Mfrhtyj

I'm using the classic thesis style with the graffito command (example here). How can I modify the command below to add some vertical spacing before the text which is set to a standard value by default but can be changed by including a parameter?

% Graffiti as in GKP's book "Concrete Mathematics"

% thanks to Lorenzo Pantieri and Enrico Gregorio

defgraffito@setup{%

    vspace{0.7em}

%   slshapefootnotesize% this was due to slhape in above book

   itshapefootnotesizeleavevmodecolor{Black}%

   parindent=0pt lineskip=0pt lineskiplimit=0pt %

   tolerance=2000 hyphenpenalty=300 exhyphenpenalty=300%

   doublehyphendemerits=100000%

   finalhyphendemerits=doublehyphendemerits}

My first approach would be to add a vspace{#1} into the beginning, but I'm not aware how to include (i) this parameter #1 into the definition; (ii) include a default value for the parameter. I also didn't managed to translate the code snippet below into a newcommand definition which, as I am aware, supports default parameters.

Just define graffito with an optional argument:

documentclass{article}

usepackage{lipsum}



makeatletter

newcommand{graffito}[2][0.7em]{%

  marginpar

    [graffito@setup{#1}raggedlefthspace{0pt}#2]

    {graffito@setup{#1}raggedrighthspace{0pt}#2}%

}

newcommandgraffito@setup[1]{%

   vspace{#1}%

   parindent=0pt lineskip=0pt lineskiplimit=0pt

   tolerance=2000 hyphenpenalty=300 exhyphenpenalty=300

   doublehyphendemerits=100000

   finalhyphendemerits=doublehyphendemerits

   itshapefootnotesize

   leavevmodecolor{Black}%

}

makeatother



begin{document}



This has a graffitograffito{This is a standard graffito}

lipsum[1][1-5]



This has a graffitograffito[-0.7em]{This is a moved up graffito}

lipsum[1][1-5]



This has a graffitograffito[1cm]{This is a moved down graffito}

lipsum[1][1-5]



end{document}

Side note: the original code has % after 300 and 100000: they are wrong.

Since you're using LaTeX syntax anyway, you can use the LaTeX command newcommand to set a default argument with: newcommandgraffito@setup[1][0.7em]{vspace{#1}...}. If you want to not use LaTeX syntax for educational purposes, you can do the following:

We need a first macro which checks whether the optional argument follows. For this we use futurelet (definition made protected because we need an assignment here):

protecteddefmycmd{futureletnextmycmd@a}

We need to check whether the next token is a bracket, if it is the next macro reads its argument, else we give it its default.

defmycmd@a

  {%

    ifx[next

      afterelsefi{mycmd@b}%

    else

      afterfi{mycmd@b[0.7em]}%

    fi

  }

Here I use the macros afterelsefi and afterfi for some logic branching. They eat their argument and put it after fi.

longdefafterelsefi#1else#2fi{fi#1}

longdefafterfi#1fi{fi#1}

Finally the last macro needed for this, this one is the one generating the output:

longdefmycmd@b[#1]%

  {%

    Argument was: texttt{detokenize{#1}}%

  }

Complete MWE:

documentclass{article}



makeatletter

longdefafterelsefi#1else#2fi{fi#1}

longdefafterfi#1fi{fi#1}

protecteddefmycmd{futureletnextmycmd@a}

defmycmd@a

  {%

    ifx[next

      afterelsefi{mycmd@b}%

    else

      afterfi{mycmd@b[0.7em]}%

    fi

  }

longdefmycmd@b[#1]%

  {%

    Argument was: texttt{detokenize{#1}}%

  }

makeatother



begin{document}

mycmd



mycmd[1em]

end{document}