General ⇒ problem with \def\fileversion, \def\filedate, and setspace

[lauraf]

Hi all,

I have been using \def\fileversion and \def\filedate as illustrated here:

Code: Select all

\documentclass[a4paper, 11pt, final]{article}

% ----------------------------------------------------------------------
% HISTORY
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------
\def\fileversion{v1.0}
\def\filedate{2010/04/22}
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------

% ----------------------------------------------------------------------
% PACKAGES
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------

% general
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{setspace}
	%\singlespacing
	%\onehalfspacing
	\doublespacing
	%\setstretch{1.1}
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------


\title{Minimum working example%
\thanks{Version \fileversion, last revised \filedate.}} 

\date{\today}

\begin{document}
\maketitle

Hello!

\end{document}

Today I have added the package setspace to tweak the line spacing, and now \def\fileversion and \def\filedate return the corresponding information from setspace.sty rather than the information relating to my file

Any ideas on how to fix this? Or does anybody know a better way to set the date and number for the current file version?

Many thanks,
Laura

[frabjous]

Either put the history section after the packages section like so:

Code: Select all

\documentclass[a4paper, 11pt, final]{article}
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------
% PACKAGES
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------

% general
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{setspace}
   %\singlespacing
   %\onehalfspacing
   \doublespacing
   %\setstretch{1.1}
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------

% ----------------------------------------------------------------------
% HISTORY
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------
\def\fileversion{v1.0}
\def\filedate{2010/04/22}
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------


\title{Minimum working example%
\thanks{Version \fileversion, last revised \filedate.}}

\date{\today}

\begin{document}
\maketitle

Hello!

\end{document}

Or use different command names:

Code: Select all

\documentclass[a4paper, 11pt, final]{article}
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------
% HISTORY
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------
\def\myfileversion{v1.0}
\def\myfiledate{2010/04/22}
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------

% ----------------------------------------------------------------------
% PACKAGES
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------

% general
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{setspace}
   %\singlespacing
   %\onehalfspacing
   \doublespacing
   %\setstretch{1.1}
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------

\title{Minimum working example%
\thanks{Version \myfileversion, last revised \myfiledate.}}

\date{\today}

\begin{document}
\maketitle

Hello!

\end{document}

You might consider using \today instead of \filename anyway, since presumably you'd be editing it and building to PDF (or PS or DVI or whatever) in on the same days anyway.

Also I personally tend to use \newcommand and/or \renewcommand rather than \def if using LaTeX rather than plain TeX, but I guess it doesn't matter much for these purposes.

[josephwright]

\filedate and \fileversion are used by a number of packages, and are therefore "scracth" values. Pick different macro names: \MyFileDate and \MyFileVersion, for example.

[lauraf]

Great, thank you very much for the hints

Laura