Expandable brackets in writer document, formula maybe?

users
#1

LO Writer in 6.3.4.2 on Xubuntu 18.04 up to date, installed from the
PPA, from LO.

I know this can be done, but the how escapes me. I need to produce
expandable brackets in Writer like the following (but here in the e-mail
I have to use single brackets - just assume that they are all one left
and one right bracket):

  [ +consonantal ]
  [ -voice ]
  [ +continuant ]

I need the words aligned vertically, as you would decimal align numbers
in a table.

I tried Insert > Object > Formula with the following:

left [ +consonantal
-voice
+continuant right ]

But it all came out on a single line. Furthermore, I managed to change
the font to the same font that I am using for the document, but I can't
figure out how to set the point size for it.

Any ideas?

#2

Hi John,

LO Writer in 6.3.4.2 on Xubuntu 18.04 up to date, installed from the
PPA, from LO.

I know this can be done, but the how escapes me. I need to produce
expandable brackets in Writer like the following (but here in the e-mail
I have to use single brackets - just assume that they are all one left
and one right bracket):

  [ +consonantal ]
  [ -voice ]
  [ +continuant ]

I need the words aligned vertically, as you would decimal align numbers
in a table.

I tried Insert > Object > Formula with the following:

left [ +consonantal
-voice
+continuant right ]

But it all came out on a single line.

left [ stack{ "+ consonantal"#"- voice"#"+ continuant" } right none

In case you like mathematical + and - you need to provide a dummy left operand.

left [ stack{""+"consonantal"#""-"voice"#""+"continuant} right none

  Furthermore, I managed to change

the font to the same font that I am using for the document

For text in quotations marks as above, it would be inside the formula editor menu Format > Fonts... > Modify > Text

, but I can't

figure out how to set the point size for it.

The font size is inside formula editor menu Format > Font Size. It is likely that you only need to adapt "Base size".

Any ideas?

Write the lines as normal single line paragraphs and use text flow "keep with next" or write them as one paragraph with line feeds. Insert a bracket-shape at the start of the first line and anchor it "at character". The bracket-shapes are in the sub-list "Symbol Shapes".

Kind regards
Regina

#3

On Sun, 23 Feb 2020 00:42:38 +0100
Regina Henschel <rb.henschel@t-online.de> dijo:

But it all came out on a single line.

left [ stack{ "+ consonantal"#"- voice"#"+ continuant" } right none

Aha! I had tried the stack command before, but it didn't work. I think
I may have left out the #s.

In case you like mathematical + and - you need to provide a dummy left
operand.

left [ stack{""+"consonantal"#""-"voice"#""+"continuant} right none

That line didn't work. Not only did I not get the mathematical + and -,
the stack also didn't work. But the + for my font works pretty good,
and for the - I just use U-2212.

, but I can't figure out how to set the point size for it.

I finally found the place to set the point size. The only problem is
that I have keep resetting it for each new formula. It even forgets
that I don't want italic. And if I close the document and reopen it
Writer even loses the font name. There must be a style setting for this
somewhere that works, but the Formula style in the styles palette
doesn't offer much, and when I make changes Writer just ignores them.

Write the lines as normal single line paragraphs and use text flow
"keep with next" or write them as one paragraph with line feeds.
Insert a bracket-shape at the start of the first line and anchor it
"at character". The bracket-shapes are in the sub-list "Symbol Shapes".

This looks like it might be lots easier than messing with formulas, but
I don't have a Symbols toolbar. When I installed LO I thought I
installed absolutely everything, but maybe I missed something.

Thanks a lot for your help. I'm making progress!

#4

Hi John,

On Sun, 23 Feb 2020 00:42:38 +0100
Regina Henschel <rb.henschel@t-online.de> dijo:

left [ stack{""+"consonantal"#""-"voice"#""+"continuant} right none

That line didn't work.

My fault. Missed one quotation mark
left [ stack{""+"consonantal"#""-"voice"#""+"continuant"} right none

This looks like it might be lots easier than messing with formulas, but
I don't have a Symbols toolbar. When I installed LO I thought I
installed absolutely everything, but maybe I missed something.

No you missed nothing. Look in the Standard toolbar. There should be an icon "Show Drawing Functions" somewhere on the right end of the Standard toolbar. Click it. It opens the toolbar "Drawing". It is likely docked to the bottom or to the left side. On this toolbar you see a Smiley with a little triangle, click the triangle to open the sub-toolbar "Symbol Shapes".

