1

Note: This seems like it has to be asked somewhere, but my Google-foo is failing me. If someone can point me to it, I can delete this question.

I am trying to save a number to the .aux file, and then import that value and assign it to a counter later. I'm toying with the SageTex code to try and find a way to assign a value to a counter based on a sage variable. However, since sage requires two passes, I am trying to use the zref system to use a temporary value for the counter while writing out the sage variable to the .aux file as a label, then pulling that value in on the second pass.

I am new to the zref system so I may just be missing an obvious command, but I can't seem to find a way to important a value from .aux as an argument in the \setcounter command. Here is a MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{zref}
\usepackage{zref-user}
\usepackage{xifthen}

\begin{document}
\makeatother

\zref@newlist{SageStorageList}
\zref@setmainlist{SageStorageList}
\zref@newprop{sageContent}[0]{0}
\zref@addprop{SageStorageList}{sageContent}

\newcommand{\storeSage}[2]{
    \zref@wrapper@immediate{
        \zref@setcurrent{sageContent}{#2}
        \zlabel{#1}
        }
    }

\newcounter{Temp}
\storeSage{TestMe}{5}
\zref[sageContent]{TestMe}
\expandafter\setcounter\expandafter{Temp}\expandafter{\expandafter\zref[sageContent]{TestMe}}

\ifthenelse{\zref[sageContent]{TestMe} > 0}{Ha}{Oh...}

\end{document}

The \expandafter chain is probably overkill but I wanted to ensure the expansion was happening before counter values. Nonetheless I get a "expecting number" error. I tried other expansion configurations in case counters were special for expansion, no luck. This generated the fewest errors (the only error being the "expecting a number" error if you comment out the ifthenelse command).

Jason
  • 939
  • Unfortunately, \expandafter doesn't work the way you want. The second \expandafter will try to expand the T which isn't expandable. – TH. Jun 18 '17 at 03:19
  • Hm, does it need a \bgroup \egroup thing then? – Jason Jun 18 '17 at 03:26
  • No, that wouldn't change anything. \bgroup is just another name for { and in any event, both are single tokens. \expandafter always expands the second token to follow it one time. – TH. Jun 18 '17 at 03:38
  • Oh. Here's a related question where the answer was essentially the same: use \zref@extract. https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/95420/decide-whether-a-label-occurs-in-the-current-chapter/95424 – TH. Jun 18 '17 at 03:52

2 Answers2

2

You want to use the expandable version of \zref, \zref@extract. I wrapped that in a \recallSage macro that pairs with your \storeSage macro.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{zref}
\usepackage{xifthen}

\makeatletter
\zref@newlist{SageStorageList}
\zref@setmainlist{SageStorageList}
\zref@newprop{sageContent}[0]{0}
\zref@addprop{SageStorageList}{sageContent}

\newcommand*\storeSage[2]{
    \zref@wrapper@immediate{%
        \zref@setcurrent{sageContent}{#2}%
        \zref@label{#1}%
    }%
}
\newcommand*\recallSage[1]{%
    \zref@extract{#1}{sageContent}%
}
\makeatother

\newcounter{Temp}

\begin{document}

\storeSage{TestMe}{5}
\recallSage{TestMe}
\setcounter{Temp}{\recallSage{TestMe}}

\ifthenelse{\recallSage{TestMe} > 0}{Ha}{Oh...}

\end{document}

By using \zref@label, you can avoid the need to use the zref-user package. Now everything is nicely packaged up in the two macros \storeSage and \recallSage.

TH.
  • 62,639
1

A version with crossreftools and storing a generic content with \crtcrossreflabel instead of zref.

Use \crtcrossreflabel{content}[labelname] and \crtrefnumber to extract the stored content later on. \crtrefnumber is expandable. 

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{crossreftools}

\crtrefundefinedtext{0}% Returns 0 for undefined references!

\newcommand{\storeSage}[2]{%
  \crtcrossreflabel*{#2}[#1]% 
}

\begin{document}

\newcounter{Temp}

\storeSage{TestMe}{5}


\setcounter{Temp}{\crtrefnumber{TestMe}}

\ifnum0<\crtrefnumber{TestMe}%
Ha!
\else
Oh!
\fi
\end{document}