librtf-writer-perl 1.11-2 / usr / share / perl5 / RTF / Writer.pod

#Time-stamp: "2003-11-04 02:16:21 AST"

=head1 NAME

RTF::Writer - for generating documents in Rich Text Format

=head1 SYNOPSIS

  use RTF::Writer;
  my $rtf = RTF::Writer->new_to_file("greetings.rtf");
  $rtf->prolog( 'title' => "Greetings, hyoomon" );
  $rtf->number_pages;
  $rtf->paragraph(
    \'\fs40\b\i',  # 20pt, bold, italic
    "Hi there!"
  );
  $rtf->close;

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This module is for generating documents in Rich Text Format.  

This module is a class; an object belonging to this class acts like
an output filehandle, and calling methods on it causes RTF text
to be written.

Incidentally, this module also exports a few useful
functions, upon request.

The following documentation assumes some familiarity with the
RTF Specification.  Users not already intimately
familiar with RTF should look at L<RTF::Cookbook|RTF::Cookbook>
and/or my book I<RTF Pocket Guide> from O'Reilly,
L<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/rtfpg/>

=head1 METHODS

=over

=item $h = RTF::Writer->new_to_file($filename);

This creates a new RTF output stream object, such that sending text
to this object will write to the filespec given.  This is basically a wrapper
around new_to_handle.  If opening a write-handle to $filename fails (or if
$filename is undef or zero-length), then a fatal error results.

=item $h = RTF::Writer->new_to_handle(*FILEHANDLE);

This creates a new RTF output stream object, such that sending text to this
object will write to the filehandle given.  The filehandle can be a glob
(*FH) or a filehandle object (*FH{IO} or the value from
C<IO::File-E<gt>new(...)>).

=item $h = RTF::Writer->new_to_string(\$string);

This creates a new RTF output stream object, such that sending text to this
object will append to the string that you've passed a reference to.

=item $h->print(...);

This is the basic method for writing text to an RTF stream.  This takes
a list of items.  Each item is either:

=over

=item a plain string, like "foo\n"

In this case, the value is imputed to be a plaintext string, and an
rtf-escaped version of it is written.  For example C<"Stuff\n\t\tUmmm\n">
causes C<'Stuff\line \tab \tab Umm\line '> to be written.  See
C<rtfesc(x)> for further details of escaping.

=item a scalar-reference, like \'\ul'

In this case, the value is imputed to be a reference to I<already escaped>
text.  This is the basic way to emit RTF codes.  Text passed this way
will be written without any additional escaping.

Unless $RTF::Writer::AUTO_NL (normally on) has been turned off, the
item written will be followed with a (presumably harmless) newline
character to delimit any code in there from any following text,
I<if> the last character of this string is a digit or a lowercase
letter.  This is so that C<(\'\i', "foo!")> emits C<\i[newline]foo!'>
(which does what you expected), instead of C<'\ifoo!'>, which looks like
an RTF command "ifoo" followed by a plaintext "!".

=item an array-reference, like [ \'\ul', 'foo' ]

This emits an open-brace "{", as RTF uses for opening "groups" (generally
for delimiting the effects of character-formatting commands like '\ul',
or a few formatting commands like '\footnote'); then it emits the
items in the referred-to array; and then emits a closing "}".  I intend
this to be useful is making sure that you don't emit more open-braces than
close-braces, since that usually makes RTF readers immediately reject
such a file.

You can nest these array-references, like:

     $h->print(
       \'\col2',
       [ \'\pard',
         "It is now ",
         [ \'\f1',
           scalar(localtime), " local, or ",
           scalar(gmtime), " GMT.",
         ],
         " -- if you're ",
         [ \'\i',
           "keeping track.",
         ],
       ],
       \'\par\page',
     );

=back

The return value of the print() method is currently always the value 1,
although this may change.

=item $h->prolog(...);

This writes an RTF prolog to $h.  You are free to make your own prolog
using just $h->print(\'...your own code...'), but I find in easier to
automate this task, particularly with some sane defaults.

Since emitting a prolog opens a "{"-group, calling $h->prolog(...) sets
a flag in $h so that when you call $h->close(), a closing "}" will
automatically be written before the stream object is actually closed.

