Border design

Question

I’m sure this info is somewhere in here already but haven’t yet come across it - is there a way to add in our own borders designs or are we limited to the options found within ptxprint?

Answer 1

I’m curious as to what you mean by “within ptxprint”.

As far as I know, backgrounds (and section header graphics and verse border graphics) are simply .pdf files. There are a very few example files distributed with ptxprint, which is maybe what you’re seeing. They are in the C:\Program Files\PTXprint\ptxprint\PDFassets\border-art folder and, in my installation, consist of

A5 page border.pdf
A5 page border - no footer.pdf
A5 section head border.pdf
A5 section head border 2 column.pdf
A5 section head border(RTL).pdf
decoration.pdf
Verse number star.pdf

However, there shouldn’t be any reason you can’t navigate to a different folder and choose any other .pdf file.

Comments

Thanks - that clarifies things for me!

Answer 2

Another option is to use the relatively new ornaments plugin, which might get easir to use in the next release or 2, depending on packaging decisions.
Using that package to make side-bar borders is quite well tested, but there is some early-beta-test code which can also put borders around at least some types of scripture layouts, if you give it enough love. (e.g. so far there’s no logic to adjust margins to make room for the border, it just ignores the margins).

If you are using that plugin, then you get to pick ‘characters’ from a border font, or decorative elements from a set of a couple of hundred(many of which are unsuitable). specifying the sequence and which ones get repeated/stretched/both.

In other words you probably get far more control than you want…

Comments

ok, interesting - thanks for sharing about this feature.

Answer 3

I am wondering what the best way to change borders when changing sections. For example, I don’t want a border for book introductions or the glossary but I do for the Biblical text. Is the proper way to do this in PTXprint to set a hook for say \ip that defines the PageBorder and another hook for \p that undefines the PageBorder?

Answer 4

Found the answer to my question. Thanks Martin. In ptxprint-mods.tex I added:

% hooks to change border depending on section
\sethook{start}{imt}{\turnoffborder} % turn off the border for the intro
\sethook{start}{c}{\turnonborder} % turn on the border for the text
\def\turnonborder{ \def\PageBorder{“C://5x7-1ColFulBoxBorder.pdf” width 5in height 7in}
}
\def\turnoffborder{\def\PageBorder{}}

The path to the border PDF needs to be set appropriately within \def\PageBorder{}. The hooks can be set to whatever best triggers the border to be turned on and off, depending on one’s needs. This technique can be more advanced, having several borders and switching between them.
Another option is to use changes.txt to insert codes directly into the text but I find the \sethook more elegant and works well for this simple case. Using changes.txt, however, would give more precision to where borders were changed, such as doing different things for different books.