But if you are not familiar with these toolbars, it might be easier for you to use the menu: Insert > Shape > Symbol Shapes. There you find the brackets.

Kind regards
Regina

#5

On Sun, 23 Feb 2020 02:15:21 +0100
Regina Henschel <rb.henschel@t-online.de> dijo:

left [ stack{""+"consonantal"#""-"voice"#""+"continuant"} right none

That works lovely, but getting the leading right is not easy. This
needs to be in a line that says <formula> → <formula> / <formula>

In case that didn't make it in the e-mail, the character between the
first two formulas is a right arrow. The right arrow and the slash need
to be centered on the formula. If I make the leading for that center
line with the arrow and slash tall enough so the three-line formulas all
appear with their brackets then the arrow and slash end up not aligned
with any of the lines in the formula.

This looks like it might be lots easier than messing with formulas,
but I don't have a Symbols toolbar. When I installed LO I thought I
installed absolutely everything, but maybe I missed something.

No you missed nothing. Look in the Standard toolbar. There should be
an icon "Show Drawing Functions" somewhere on the right end of the
Standard toolbar. Click it. It opens the toolbar "Drawing". It is
likely docked to the bottom or to the left side. On this toolbar you
see a Smiley with a little triangle, click the triangle to open the
sub-toolbar "Symbol Shapes".

Thanks, I found the bracket symbols, but 1) the corners are rounded, 2)
they look kind of faint on the screen so I tried to find a way to
specify the thickness of the line, but it's not there. And 3), for some
reason they do not print. I don't know why the corners are rounded, but
I can't really use them, so I guess it doesn't matter if they don't
print and I can't change the line width.

Too bad, because the double bracket might be really easy to use. All
I'd have to do is make myself a little chart for the heights I'd need
for a two-line, three-line, four-line, etc. formula.

#6

On Sun, 23 Feb 2020 10:55:32 -0800
John Jason Jordan <johnxj@gmx.com> dijo:

Thanks, I found the bracket symbols, but 1) the corners are rounded, 2)
they look kind of faint on the screen so I tried to find a way to
specify the thickness of the line, but it's not there. And 3), for some
reason they do not print. I don't know why the corners are rounded, but
I can't really use them, so I guess it doesn't matter if they don't
print and I can't change the line width.

Too bad, because the double bracket might be really easy to use. All
I'd have to do is make myself a little chart for the heights I'd need
for a two-line, three-line, four-line, etc. formula.

Never mind about the line width and print problem. I suddenly noticed
that there is a place to set the line width in the toolbar, and it was
set to 0 points, explains why it didn't print.

Maybe I can find some additional bracket symbols somewhere.

#7

Hi John,

Thanks, I found the bracket symbols, but 1) the corners are rounded

When you have drawn the bracket and click on it to make it active, you should see a handle. If you drag the handle upward, the corners will become sharp.

If that does not work for, I can make you a bracket. I would need to sent it to you private, because the mailing list does not allow attachments.

Kind regards
Regina

#8

On Sun, 23 Feb 2020 21:35:40 +0100
Regina Henschel <rb.henschel@t-online.de> dijo:

Hi John,

[..]

Thanks, I found the bracket symbols, but 1) the corners are rounded

When you have drawn the bracket and click on it to make it active, you
should see a handle. If you drag the handle upward, the corners will
become sharp.

If that does not work for, I can make you a bracket. I would need to
sent it to you private, because the mailing list does not allow
attachments.

Yes, I see the six handles, of course, but I can only move the ones in
the center of each side. And when I do it just compresses or expands
the entire bracket in the direction you move it. No matter how tall or
how short, or how wide or how narrow I make the bracket the corners
are still rounded.

But now that I've figured out how to do the formulas (and thanks for
your help!), they look pretty good. Still, you might make a bracket and
donate it to LO. I still can't believe the brackets included with LO
have rounded corners.

#9

I would like to point out a series of tools for the processing and analysis
of electronic invoices according to the SDI layout of the Italian Revenue
Agency which also work with a normal spreadsheet, also Libreoffice
http://gualmini-pct.blogspot.com/2019/01/strumenti-per-la-fatturazione.html

Paolo Del Romano