The options to the prolog() method are passed as a list of keys and values,
for controlling the contents of the prolog written.  The options are listed
below, roughly with the most important options first.

(Be careful with the spelling of these options.  Some are rather odd, because
they are (mostly) based on the name of the relevent RTF command, and a
systematic naming scheme for commands is one thing you won't find in RTF!)

=over

=item 'fonts' => [ "Courier New", "Georgia", "Whatever"...],

This value is for the font table section of the prolog.
If the value is an arrayref, then it should be a reference
to an array whose items should be either plain text strings,
like "Times Roman", which are the (unescaped) names of fonts;
or the items in the array can be scalar-refs, for expressing
RTF control words along with the (escaped) font name, as in
C<\'\froman Times New Roman'>.  If the value of the "fonts"
parameters is a scalar ref, then it is taken to be a reference to
code of your own that expresses the whole font table.
If you don't specify a value for the "font" option, then
you get a font table with one entry, "Times New Roman".

You should be sure to declare all fonts that you switch to
in your document (as with \'\f3', to change the current font
to what's declared in entry 3 (counting from 0) in the font
table).

=item 'deff' => INTEGER,

This is for expressing, in the prolog, the font-table number of the
default font for this document.  The default is 0, which is an often
useful value.

=item 'colors' => [ undef, [0,142,252], [200,32,0], ...],

This value is for expressing the document's (generally optional)
color table.  If you stipulate an arrayref value, then each item
of the array should be
either an RGB triplet expressed as an arrayref like [200,32,0], or undef,
for a null color-entry.
If you stipulate a scalar-ref value for 'colors', then it is taken to be a
reference to code of your own that expresses the whole font table.

If you don't stipulate any value for 'colors', then you get a table
consisting of three colors: null/default (undef), 100% red ([2550,0,0]),
and 100% blue ([0,0,255]).

You can freely ignore concerns of color tables if you don't use
color-changing codes in your document (like \'\cf2',
to switch the text foreground color to what's declared at entry 2
(starting from 0) in the color table).

=item 'stylesheet' => STRING, 

=item 'filetbl' => STRING, 

=item 'listtables' => STRING, 

=item 'revtbl' => STRING, 

These are for expressing, in the prolog, code constituting the
document's style sheet, table-of-files, table-of-lists, and
table-of-revisions, respectively.  The default value of each of these is
empty-string.  None of these are needed by a typical RTF document.

=item 'more_default' => STRING,

This is for inserting any additional code just after the '\deffN' in 
the start of the prolog, before the font table.  A common useful value
here is \'\deflang1033', to express the default language (1033 = RTFese for
US English) for the document, although my reading of the RTF spec leads
me to believe that this doesn't need to be in the prolog here
(where many writers put it, as apparently accepted by many RTF readers),
but should (instead?) go just after the prolog, with other "document
formatting" commands described in the "Document Formatting Properties"
section of the RTF Specification.

=item 'doccomm' => STRING,

This value is for the "document comment" metainformation item in
the prolog, which appears as the "Comment" field in the "File Properties"
panel in MSWord, or as the "Abstract" field in the "File Properties"
window in WordPerfect.

If no value is specified, then RTF::Writer puts a string noting
the value of C<$0> (typically the filespec to the current Perl program),
and the version of RTF::Writer used.

=item 'title' => STRING,

=item 'subject' => STRING,

=item 'author' => STRING,

=item 'manager' => STRING,

=item 'company' => STRING,

=item 'operator' => STRING,

=item 'category' => STRING,

=item 'keywords' => STRING,

=item 'hlinkbase' => STRING,

=item 'comment' => STRING,

These are for stipulating the string values of these various optional
document metainformation items.  'operator' is for the name of
the person who last made changes to the document; 'hlinkbase' is
which is the URL or path that is used for for resolving any all
relative hyperlinks in the document; 'comment' is reportedly just
ignored (cf. the 'doccomm' attribute, which is I<not>
ignored); and you can guess the rest.

The meanings of all of these are explained in greater detail in
the RTF spec.

