Document Classes ⇒ caption package and

[christina_t]

Hi!

I am having problems with the caption package. I downloaded the new version and it seems that now my captions do not work right. This is part of the preamble

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{report}
\usepackage{natbib}
\usepackage{setspace}
\usepackage{threeparttable}
\usepackage{epsf}
\usepackage{supertabular}
\usepackage{picins}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage[margin=10pt,{font=footnotesize,singlespacing},labelfont=bf,labelsep=endash,hang]{caption}

etc...

and what I am trying to do is to put a different caption in the table of figures by using :

\caption[blah blah]{blah blah blab blah}

However what I get in the dvi is that both [] {} are included in the caption, the numbering of the figure goes crazy and the log says:

! Package caption Error: \caption outside float.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Many thanks

Christina

[gmedina]

Hi,

can you please post some of the actual code you are using for one of your tables or figures (in the sense of a minimal working example)? It seems that you are using \caption outside a floating environment (as suggested by the error you are getting); if this is so, then maybe you could try using \captionof (provided by the caption package).

[christina_t]

hi!
thanks for the prompt reply

There are several figures with the same problem. one example:

\begin{minipage}{15cm}
\centering
\includegraphics[scale=0.8]{MVN08-112}
\caption[One figure]{One figure; photo courtesy ...}
\label{medium}
\end{minipage}

[gmedina]

Hi,

just as I suspected. The \caption command can only be used inside floats (i.e., inside figure and table environments). Since you are buiding your figures without the floating environment, you cannot use \caption; you can use \captionof instead; take a look at the following example:

Code: Select all

\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{caption}

\begin{document}
\listoffigures

\begin{minipage}{15cm}
  \centering
  \includegraphics[scale=0.8]{MVN08-112}
  \captionof{figure}[One figure]{One figure; photo courtesy ...}
  \label{medium}
\end{minipage}

\end{document}

A similar remark applies also in the case of tables; if you do not enclose them with a table environment, then you still can have captions using

Code: Select all

\captionof{table}[Short caption.]{Long caption.}

Edit: initially I forgot to delete some additional code I used to do my test.
Edit 2: just for completeness' sake I included the graphicx package in my code (thanks to Stefan_K).

[christina_t]

Something really strange happenned

I did as you suggested and it was still not working, i had a black box above the figure and the same problem with the caption. however, once I deleted it (your suggested format) from the document, I did latex once and it just worked!! i do not understand this!

is there a problem if i use minipage instead of a figure environment? but how and why would it work now all of a sudden?? i did not change a thing!

[gmedina]

Hi Christina,

my code works OK. Notice that since you are generating a list of figures (and possibly a list of tables) you must compile your document twice.

Edit: I just noticed that I put a \rule command in my code to do some tests and I forgot to delete it; here's how it should be:

Code: Select all

\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{caption}

\begin{document}
\listoffigures

\begin{minipage}{15cm}
  \centering
  \includegraphics[scale=0.8]{MVN08-112}
  \captionof{figure}[One figure]{One figure; photo courtesy ...}
  \label{medium}
\end{minipage}

\end{document}

I will correct the code that I posted above.

...is there a problem if i use minipage instead of a figure environment?...

No, but your figures won't float. In the following links you can find information about floats in LaTeX:
Moving tables and figures in LaTeX
Figure (or table) exactly where I want it

Edit 2: just for completeness' sake I included the graphicx package in my code (thanks to Stefan_K).

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Hi Christina,

using a minipage the picture will be centered inside the minipage of that certain width, not in relation to the surrounding text.
To achiev this one could use

Code: Select all

\noindent\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
...

or \begin{center} ... \end{center} instead of centering and minipage: \captionof also works in a center environment.

Stefan

[christina_t]

thanks a lot for your replies!

still the code you gave me does not work; i get the following from the log file

! Undefined control sequence.
l.57 \captionof
{figure}[One figure]{One figure; photo courtesy ...}
? h
The control sequence at the end of the top line
of your error message was never \def'ed. If you have
misspelled it (e.g., `\hobx'), type `I' and the correct
spelling (e.g., `I\hbox'). Otherwise just continue,
and I'll forget about whatever was undefined.

whereas now what I was using before works out of the blue.

what mistake am i making? i am already using the graphicx package.

[Stefan Kottwitz]

You have to use the caption package too, \captionof belongs to it. gmedina used it in his examples above.

Stefan

[christina_t]

i was using it at first, then it was probably quite late at night and somehow deleted it from the preamble... that is why it was working without using captionof

apologies!