sdapsbase package

This base package handles many of the core functionalities to make the SDAPS class work (together with sdapsarray). It implements a number of features which should however not be relevant for many end users. It should not be neccessary to dive into the sdapsbase implementation unless you want to use some of the more advanced features or even create completely custom layouts.

The context subsystem

SDAPS has a system to handle context for the questions. This context is managed in the global TeX scope. This means that modifications done for example inside a multicols environment will still be seen in the rest of the document. The context system itself is also hirarchical, so that it is possible to define different defaults for sections of the document. The most obvious use case for this might be prefixing all variables within parts of the document with a certain string. But one could also imagine changing the size of checkboxes for parts of the document.

Handling context nesting

The following commands can be used to handle context nesting. Note that SDAPS makes a best effort to detect errors where begin/end was not used in a balanced fashion.

\sdaps_context_begin:n {context name}

Begins a context with the given name

\sdaps_context_end:n {context name}

Ends the context again, ensuring the name is correct

\sdaps_context_begin:

Begins a context with an empty name

\sdaps_context_end:

Ends a context started with \sdaps_context_begin:

\sdaps_context_begin_local:

Begins a context which automatically ends together with the current TeX group.

\sdaps_context_enable_writing:

Enable metadata writing for the remainder of the current context. Note that this package disables writing at start and you need to enable it before calling \sdaps_begin: (and \sdaps_end:). Classes such as the sdapsclassic class will enable metadata writing for you.

\sdaps_context_disable_writing:

Disable metadata writing for the remainder of the current context. Note that disabling metadata writing may have some side effects with regard to variables and automatic numbering of questions and answers. The exact behaviour is currently not well defined.

\sdaps_context_hook_end:n

Register a token list which will be executed at the end of the current context. This is primarily useful as a context might be ended implicitly in some circumstances.

\sdaps_context_hook_post_end:n

Register a token list which will be executed after the end of the current context has ended (i.e. in the parent context). This is primarily useful as a context might be ended implicitly in some circumstances.

Managing context variables

\sdaps_context_put:n {key}

Set the given variable (or key) to \\undefined.

\sdaps_context_put:nn {key} {value}

Set the given variable to the given value (Variants: nV)

\sdaps_context_remove:n {key}

Remove the given variable from the context.

\sdaps_context_set:n { key=value, key={a=b, c=d} }

Set context variables from the given key=value parameters

\sdaps_context_append:nn {key} {value}

The first argument being a variable to modify, append the given value to the existing value. This can for example be used to change only one aspect of checkbox drawing (e.g. form) without affecting resetting another one that was defined earlier (e.g. width or height).

Generally it is a good idea to use this macro as nested options are common.

Identical to \sdaps_context_append:nnn with “,” as the separator.

\sdaps_context_append:nnn {key} {value} {separator}

Append the value to the given key in the context. If key is set, inserts separator between them. If key is not set, simply sets the key to the given value.

Variants

nVn

Defining questions and headings

\sdaps_qobject_begin:nnn {name} {type} {title}

Start a new qobject, giving the following arguments:

• The name of the context group to start

• The type of the qobject (to be consumed by the SDAPS main program)

• The title for the metadata

\sdaps_qobject_end:n {name}

Finish a qobject again, must pass the correct name to verify correct nesting.

\sdaps_qobject_begin:nn {type} {title}

Same as sdaps_qobject_begin:nnn but without giving a context name.

\sdaps_qobject_begin_local:nn {type} {title}

Same as sdaps_qobject_begin:nnn but will automatically end with the current TeX group (using sdaps_context_begin_local:).

\sdaps_qobject_end:

End a question which did not have a defined context name

You can write further metadata using the following macros:

\sdaps_qobject_append_var:n {var}

Appends the given string to the variable name of the question. An _ will be used to separate the new variable name with any piece that was defined earlier (either on the same question or on a surrounding question object).

If var starts with an underscore (_) then an implicit variable name for all surrounding question object (i.e. headings/sections) will be generated based on their automatic numbering. This is similar to the mechanism used by choicearray to ensure that the different questions can always be told appart, even if the user did not specify a variable name for all of them.

\sdaps_answer:n {answer text}

Write metadata for an answer which belongs to the current question (context)

\sdaps_range:nnn {lower|upper} {ID} {answer text}

Writes metadata for a range.

Arguments

• lower|upper – Give either lower or upper for each end of the range.

• ID – The ID of the checkbox which corresponds to the first/lower or last/upper box in the range. Other boxes are considered outside and need a separate answer. Boxes are counted zero based and the given range is inclusive.

• answer text – The string for the metadata.

Variants

nno, nnf, nnV

Generic commands are also provided to write to

\sdaps_info_write:n {text}

Write given text to metadatafile at shipout. Some output may be reordered due to this, but all SDAPS classes ensure that the metadata can still be decoded correctly. As this macro leaves elements in the output stream it can affect layouting in a few cases (e.g. row headers of sdapsarray).

