Accolades
Accolades are an PTC Arbortext Layout Developer mechanism with which rules are drawn from a start position to an end position on the page specified in the text. They originated as part of PTC Arbortext Layout Developer’s change tracking display functionality for legal and financial reporting and can be used to apply change bars in the margins of text. Unlike border rules, accolades are not applied to a formatting object. They have a start and end command so they can span content structures.
The fAccolade and fAccoladeInline FOM objects are used to create and define the accolade and its rules:
• fAccolade creates a control stream tag as part of the document
• fAccoladeInline creates a temporary object without a tag
Their properties are the same.
The fFormatting.accoladeStart() and fFormatting.accoladeEnd() methods activate and deactivate the accolade.
Accolades extend the set of common rule properties with additional properties that control the style of the rule being drawn:
• fAccolade.type, fAccoladeInline.type — specify the type of accolade to be drawn
As well as graphical rules, accolades can be used to draw special characters such as brackets and braces around content. These properties control the type of accolade being drawn and include a boxed type for drawing graphical rules. The types are listed on the fAccolade.AccoladeType constant.
• fAccolade.topLocation, fAccoladeInline.topLocation, fAccolade.bottomLocation, fAccoladeInline.bottomLocation, fAccolade.leftLocation, fAccoladeInline.leftLocation, fAccolade.rightLocation, fAccoladeInline.rightLocation — indicate where to draw the accolade
Accolades are drawn relative to the text to which they are being applied. They can have a top, bottom, left, and right location property that specifies where, relative to the text and the on/off command, to draw the accolade.
Possible values are described in the fAccolade.AccoladeLocation constant and include:
◦ Text margin — the accolade is drawn at the edge of the text
◦ Column edge — the accolade is drawn at the edge of the current frame column
◦ Frame edge — the accolade is drawn at the edge of the current frame
◦ Page edge — the accolade is drawn at the edge of the current page
◦ Exact — the horizontal and vertical position of the start and end command are taken as the drawing points
◦ Text edge — the accolade is drawn at the edge of the text, not including margins
◦ Table and table column edge — the accolade is drawn relative to the table or table column edge positions
• fAccolade.topOffset, fAccoladeInline.topOffset, fAccolade.bottomOffset, fAccoladeInline.bottomOffset, fAccolade.leftOffset, fAccoladeInline.leftOffset, fAccolade.rightOffset, fAccoladeInline.rightOffset — specify an offset at which to draw the accolade
You can offset each location specified for an accolade with a value that shifts the accolade away from content.
• fAccolade.leftDelimiter, fAccoladeInline.leftDelimiter, fAccolade.rightDelimiter, fAccoladeInline.rightDelimiter — define characters to delimit text
The fAccolade.AccoladeDelimiter constant provides a list of the available characters, including brackets and braces.
The fFormatting.accoladeStart() and fFormatting.accoladeEnd() commands instruct PTC Arbortext Layout Developer where to start and stop drawing the accolade. The commands take a number of parameters that control how the defined accolade is handled in this specific instance. Some parameters override settings in the accolade definition. Others are also available:
• Level — the level on which to start the accolade
The level parameter allows multiple accolades to be drawn concurrently. Values range from 0 to 255.
Separate accolades should be maintained on different levels. Ending a level stops all accolades being drawn at that level.
• Percent — the percentage of the accolade to display
This option allows part of a defined accolade to be drawn. This option can be useful when restarting an accolade after a break.
• Draw mode — when to draw the accolade
This option controls when to use the accolade, depending on the amount of text on the current line. Possible values are listed in the fAccolade.AccoladeDrawMode constant.
• Draw level — where to draw the accolade
This option controls where the accolade is drawn relative to other page content such as rules, text, and backgrounds. Possible values are listed in the fAccolade.AccoladeDrawLevel constant.