=item 'revtim' => EPOCH_NUMBER,

This value is for the document metainformation section of the prolog.  It
signifies the last-modified time of the document.
EPOCH_NUMBER is the number of seconds since the epoch, 
such as one gets from C<(stat($thing)[9])> or C<time()>; or you may
pass a reference a timelist, like [localtime($whatever)].

If no defined value for revtime is stipulated in the call to prolog(...)
then the current value of time() is used.
Explicitly pass a value of undef to suppress emitting any 'creatim' value.

=item 'creatim' => EPOCH_NUMBER,

This value is for the document metainformation section of the prolog.  It
signifies the last-modified time of the document.
If no defined value for 'creatim' is stipulated in the call to prolog(...)
then the current value of time() is used.
Explicitly pass a value of undef to suppress emitting any 'creatim' value.

=item 'printim' => EPOCH_NUMBER,

This value is for the document metainformation section of the prolog.  It
signifies the time when this document was last printed.  If you don't
stipulate a defined value here, no 'printim' metainformation is written.

=item 'buptim' => EPOCH_NUMBER,

This value is for the document metainformation section of the prolog.  It
signifies the "backup time" of this document.  If you don't stipulate
a defined value here, no 'buptim' metainformation is written.

=item 'version' => INTEGER,

=item 'vern' => INTEGER,

=item 'edmins' => INTEGER,

=item 'nofpages' => INTEGER,

=item 'nofwords' => INTEGER,

=item 'nofchars' => INTEGER,

=item 'nofcharsws' => INTEGER,

=item 'id' => INTEGER,

These are for stipulating the integer values of these various optional
(and not terribly useful, for most purposes!) document metainformation
items.  The meanings of all of these are explained in the RTF spec.

=item 'charset' => STRING,

This is for expressing, in the prolog, RTF codename for the character set
being used in this document.  The default is "ansi", and don't stipulate
anything else (like "mac", "pc", or "pca") unless you know what you're
doing.

=item 'rtf_version' => INTEGER,

This is for expressing, in the prolog, what major version of RTF is being
used in this document.  The default is 1, and don't use anything else
unless you really know what you're doing.

=back

=item $h->printf('format', ...items...);

This is just short for $h->print(sprintf('format', ...items...)

=item $h->printf(\'format', ...items...);

In this case, 'format' is assumed to contain already-escaped RTF
code.  The items in ...items... are escaped as necessary, and then
interpolated.  I.e., this is rather like:
$h->print(\sprintf 'format', map rtfesc($_), ...items...)) except
that numeric items don't get escaped (and don't need to
be).  Example:

    $h->printf(
      \'{\i "%s"} was found in %2.2f percent of matches\par',
      $word, 100 * $count / $total
    );

=item $h->number_pages();

=item $h->number_pages(...);

This is just a handy wrapper for some code that 
turns on page numbering.  If you call this method,
you should call it right after you emit a prolog.

The page numbering consists of just putting the page number
at the top-right of each page.  If you provide items in
the list (...), then that is pre-pended to the page
number.  Example:

    $h->number_pages("Lexicon, p.");

Or:

    $h->number_pages(\'\b\fs30\f2', "page ");

=item $trdecl = RTF::Writer::TableRowDecl->new( ...options... )

This constructs an object representing a declaration for a table
row.  You can have to use it in calls to $h->row($tabldecl,...),
and can reuse it on subsequent calls.  This object is for
declaring the dimensions of table rows.

The work that a declaration has to do, is best explained in this
diagram of a bordered three-cell table (first cell containing "Foo
ya!"), placed near a left margin (shown as the line of colons).  The
things in brackets are not on the page, but just for our reference:

  :    [..w1...]
  :            [......w2.......]
  :                            [...w3....]
  [.A..]     [.B.]           [.B.]
  :
  :    +-------+---------------+---------+
  :    |  Foo  |  Bar baz      |  Yee!   |
  :    |  ya!  |  quuxi quuxo  |         |
  :    |       |  quaqua.      |         |
  :    +-------+---------------+---------+
  :
  [.A..]     [.B.]           [.B.]
  [..r1........]
  [.....r2.....................]
  [........r3............................]

