MIME-Version: 1.0
References: <CAFUtaNH2j3Qc=R4wPnx0_n4OMSvQer9akna4ykgcy6N8cEoGvA@mail.gmail.com>
            <CAFUtaNFEEn6FCGOr=K36_z1HwjSPBEugb9_vFkf+x41jE1gjDA@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Message-ID:  <CA+jHFwS9zD2cy+vJ=E7CPL1avhHkbyud53LMtPwBCqkFo952RQ@mail.gmail.com>
Date:         Sat, 22 Aug 2015 12:29:13 +0930
Reply-To: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project
              <LATEX-L@LISTSERV.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE>
Sender: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <LATEX-L@LISTSERV.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE>
From: Will Robertson <wspr81@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Help with Expl3-izing some code
To: LATEX-L@LISTSERV.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE
In-Reply-To:  <CAFUtaNFEEn6FCGOr=K36_z1HwjSPBEugb9_vFkf+x41jE1gjDA@mail.gmail.com>
Precedence: list
Envelope-To: <rainer.schoepf@GMX.NET>
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Status: R

Hi Joel,

Always good to see what people are interested in trying out :)

On Sat, Aug 22, 2015 at 2:46 AM, Joel C. Salomon <joelcsalomon@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The commit message at
> <https://github.com/latex3/latex3/commit/432d3d9> indicates that xbox
> does not yet have the equivalent of `\parbox`. For the restricted use
> I’m putting this to (`\parbox[t][0pt]{\somedim}{one or two lines of
> text}`), can somebody suggest a lightweight alternative? Neither
> wrapping `\hbox_to_wd:nn` within `\vbox_to_zero:n` nor the other way
> around worked for me.

As you've discovered, this is an area that we haven't spent much time
working on.

Basically, providing new versions of \parbox and so on requires going
back to the drawing board and figuring out not just *what* should be
implemented but the user interface as well -- and we're still a way
from deciding how parameters for document elements should work.

For example, you could imagine a CCS-like approach where you can give
a box an ID or class and then style it from the preamble. The idea of
a "typeset" module for providing bare-bones elements for typesetting
might include box support but for your purposes is still some way off.
The coffins commands might help if you're stacking boxes together, but
they don't exactly qualify for "lightweight".

So for the time being I would probably recommend sticking to 2e
commands... sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear!

Cheers,
Will