The tokens will not be expanded again before writing. This implies that coordinates cannot be written using this macro.

Arguments

text – Text to write to the metadata file.

Variants

x

\sdaps_info_write_x:n

Write given text to metadatafile at shipout. Some output may be reordered due to this, but all SDAPS classes ensure that the metadata can still be decoded correctly. As this macro leaves elements in the output stream it can affect layouting in a few cases (e.g. row headers of sdapsarray).

The tokens will be expanded again before writing. This implies that coordinates can be written using this macro if one takes care not to protect them from being expanded at macro execution time.

Arguments

text – Text to write to the metadata file.

Variants

x

Overrides

Overrides allow setting defaults based on the questionnaire ID or based on the variable name and value of items. Using this feature it would for example be possible to fill in names into text fields for printing.

Note

Overrides are independent of the context itself.

Commands which adhere to overrides are currently:

• all multichoice or singlechoice checkboxes

• all textboxes

There is only one command to set the overrides string:

\sdaps_set_questionnaire_id:n {ID}

Set the current questionnaire ID. This should generally not change unless some sort of concatenation is done. It is only relevant for writing new environments.

\sdaps_overrides_init:n {overrides}

Arguments

overrides – A key=value argument with all the override definitions.

Each of the override definitions will be appened to the items keys if it is matching. Matching happens first based on the questionnaire ID with * being allowed as a wildcard, and then based on variable name and value. The second level (name and value) is either just the variable name or the variable name and value separated by an & character.

This gives six matches with increasing priority:

• wildcard questionnaire ID, wildcard target

• wildcard questionnaire ID, matching variable

• wildcard questionnaire ID, matching variable, matching value

• matching questionnaire ID, wildcard target

• matching questionnaire ID, matching variable

• matching questionnaire ID, matching variable, matching value

Example LaTeX codeResultMetadata

\begin{choicegroup}[var=flower]{A group of questions with variable "flower"}
  \groupaddchoice[var=alice]{Choice "alice"}
  \groupaddchoice[var=eve]{Choice "eve"}
  \choiceline[var=adam]{Question "adam"}
  \choiceline[var=bob]{Question "bob"}
\end{choicegroup}

% Force a different questionnaire ID (never do this in a real document!)
\ExplSyntaxOn
\sdaps_set_questionnaire_id:n { testid }
\ExplSyntaxOff
\begin{choicegroup}[var=flower]{A group of questions with variable "flower"}
  \groupaddchoice[var=alice]{Choice "alice"}
  \groupaddchoice[var=eve]{Choice "eve"}
  \choiceline[var=adam]{Question "adam"}
  \choiceline[var=bob]{Question "bob"}
\end{choicegroup}

Required code in preamble:

\ExplSyntaxOn
\sdaps_overrides_init:n{
    % For all questoinnaires independent of their ID
    *={
      % For all elements which use the overrides
      *={fill=green},
      % Specific element with that variable name
      flower_bob_alice={draw_check=true},
      % Specific element with variable "var" and value 1
      var&1={draw_check=true},
    },
    % Specific questionnaire ID
    testid={
      % We need to explicitly unset it again!
      flower_bob_alice={draw_check=false},
      flower_adam_alice={draw_check=true},
    },
}
\ExplSyntaxOff

[1]Author=Author
[2]Title=Title
[3]SDAPSVersion=1.9.10
[4]Duplex=true
[5]PrintQuestionnaireId=0
[6]PageSize=597.50793pt,845.04694pt
[7]Style=qr
[8]CheckMode=checkcorrect
[9]GlobalID=
[10]GlobalIDLabel=
[11]CornerMarkMargin=28.45274pt,28.45274pt,34.1433pt,34.1433pt
[12]QObject-Head=1. A group of questions with variable "flower"
[13]QObject-Choice=1.1. Question "adam"
[14]Answer[1.1]=Choice "alice"
[15]Answer[1.1]=Choice "eve"
[16]Box[1.1]=Checkbox,0,444.80862pt,699.3666pt,9.95845pt,9.95845pt,box,1.00374pt,flower_adam_alice,1
[17]Box[1.1]=Checkbox,0,521.53519pt,699.3666pt,9.95845pt,9.95845pt,box,1.00374pt,flower_adam_eve,2
[18]Variable[1.1]=flower_adam
[19]QObject-Choice=1.2. Question "bob"
[20]Answer[1.2]=Choice "alice"
[21]Answer[1.2]=Choice "eve"
[22]Box[1.2]=Checkbox,0,444.80862pt,685.76659pt,9.95845pt,9.95845pt,box,1.00374pt,flower_bob_alice,1
[23]Box[1.2]=Checkbox,0,521.53519pt,685.76659pt,9.95845pt,9.95845pt,box,1.00374pt,flower_bob_eve,2
[24]Variable[1.2]=flower_bob
[25]Variable[1]=flower
[26]QObject-Head=2. A group of questions with variable "flower"
[27]QObject-Choice=2.1. Question "adam"
[28]Answer[2.1]=Choice "alice"
[29]Answer[2.1]=Choice "eve"
[30]Box[2.1]=Checkbox,0,444.80862pt,637.89645pt,9.95845pt,9.95845pt,box,1.00374pt,flower_adam_alice,1
[31]Box[2.1]=Checkbox,0,521.53519pt,637.89645pt,9.95845pt,9.95845pt,box,1.00374pt,flower_adam_eve,2
[32]Variable[2.1]=flower_adam
[33]QObject-Choice=2.2. Question "bob"
[34]Answer[2.2]=Choice "alice"
[35]Answer[2.2]=Choice "eve"
[36]Box[2.2]=Checkbox,0,444.80862pt,624.29645pt,9.95845pt,9.95845pt,box,1.00374pt,flower_bob_alice,1
[37]Box[2.2]=Checkbox,0,521.53519pt,624.29645pt,9.95845pt,9.95845pt,box,1.00374pt,flower_bob_eve,2
[38]Variable[2.2]=flower_bob
[39]Variable[2]=flower