Here the horizontal dimensions of the three-celled table are expressed
in terms of:  A, the distance from the current left margin;
B, the minimum distance between the content of the cells (or you can
think of this as twice the internal left or right borders in each cell);
and then EITHER [w1, w2, w3], expressing the width of each cell, OR
[r1, r2, r3], expressing each cell's right end's distance from the
current left margin.  All distances are, of course, in twips.

Options to RTF::Writer::TableRowDecl->new( ...options... ) are:

=over

=item left_start => TWIPS,

This declares the distance between the left margin, and the left
end of the table.  Default is 0.

=item inbetween => TWIPS,

This declares the distance labelled "B", above.  Default is 120,
which is 6 points, 1/12th-inch, about 2mm.

=item widths => [TWIPS, TWIPS, TWIPS, ... ],

This expresses the widths of each of the cells in this row,
starting from the leftmost.

=item reaches => [TWIPS, TWIPS, TWIPS, ... ],

This expresses the rightmost extreme of each of the cells in
this row.

=item align => I<alignmentspecs>,

This is explained in detail in the
L<section "Cell Alignment Syntax", below.|/"Cell Alignment Syntax">

=item borders => I<borderspecs>,

This is explained in detail in the
L<section "Cell Border Syntax", below.|/"Cell Border Syntax">

=back

=item $h->paragraph(...);

This makes the items in the list (...) into a paragraph.  Basically
just a wrapper for $h->print([ \'{\par', ..., \'\pard}', ])

=item $h->row($trdecl, ...items...);

This emits a table row, with dimensions as stipulated by the
$trdecl object, and with row content from the items given.

You must provide a value for $trdecl, or a fatal error results.

If you provide I<fewer> items than $trdecl declares cells, then
you get empty cells to fill out the row.  If you provide I<more> items
than $trdecl declares cells, then the width of the last
declared row is used in figuring the width of the additional cells
for this row.

Example:

    my $decl = RTF::Writer::TableRowDecl->new('widths' => [1500,1900]);
    $h->row($decl, "Stuff", "Hmmm");
    $h->row($decl, [\'\ul', 'Foo'], 'Bar', \'\bullet');
    $h->row($decl, "Hooboy.");

This creates a table resembing:

    +-------------+-------------------+
    | Stuff       | Hmm               |
    +-------------+-------------------+-------------------+
    | _Foo_       | Bar               | *                 |
    +-------------+-------------------+-------------------+
    | "Hooboy."   |                   |
    +-------------+-------------------+

Note that you I<MUST NOT> use '\par' commands in any items you emit
in row cells!

The $h->row(...) method is a wrapper for producing elementary tables
in RTF, with the minimum of parameters; the myriad other options
that tables can have (for example, changing borders) are not supported.
If you really need to generate tables fancier than what $h->row(...)
can produce, start off reading the RTF spec, reading the source
for row() (and the RTF::Writer::TableRowDecl class), and progress from
there.  Note that MSWord has been known to crash when given malformed
RTF table code.
    
=item $h->table($trdecl, [...row1 items...], [...row2 items...], ... );

=item $h->table([...row1 items...], [...row2 items...], ... );

This is a wrapper around $h->row.  It takes a list of arrayrefs, which
are fed to calls to h->row($tr_decl, @$each_arrayref).  You
should provide a $trdecl, but if you don't, then one is I<crudely>
guessed at, based on the maximum number of columns in all rows.



=item $h->image( I<image_parameters> )

This returns a scalar-reference to RTF-code representing the given image
with given parameters.  For example:

  $h->paragraph(
    "See here: ",
    $h->image( 'filename' => "foo.png", ),
  );

The legal options are explained below:

=over

=item filename => FILENAME,

This should be the path to a readable filename.  You have to specify this.
If you don't specify this, or if the value isn't a readable file, then
a fatal error results.  Currently, only JPEGs and PNGs are allowed;
specifying any other kind of file causes a fatal error.

(The C<filename> option above is required, but the following options
are all generally optional -- altho some RTF processors may be
finicky if you set some of the following but not others, for no
apparent reason.  When in doubt, test.)


