[texhax] Placing data in margin

[Donald Arseneau]

On Sat, August 3, 2013 4:56 am, Jerry wrote:
> This is probably a simple problem; however, I cannot find a solution.
>
> Using "report" class, one sided, with standard 8-1/2 x 11 paper and all
> margins set to 1 inch, I am creating several forms for a local
> municipality. They would take the general form of:
>
> 1. Enter Name: _____
> 2: Enter Address _____
> 3: City _____ State _____ Zip _____
> 4: Owner's Name: _____
> 5: Processed By: _____ Date: _____ Fee Paid: _____
>
> Actually, these  forms can be several pages long and quite involved.
>
> The problem is that they want the item number, be it a number or
> letter, to be located in the margin on the left side of the form. I
> cannot figure out how to accomplish that. I did try the "marginnote"
> package; however, no matter how I tried, I could never get it to place
> a margin item anywhere but the right side of the page.

That doesn't sound right. A margin note can be placed on
either side.  I can't guess if you tried the right things.
(\makeatletter)
\@mparswitchfalse % all on the right
\reversemarginpar % reverse right->left

Anyway, marginpars aren't the best solution.

Rather than Phil's solution, I'd suggest using the LaTeX
commands in a LaTeX document:

\makebox[0pt][r]{4: }%

> Also, I was using "tabbing" to get the items where I wanted them, since
> some lines request several bits of information. This works fine except
> that the horizontal space left between the "end tabbing" and the next
> "begin tabbing" is greater than the normal horizontal line spacing.

Why not use a single tabbing environment?  Are some of the items
multiline with paragraph-style line breaks?

Look at tabto.sty for a different take on tabbing.

> there anyway to automatically eliminate that problem? I have been using
> negative "vspace" entries.

Yuck!  Set the parameter(s) for tabbing spacing to zero.
Maybe it is just \setlength{\topsep}{0pt} but maybe also
\parsep.


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Donald Arseneau, TRIUMF CMMS, asnd at triumf.ca