Region Control
Number of regions
Arbortext Styler provides access to more page regions than were previously available. You can design page layouts that feature more than the standard three page regions (main, header and footer).
PTC Arbortext Layout Developer provides the ability to have up to 400 regions applied to the same page.
The Arbortext Styler UI does not permit the use of multiple regions on the same page to contain the main content flow. This could be used when creating title and cover pages, or when creating parts catalogs where one region contains tabular content and the other regions hold descriptive information. To create additional regions on a page layout to contain the main content, use PTC ALD source code edits for the page type object that defines the page layout. Add a new region that references the editorDom0 content stream.
Region placement
Arbortext Styler provides access to a number of positioning methods for regions. Regions can be placed relative to margins or page edges, or with absolute coordinates.
PTC Arbortext Layout Developer inherently uses absolute positions. Relative values can be configured through the Arbortext Styler UI.
The following complex region placement requirements can also be met with PTC Arbortext Layout Developer. It is advisable to engage GSO or an PTC ALD partner to achieve them:
• Inline region creation
It is sometimes necessary to extract some content from the main text and place it into a separate page region. PTC Arbortext Layout Developer allows users to create a frame (page region) dynamically during formatting and place it on the current page at the position required. It is possible to place the frame relative to the position of the markup item in the document that triggers its creation.
To create inline regions, use custom FOM code to create a frame and place it. The frame can be populated with any information and carry any of PTC Arbortext Layout Developer's frame properties. Content can be extracted from the main content stream using XPath or PTC Arbortext Layout Developer's show strings. External files (text or graphics) can be loaded into the frame.
Refer to Stylesheet Developer’s Guide to APP Code for a simple example of how to create a frame, position it at the same vertical position in the document at which an element should be, and populate it with content.
• Anchored regions / floats
Anchored regions are PTC Arbortext Layout Developer frames placed on a page according to conditions and rules. They typically hold text and/or graphics. An example of an anchored region is a figure in a book with a caption that is placed near its reference in the text.
PTC Arbortext Layout Developer allows the creation of complex placement rules, such as place in my current column or place in column X on the next page but not before frame Y.
Region properties
A number of PTC Arbortext Layout Developer's advanced page region properties are available through the Arbortext Styler UI:
• Avoid
When a region overlaps another, the content of the lower region wraps around the boundary of the upper region.
• Page clipping
If a page region should extend beyond a page boundary, the content can be clipped to the page boundary. Any content that overlaps the edge of the page will not be output to the printed file.
Deactivating page clipping allows items to run off the page. This enables the creation of bleed tabs, which rely on blocks of color extending off a page when printed.
• Rules
The Arbortext Styler UI provides an option to apply a single rule to a region. PTC Arbortext Layout Developer regions can carry up to 20 separate rules (see Multiple rules for more information.
PTC Arbortext Layout Developer supports additional properties for regions. These are not available through the Arbortext Styler UI, but can be accessed through PTC ALD source code edits:
• Column control
The integration of PTC Arbortext Layout Developer (PTC ALD) in Arbortext Styler uses blocks to control text column configurations as they can potentially be changed mid-page.
Regions can also have their own column configurations, which can be set by the user. One use of frame columns is to place side notes. Another is to strictly enforce a column configuration for the duration of the page set.
• Mode
PTC Arbortext Layout Developer regions can have a mode property, which governs when the region should appear. This type of conditional appearance can be based on whether the current page is left or right (or odd or even) or based on an expression. The conditional expression will force the frame to appear if it evaluates to a non-zero value and can test any variable information available in PTC Arbortext Layout Developer.
• Copy fit
If the content of a frame does not fill the frame, or overflows, rules can be applied to make the frame fit the content (or the content fit the frame). You can specify that certain text properties should change in order to make the content fit, or that certain frame dimensions should change in order to resize the frame for the content it holds.
• References
Frame references are discrete items of PTC Arbortext Layout Developer code that are run when different formatting events are encountered:
◦ Frame start references
Executed when the frame is started. These are often used to record the page break positions in a content stream. It is possible to query the current stream position and store this in a variable, as part of the page string or as a property on the page object.
◦ Column start references
Executed at the top of each column on the frame. You could use these (or frame start references) to output some information. Be careful when doing this, however, as it will affect the content being formatted at the column (or page) break
◦ Paragraph start references
Executed when PTC Arbortext Layout Developer starts a new paragraph. Paragraph start references occur before any paragraph styling.
◦ Line start references
Executed at the start of every line. They occur before paragraph start references. Line start references have been used as part of a line-numbering implementation as it is possible to use the reference to store both line number and vertical position in a variable or stream. The information is then output later.
• Filler
If content runs short in a frame, filler references can be used to add content to fill the frame up. That content could be a graphic, rules, text, or leaders.
• Cutting guides
Each frame can carry its own cutting guides. This is useful if you are producing a layout that will be cut into smaller parts (for example, business cards) or if you wish to add lots of extra content off the edge of the main page area. Apply cutting guides to regions to achieve this, rather than outputting them for the whole page.
Region content
When configured in the Arbortext Styler UI, regions are permitted to hold three types of content:
• Main content (one region per page)
• Generated content (for example headers and footers
• Graphical content (extracted from the main text using an XPath expression, or referencing an external file)
If other content is required, you can make PTC ALD source code edits in the .style stylesheet to point a page region to the content you wish to apply to it.
PTC Arbortext Layout Developer can accept non-XML or SGML text content so it is possible to pull in any external files, regardless of their content type.
Style can be applied to the content as long as it contains &entities; or <elements>. To apply style in this way, create a tag in an PTC ALD template and associate the template with your .style stylesheet. PTC ALD will look for an element or entity with the same name in the stylesheet.