person two answers.

This comment may be long and take more space than the paragraph it
refers to.

person 1: Person one talks again, but now since the
comment to the right was long, this paragraph has to start a few lines
below.

~

\endconversation

\bye