ColumnMaker and the override section

[Steve Slevinski]

Hi KJ,
 
Here's the not too user friendly instructions for the override section 
in ColumnMaker.
 
The override section uses 4 ideas: numbers of signs, size, color and 
column breaks.  All of the choices above the column images are default 
values.
 
A column break is similar to a page break.  If you want the first column 
to have 2 signs, the override would simply be:
2
 
If you want 2 in the first column and 2 in the second, the override 
would be:
2
2
 
After every line in the override section, ColumnMaker will insert a 
column break.
 
The next option is size.  If you selected a sign size of 0.7 and you 
want the first 2 signs to be larger than the rest, the override could be:
2,1.5
 
If you want to add color, use:
2,1.5,ff6600
 
The override string is a repeating comma delimited string of (number of 
signs),(size),(color).  So you could use:
2,1.5,ff6600,5,1,ff0066,1,.7,ff00ff
 
And so on.  There are 2 special color codes you can use: 0 and -1.  The 
color code 0 will be black.  The color code -1 will be colorized 
according to the standard colors.
 
In the override section, you don't need to specify a value for either 
the size or the color.  This can be done by putting 2 commas next to 
each other.  Here is the override to make signs 5-10 red.
4,,,6,,ff0000
 
Notice the first part of "4,,,".  This does not specify a size or 
color.  The signs will be produced using the default values selected at 
the top of the page.
 
The only problem with the previous override is that it would put a 
column break after the red signs.  The easiest way to suppress a column 
break is to put ",99" at the end of  the string such as:
4,,,6,,ff0000,99
 
The ",99" is really understood to be ",99,,".  This tells ColumnMaker 
not to insert a column break and to use the default values for size and 
color for the next 99 signs. 
 
That's about it.  Not too user friendly, but it does work.  I'll try and 
write these instructions up in a more clear and concise manner.  Later, 
these options will be integrated into SignText so the override section 
won't be needed.  Until then, they're just what Val needs to quickly 
produce documents using SignText, ColumnMaker and DocumentMaker.
 
Enjoy,
-Steve



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