Jeremias Maerki wrote: >Would you consider sharing what you already >have? This may help us in the general discussion and may be a good >starting point.
Ok, I'll try to. The main change in the LineLM is that the line breaking algorithm does not select only the node in activeList with fewest demerits: all the nodes whose demerits are <= a threshold are used to create LineBreakPositions, so for each paragraph there is a set of layout options (for example, a paragraph could create 8 to 10 lines, 9 being the layout with fewest demerits). According to the value of widows and orphans, the LineLM creates a sequence of elements: besides "normal" lines, represented by a box, there are "optional lines", represented by box(0) penalty(inf,0) glue(0,1,0) box(0) and "removable lines" box(0) penalty(inf,0) glue(1,0,1) box(0) A few complications arise if not every possible layout allows breaks between lines, but they all can be solved using boxes, glues and penalties (for example, if a paragraph needs 3 or 4 lines, if it uses 3 it cannot be parted). The BlockLM, and a block stacking LM in general, adds elements representing its children's spaces and keep condition, for example adding a 0 penalty or an infinite penalty according to child1.mustKeepWithNext(), child2.mustKeepWithPrevious() and this.mustKeepTogether(). The PageLM, once it has the list of elements representing a whole page-sequence (or the content before a forced page break), calls the same breaking algorithm, using only a different selection method which leaves only one node in activeList. It has now a rough sequence of pages: each one may may have a positive or negative difference (with respect to the page height); the glue elements representing adjustable lines or adjustable spaces in a page are collected in different lists and they are used to "negotiate" a block progression adjustment with the LM which created them. In this phase each LineLM knows how many lines it will finally create. Then, a new sequence of elements is created, and this time each element has a fixed width (as the adjustments have already been decided). This sequence is used to create the final pages; note that if the adjustments have been enough to perfectly fill the pages, a first fit algorithm would be enough to recreate the right page breaks. This phase is needed, at the moment, because the Positions that the LineLMs store in their elements are not LineBreakPosition (as they still don't know how many lines they have to create), but maybe it could be avoided in some way ... Don't hesitate to ask for further details, I'll try to answer as clearly as possible! As per the columns, I did not think about them yet, but if they are equally wide it shouldn't be terribly hard to handle them ... Regards Luca