=item wgoal => TWIPS,

The desired width of the image


=item hgoal => TWIPS,

The desired height of the image


=item scalex => PERCENT,

=item scaley => PERCENT,

Respectively, the horizontal (X) or vertical (Y) scaling value.
The argument is an integer representing a percentage. (The default is
100 percent)


=item cropt => TWIPS,

=item cropb => TWIPS,

=item cropl => TWIPS,

=item cropr => TWIPS,

These specify the top, bottom, left, and right cropping values.  A positive
value crops I<toward> the center of the image.  A negative value crops
I<away> from the center, adding a padding space around the image.

(The default is to do neither, as you'd get from a cropping value of 0.)


=item picspecs => \SCALARVALUE,

This overrides generation of the normal image values based the image
and the above parameters, and instead uses whatever value you pass
a reference to.  You normally shouldn't need to use this.

=back

=item $h->image_paragraph( I<image_parameters> );

This take the same options as C<< $h->image(...) >>, but has three
differences:  First, it is a shortcut for this:

   $h->paragraph( \'\qc',
     $h->image( ...params...),
   );

Secondly, whereas C<< $h->image(...) >> returns the image data
(as an RTF scalarref), C<< $h->image_paragraph(...) >> doesn't
return much of anything.

Thirdly, C<< $h->image_paragraph(...) >> is often much more
memory-efficient, since it can write the image data to a file
as it's RTF-ified, instead of building it all up in memory.


=item $h->close();

This completes writing to the stream denoted by the object in C<$h>;
this generally (assuming you'd called $h->prolog)
involves just writing a final close-brace to $h,
and then closing whatever filehandle or file $h writes to
(unless we're writing to a string, in which case we just discard $h's
reference to it).
After you call C<$h-E<gt>close>, you should not call any other
methods with C<$h>!

Note that you don't I<have> to explicitly call C<$h-E<gt>close> --
when an unclosed RTF::Writer object goes out of scope (or, more
precisely speaking, when if its refcount hits zero), then
something equivalent to calling C<$h-E<gt>close> is 
done automatically for you.

=back



=head1 AUTOMETHODS

In addition to any of the above methods, you can use any RTF command
(and optional integer arguments) as a valid method name, by just
capitalizing its first letter, as shown below:

=over

=item $h->Foo();

The same as $h->print( \'\foo' );

For example, $h-E<gt>Page() is the same as $h-E<gt>print(\'\page')

=item $h->Foo(...);

(Where "..." is a non-empty list.)

The same as $h->print( [ \'\foo', ... ] );

For example:
C<$h-E<gt>I('stuff')> is the same as $h-E<gt>print([\'\i', 'stuff'])

=item $h->Foo123();

The same as $h->print( \'\foo123' ).  I.e., command word "\foo" with an
integer argument of 123.

For example: $h-E<gt>Cols2() is the same as $h-E<gt>print(\'\cols2')

=item $h->Foo123(...);

(Where "..." is a non-empty list.)

The same as $h->print( [ \'\foo123', ... ] );

For example: $h->F2('stuff') is the same as
$h->print([\'\f2', 'stuff']).

=item $h->Foo_123();

The same as $h->print( \'\foo-123' );, i.e., command word "\foo" with an
integer argument of negative 123.  (You can't have a "-" in
a method name, so I use an underscore instead.)

For example: $h->Li_1440() is the same as $h->print([\'\li-1440', 'stuff'])

=item $h->Foo_123(...);

(Where "..." is a non-empty list.)

The same as $h->print( [ \'\foo-123', ... ] );

=back



=head1 FUNCTIONS

None of these functions are exported by default, but they can be
exported on request, as in:

  use RTF::Writer qw(inches cm rtfesc);

=over

=item inch($x), inches($x), in($x)

These synonymous functions all construe the numeric value in $x
as inches, and return
the equivalent number of twips.  For example, C<inches(1.5)> returns 2160,
because an inch and a half is exactly 2160 twips.  The return value of these
functions is always an integer, as fractions of twips are not used in RTF.

