Document Classes ⇒ Modifying a class

[artyb]

Hi,
I'm trying to modify the papertex class to allow titles to be spread over just 2 columns of a 3 column environment. The code I'm modifying is:

\newcommand{\magazinetex@inexpandedtitle}[1]{
\begin{minipage}{.95\textwidth}
\begin{center}
\noindent\Large\textbf{#1}
\end{center}
\end{minipage}
}

\newcommand{\expandedtitle}[2]{
\end{multicols}

\begin{center}
\setlength{\fboxsep}{5pt}
\setlength{\shadowsize}{2pt}
\ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{shadowbox}}{%
\shadowbox{%
\magazinetex@inexpandedtitle{#2}%
}%
}{}
\ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{doublebox}}{%
\doublebox{%
\magazinetex@inexpandedtitle{#2}%
}%
}{}
\ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{ovalbox}}{%
\ovalbox{%
\magazinetex@inexpandedtitle{#2}%
}%
}{}
\ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{Ovalbox}}{%
\Ovalbox{%
\magazinetex@inexpandedtitle{#2}%
}%
}{}
\ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{lines}}{
\hrule
\vspace*{8pt}
\begin{center}
\noindent\Large\textbf{#2}
\end{center}
\vspace*{8pt}
\hrule
}{}
\end{center}

\begin{multicols}{\magazinetex@ncolumns{}}
\ifnum \magazinetex@ncolumns > \minraggedcols
\raggedFormat
\fi
}

Clearly here the multicolumn environment is ended, and a minipage of width 0.95textwidth is created. What I'd like to do is get the values of \columnwidth and \columnsep from before we leave the multicolumn environment, and use them to set the width. I've tried \setlength and \let but I get the minipage being very thin. Simply putting \begin{minipage}{10cm} works, but won't adapt to different column widths.
My modification at present:

\newcommand{\papertex@inresultstable}[2]{

\begin{minipage}{\papertex@resultstablesize}
\begin{center}
\noindent\normalsize\textbf{#2}
\end{center}
\end{minipage}
}

\newcommand{\resultstable}[2]{
\setlength{\papertex@previouscolumnwidth}{\columnwidth}
\setlength{\papertex@previouscolumnsep}{\columnsep}
\setlength{\papertex@resultstablesize}{\papertex@previouscolumnwidth}

\vspace*{5pt}

\end{multicols}
\begin{center}




\setlength{\fboxsep}{5pt}
\setlength{\shadowsize}{2pt}

%\addtolength{\papertex@resultstablesize}{-1\papertex@previouscolumnsep}
%\addtolength{\papertex@resultstablesize}{-5pt}
%\addtolength{\papertex@resultstablesize}{-1\shadowsize}





\ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{shadowbox}}{%
\shadowbox{%
\papertex@inresultstable{\papertex@resultstablesize}{#2}%
}%
}{}
\ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{doublebox}}{%
\doublebox{%
\papertex@inresultstable{\papertex@resultstablesize}{#2}%
}%
}{}
\ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{ovalbox}}{%
\ovalbox{%
\papertex@inresultstable{\papertex@resultstablesize}{#2}%
}%
}{}
\ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{Ovalbox}}{%
\Ovalbox{%
\papertex@inresultstable{\papertex@resultstablesize}{#2}%
}%
}{}
\ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{lines}}{
\hrule
\vspace*{5pt}
\begin{center}
\noindent\normalsize\textbf{#2}
\end{center}
\vspace*{5pt}
\hrule
}{}
\end{center}

\begin{multicols}{\papertex@ncolumns{}}
\ifnum \papertex@ncolumns > \minraggedcols
\raggedFormat
\fi
}

I have 2 questions at the moment please. How can I grab and keep a value from before the multicolumn environment was left, and how can I display (either in log file or in LaTeX text output) the value being assigned to variables so that I can debug the class file? Thanks in advance.

[Juanjo]

I have 2 questions at the moment please. How can I grab and keep a value from before the multicolumn environment was left, and how can I display (either in log file or in LaTeX text output) the value being assigned to variables so that I can debug the class file? Thanks in advance.

The following code may help:

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}

\newlength{\mylength}
\setlength{\mylength}{10pt}
\the\mylength

\begingroup
\setlength{\mylength}{20pt}
\the\mylength
\endgroup

\the\mylength

\begingroup
\global\setlength{\mylength}{30pt}
\the\mylength
\endgroup

\the\mylength

\end{document}

As shown above, the \the command before a length prints its value. It does the same task for counters: \thepage prints the page number, for example. For macros, you have \show: for example, \show\item stops compilation and shows the actual definition of \item in the console window. Likewise, the above code shows that changes to lengths inside a group are local. Out of the corresponding group, the initial value is reset. If you want to make global some modification, prepend the \global macro.

[artyb]

Brilliant, thank you, and such a quick response-got it working the same evening, but been too busy to thank you since.