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Custom command for '\begin{environment}...\end{environment}'

Answer 1

+4 A:

Try this:

\newcommand{\dialogueline}[2]{\begin{dialogue}{#1} #2 \end{dialogue}}

% Usage example:
\dialogueline{Johnny}{Some dialogue.}  
\dialogueline{Jane}{I see.}

In silico 2010-04-28 23:28:35

That works perfectly. Thank you very much!

njt 2010-04-28 23:41:40

This is a good answer, but if anybody knows how to replicate the exact format requested by the original poster, it would be nice to see.

Geoff 2010-04-29 01:19:18

I think that's about as close as you can get to what the poster wants. There has to be braces around the text so LaTeX knows where to put `\begin{dialogue}` and `\end{dialogue}` properly. Also, I used `\dialogueline` in case there's already another command named `\dialogue`, but if that's not the case, then the poster can replace `\dialogueline` with `\dialogue` instead if it causes no errors.

In silico 2010-04-29 01:40:37

Answer 2

+6 A:

Antal S-Z 2010-04-29 06:14:10

Very good answer! (+1)

Patrick 2010-04-29 06:50:45

That's rather clever. I didn't know about `\catcode` up until now. While my solution will work for anything put inside the braces, yours will work for one-liners and is closer to the asker's requested syntax.

In silico 2010-04-29 07:04:23

The trick is actually less about catcodes and more about pattern-matching in `\def`: you could also do something like `\gdef\dialogueline@EOL#1:#2^^M` to be able to write `\dialogueline Johnny: Some dialogue.`. The catcode switch is so that the end of a line isn't just treated as a space character and ignored, but is instead treated as a matchable character. You're right that this may outlaw some valid strings (though some of these can be permitted by hiding the matched string in curly braces, e.g. `\dialogueline {Alexander: the Great}: Die!`), but it's nice for shortcuts and embedded DSLs.

Antal S-Z 2010-04-29 07:47:56

Real nice. Works just as you say. Thanks for the thorough explanation!

njt 2010-04-30 15:31:19

Well, actually I got a "use of \dialogueline doesn't match its definition" error when I used \makeatother, but it works just fine with \makeatletter.

njt 2010-04-30 15:39:41

Sorry I didn't clarify that---the definition has to come *after* `\makeatletter` and *before* `\makeatother`. (The former changes the catcode of `@` to that of a letter, so it can be part of control sequence names; the latter changes it back.)

Antal S-Z 2010-04-30 16:06:25

Got it. It worked just fine sandwiched between two \makeatletter commands, but I guess that's not really the correct syntax. Thanks again.

njt 2010-04-30 16:24:18

Answer 3

+2 A:

Charles Stewart 2010-04-29 12:29:53

That's clever, I hadn't seen this technique before.

Antal S-Z 2010-04-29 16:08:00

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Custom command for '\begin{environment}...\end{environment}'

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