=item point($x), points($x), pt($x)

These synonymous functions all construe the numeric value in $x as points,
and return
the equivalent number of twips.  For example, C<points(54)> returns 1080,
because fifty-four points is exactly 1080 twips.  The return value of
these functions is always an integer, as fractions of twips are not used
in RTF.

=item cm(x)

This function construes the numeric value in $x as centimeters, and
returns the equivalent number of twips.  For example, C<cm(1.5)> returns
850, because 1.5cm is approximately 850 twips (i.e., it's 850, when rounded
to the nearest whole number).  Since twips and points are both are defined
in terms of inches (1440 twips = 72 points = 1 inch), conversion between cm
and these other units is approximate.

The return value of C<cm($x)> is always an integer, as fractions of twips are
not used in RTF.

=item rtfesc($text); # void context

=item rtfesc($x, $y); # void context

=item rtfesc(@z); # void context

=item $escaped = rtfesc($x);

=item @escaped = rtfesc($x, $y, ...);

This escapes some plaintext so it's good RTF.  E.g., it turns "Foo\nBar\\"
into "Foo\n\\line Bar\\'5c" (since a plaintext backslash needs to be escaped
in RTF, and a "\n"'s RTF equivalent is the '\line' command).

In void context (i.e., where you aren't capturing the return value), this
in-place alters the values you pass it.

In scalar or list context, doesn't alter the original(s), but returns an
escaped copy of what you pass in.

=back



=head2 Cell Alignment Syntax

To control alignment of cells, specify C<< align => "I<direction
direction direction...>" >>, where each direction is one of these
alphametic strings for the given directions (based on the abbreviated
English names for map directions and canvas directions):

    NW  N  NE        TL  T  TR
      \ | /            \ | /
    W - C - E        L - C - R
      / | \            / | \
    SW  S  SE        BL  B  BR

For example, C<< align => "nw c" >> means that the first cell will be
aligned to the B<I<n>>orthB<I<w>>est (a.k.a. the B<I<t>>op-B<I<l>>eft),
and that the second cell
(and any cells thereafter) will be aligned to the B<I<c>>enter.

An acceptable alternate syntax is to
C<< align => ['nw', 'c'] >> -- i.e., to pass a reference to an array
of I<'direction'> items, instead of just passing a single scalar of
whitespace-padded directions.

(Note that alignment syntax and cell border syntax, may look a bit alike,
but are really very different; try not to mix them up.)



=head2 Cell Border Syntax

To specify what borders occur on cells, use one of the following
syntaxes:

=over

=item C<< borders => 1, >> or C<< borders => 'all', >> to
turn on a simple border for all sides of all cells.
B<This is the default --> so if you don't specify a
C<< borders => I<something> >> option, it will be as if
you specified C<< borders => 1 >>.

=item C<< borders => 0, >> or C<< borders => 'none', >>
to turn off all borders for all cells.  B<In previous versions
of RTF::Writer, this I<was> the default.>

=back

or use this complex syntax for finer control:

=over

=item C<< borders => [ I<cellborders, cellborders, ...> ], >>

=back

...where each C<cellborders> is a string
in the form "I<border border border>", where, in turn, each
I<border> is a substring in the form
I<"direction-thickness-type",>
I<"direction-type">
I<"direction-thickness",> or I<"direction".>
Alternately, C<cellborders> can be one of these shorter values:

=over 

=item the value "none" -- meaning no borders in any direction

=item an integer between 2 and 75 -- meaning a simple border
that's that many twips thick, on all sides.  (So specifying "22" is
synonymous with "all-22-s" in the longer syntax.)

=item empty-string or undef -- meaning a simple border of the default
thickness on all sides.  (So specifying "" is synonymous with
"all", which is in turn synonymous with "nsew-15-s".)

=back

I<direction> is either "all", or a combination of some of the uppercase
or lowercase letters N, S, E, W, T, B, R, L. (Of course, the first four
are synonymous with the other four, respectively.)

I<thickness> (by default, 15) is an integer between 1 and 75, specifying
the thickness of the border, in twips.

