[scribus] Baseline Offset

[Gregory Pittman]

On 05/14/2013 09:48 PM, Gregory Pittman wrote:
> On 05/14/2013 09:08 PM, amruginn-scribus at yahoo.com wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I've been searching the mailing list archives, and the interwebs, to 
>> identify a solution to my problem.
>>
>> I'm creating a PDF document using Scripter, with the script being 
>> generated from a C++ program. I'm creating a lot of table'd data, and 
>> eventually will be putting borders around the cells.
>>
>> With that in mind, I was using version 1.3.8 on a PCLinuxOS machine 
>> which was slower than the second machine I'm now trying to work on 
>> which is running Linux Mint (LMDE 2013.03) and 1.4.0 (I also grabbed 
>> 1.4.2.). The script works fine in both versions with the Linux Mint 
>> machine being faster, obviously.
>>
>> My dilemma is that I was using baseline offset of -15% for my text 
>> boxes which gave a nice vertical centering of sorts. (I read the 
>> posts and wiki entry regarding vertical centering and realize that 
>> shouldn't be managed in a DTP.) As well, baseline offset is something 
>> I can define in a Scribus Template document's character styles, and 
>> then use that style in my Scripter script.
>>
>> In the 1.3.8 version, the baseline offset works as desired, but when 
>> I move to 1.4.0 (and 1.4.2) the baseline offset needs to be a huge 
>> number to do anything, and then it goes beyond the size of the box. 
>> (Assume 8pt font, 10pt box, and baseline offset goes -60%, and the 
>> text doesn't show up.)
>>
>> I notice that the First Line Offset (maximum ascent, font ascent, or 
>> line spacing) sort of works if I use font ascent, unfortunately, that 
>> isn't something I can set in Scripter nor a character style. 
>> Therefore, it's not a practical solution for me.
>>
>> Is this a bug now, or was it a bug then, and not working as-designed? 
>> I'm also attempting to compile the recent (and eventually historical) 
>> source but I have some dependencies I haven't loaded, to see if I can 
>> either identify it, or add a solution for my needs.
>>
>>
> Maybe I don't understand what you're doing, but it seems a rather 
> clumsy way to center vertically.
>
> Here is a fragment from a script I wrote to center text vertically in 
> a frame by adjusting the Top text distance value. This is the logic 
> part that centers the text in the frame. It requires fixed linespacing 
> to work properly.
>
>         lines = scribus.getTextLines(textbox)
>         distances = scribus.getTextDistances(textbox)
>         linespace = scribus.getLineSpacing(textbox)
>         dimensions = scribus.getSize(textbox) # (width, height)
>         if (scribus.textOverflows(textbox, 1) > 0):
>             scribus.messageBox('User Error', "This frame is already 
> overflowing", scribus.ICON_WARNING, scribus.BUTTON_OK)
>             sys.exit(2)
>         newtopdist = (dimensions[1] - linespace * lines)/2
> scribus.setTextDistances(distances[0],distances[1],newtopdist,distances[3],textbox) 
>
>         scribus.moveObject(-4,0,textbox)
>         scribus.moveObject(4,0,textbox)
>
> The last 2 lines compensate for a display problem in Scribus. If 
> they're not there you may not see the text shifted as it should. It's 
> only a display problem, since if you save your document and reload, 
> you see the text shifted. I also noted that if you move the frame, the 
> text moves in the display to where it should be, so the script has a 
> built-in shift, then unshift to manage the same thing.
>
I just realized while trying out the error detection in the middle that 
you need to Redraw to not mess up your display -- the text disappears. 
The script as a whole Redraws at the end, but you miss that when you 
sys.exit.

lines = scribus.getTextLines(textbox)
distances = scribus.getTextDistances(textbox)
linespace = scribus.getLineSpacing(textbox)
dimensions = scribus.getSize(textbox) # (width, height)
if (scribus.textOverflows(textbox, 1) > 0):
     scribus.messageBox('User Error', "This frame is already 
overflowing", scribus.ICON_WARNING, scribus.BUTTON_OK)
     scribus.setRedraw(True)
     sys.exit(2)
newtopdist = (dimensions[1] - linespace * lines)/2
scribus.setTextDistances(distances[0],distances[1],newtopdist,distances[3],textbox)
scribus.moveObject(-4,0,textbox)
scribus.moveObject(4,0,textbox)

Hopefully, the alignment of the lines will come out Ok in the mail list. 
scribus.setTextDistances... was supposed to line up with the rest.

Greg