Overriding checkbox color and pre-filled value based on questionnaire ID and variables.

The rendering subsystem

Checkbox

Option	Description
linewidth	The width of the outline (default: 1bp)
width	The width of the checkbox (default 3.5mm)
height	The height of the checkbox (default: 3.5mm)
form	The form, either box or ellipse (default: box for multichoice and ellipse for singlechoice)
value	The value of the checkbox (for internal use)
fill	The colour to fill the checkbox with (default: white)
draw	The colour to draw the checkbox frame with (default: ., i.e. current text colour)
draw_check	Whether to draw a checkmark on top of the box (default: false)
centered_text	Text to overlay over the checkmark (default: none)
text	Text to overlay over the checkmark using a minipage (default: none)
text_align	The minipage alignment of the overlay (default: c, valid are c, t, b, s for center, top, bottom or spread)
text_padding	The minipages padding from the outside border of the box (default: 2bp)
ellipse	Pass as a short form for form=ellipse
box	Pass as a short form for form=box

There is only one user facing command to render a checkbox:

• \sdaps_checkbox:nn The following arguments can be given:

  • Variable name

  • Value

The behaviour of the checkbox should be changed through the context. On a first level this works by using \sdaps_checkbox_set_type:n and setting either singlechoice or multichoice. Other than that you can also change the style for singlechoice and multichoice through the context and overrides. The following example demonstrates the use of context modification.

Example LaTeX codeResult

\noindent
\ExplSyntaxOn
\sdaps_checkbox:nn {} {}

\hspace{1em}
\sdaps_context_append:nn { * } { linewidth=2bp }
\sdaps_checkbox:nn {} {}

\hspace{1em}
\sdaps_context_append:nn { multichoice } { fill=red }
\sdaps_checkbox:nn {} {}

\hspace{1em}
\sdaps_context_set:n { * = {} }
\sdaps_checkbox:nn {} {}


\hspace{1em}
\sdaps_context_set:n { multichoice={ellipse} }
\sdaps_checkbox:nn {} {}

\hspace{1em}
\sdaps_context_append:nn { * } { linewidth=2bp }
\sdaps_checkbox:nn {} {}

\hspace{1em}
\sdaps_context_append:nn { multichoice } { fill=red }
\sdaps_checkbox:nn {} {}

\hspace{1em}
\sdaps_context_set:n { * = {} }
\sdaps_checkbox:nn {} {}

\newline

\sdaps_context_set:n { * = { centered_text = X }, multichoice = { width=5mm, height=5mm} }
\sdaps_checkbox:nn {} {}

\hspace{1em}
\sdaps_context_append:nn { * } { linewidth=2bp }
\sdaps_checkbox:nn {} {}

\hspace{1em}
\sdaps_context_append:nn { checkbox } { fill=red }
\sdaps_checkbox:nn {} {}

\hspace{1em}
\sdaps_context_set:n { * = {} }
\sdaps_checkbox:nn {} {}

\hspace{1em}
\sdaps_context_set:n { multichoice={draw_check} }
\sdaps_checkbox:nn {} {}

\hspace{1em}
\sdaps_context_append:nn { * } { linewidth=2bp }
\sdaps_checkbox:nn {} {}

\hspace{1em}
\sdaps_context_append:nn { multichoice } { fill=red }
\sdaps_checkbox:nn {} {}

\hspace{1em}
\sdaps_context_set:n { * = {} }
\sdaps_checkbox:nn {} {}

\ExplSyntaxOff

Example showing modification of the context for checkbox rendering

Todo

It appears the text is not centered correctly.