And I<type> (by default, "s") is one of these, as specified in the RTF
spec:

           s : Single-thickness border
          th : Double-thickness border
          sh : Shadowed border
          db : Double border
         dot : Dotted border
        hair : Hairline border

        dash : Dashed border
       inset : Inset border
      dashsm : Dashed border (small)
       dashd : Dot-dashed border
      dashdd : Dot-dot-dashed border
      outset : Outset border
      triple : Triple border
      tnthsg : Thick-thin border (small)
      thtnsg : Thin-thick border (small)
    tnthtnsg : Thin-thick thin border (small)
      tnthmg : Thick-thin border (medium)
      thtnmg : Thin-thick border (medium)
    tnthtnmg : Thin-thick thin border (medium)
      tnthlg : Thick-thin border (large)
      thtnlg : Thin-thick border (large)
    tnthtnlg : Thin-thick-thin border (large)
        wavy : Wavy border
      wavydb : Double wavy border
  dashdotstr : Striped border
      emboss : Embossed border
     engrave : Engraved border
       frame : Border resembles a "frame"

Not all of the above are supported by all RTF readers.  If you're
concerned about portability, consider sticking to the core set
of just the first six listed above.

Also, the syntax C<< borders => cellspec >> is accepted as a synonym
for C<< borders => [cellspec] >>, for when you're specifying just
a single cellspec, for use the the first and all subsequent cells.

Cell border syntax is best shown by example:

  borders=> [ "ns-30-db w-25", "all-10-wavy", "none", 13 ],

That means to that the first cell should have a 30-twip-thick double
border on the top and bottom (north and south) and a 25-twip-thick
single border on the west (and no border on the east side);
the second cell should have a 10-twip-thick
wavy border on all sides; the third cell should have no borders on any
sides; and the fourth (and any additional) cells should have a
13-twip-thick single border on all sides.

Incidentally, when a particular I<cellspec> contains apparently contradictory
declarations, the last one is the one that has an effect.  For example,
consider S<C<"all-20-db w-10-s">> -- the first part turns on 20-twip double
borders on all sides, and the second part turns on a 10-twip single border on
the west side.  Since the second part is last, that's the one that has an
effect -- so just the north, south, and east sides actually get a 20-twip
double border, and the west side gets the 10-twip single border.

(This means that if you say S<C<"w-10-s all-20-db">>, the first part
will have no effect, because the second part will override the west-side
declaration.)

=head2 Cell Border Syntax, Formally

If you'd prefer a more formal grammar for this all, this should help:

    borderdec := 
       'borders' =>  '0'    # no borders at all
                   | '1'    # same as ["all-15-s"]
                   | [ cellspec, cellspec, ... ]
                   | cellspec   # default for one-cell form of the above

    cellspec :=  "" | undef    # same as "all-15-s"
                 | int         # same as "all-INT-s" (note: 2 <= int <= 75)
                 | "none"      # no borders on this cell
                 | (border ( ', ' . border )* )
                      # a list of border expressions separated by
                      # a comma (and/or whitespace, in fact)

    border    := direction-thickness-type # For example, "nse-15-s"
                 | direction-type         #  same as "DIR-15-TYPE"
                 | direction-thickness    #  same as "DIR-THICK-s"
                 | direction              #  same as "DIR-15-s"

    direction := "all" | qr/^[nsewtblrNSEWTBLR]+$/
       # Note that "nw" doesn't mean the direction northwest, but
       # simultaneously the north and west sides.
    
    thickness := integer in the range 1 - 75
    
    type  :=  "s" | "th" | "sh" | "db" | "dot" | "hair" | (etc)


=head1 SEE ALSO

L<RTF::Cookbook|RTF::Cookbook>

The book I<RTF Pocket Guide> from O'Reilly.
L<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/rtfpg/>

=head1 COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER

Copyright 2001,2,3 Sean M. Burke.

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

The author of this document is not affiliated with the Microsoft
corporation.

Product and company names mentioned in this document may be the
trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.  Trademarks 
and service marks are not identified, although this must not be
construed as the author's expression of validity or invalidity of
each trademark or service mark.

=head1 AUTHOR

Sean M. Burke, E<lt>sburke@cpan.orgE<gt>

=cut

# So there. #