Chapter Title in rotated vertical box at the margin

Question

I am using the book document class. I would like to have Chapter name (Interduction, Results, Discussion, ...conclusion...) to appear in every page, in the right side small vertical (color filled) box (box size, let say 3cm). So, instead of chapter name in the header or footer, I want it to keep it in right side color filled box ..... sometime we see the style in Dairy, and also in many books as well.

For the first chapter, this right side box will appear at the upper top right margin....then in next chapter the box will be little lower and will have different color.

Is there anyone who can help me on this?

Answer 1

Here's one possible solution using the background package; the \BoxColor command uses a simple \ifcase to select the colors to be used; use \chapFrame after each \chapter command (this can be automated). The code needs at three runs to stabilize.

Based on the comments, the position of the colored box has to alternate for odd and even pages; here's the necessary modification:

Improved version (background version > 2.0)

This version uses the new syntax for background introduced in version 2.0 and suppresses the need for the ifthen package:

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage[
  scale=1,
  angle=0,
  opacity=1,
  contents={}
]{background}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\pagestyle{plain}

% auxiliary counter
\newcounter{chapshift}
\addtocounter{chapshift}{-1}

% the list of colors to be used (add more if needed)
\newcommand\BoxColor{%
  \ifcase\thechapshift blue!30\or red!30\or olive!30\or magenta!30\else yellow!30\fi}

% the main command; the mandatory argument sets the color of the vertical box
\newcommand\ChapFrame{%
  \AddEverypageHook{%
    \ifodd\value{page}
      \backgroundsetup{contents={%
        \begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,remember picture]
          \node[
            fill=\BoxColor,
            inner sep=0pt,
            rectangle,
            text width=2cm,
            text height=4cm,
            align=center,
            anchor=north east
          ] 
          at ($ (current page.north east) + (-0cm,-2*\thechapshift cm) $) 
          {\rotatebox{90}{\hspace*{.3cm}\parbox[c][1.5cm][t]{3.4cm}{%
              \raggedright\textcolor{black}{\scshape\leftmark}}}};
        \end{tikzpicture}%
      }%
    }  
    \else
      \backgroundsetup{contents={%
        \begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,remember picture]
        \node[
          fill=\BoxColor,
          inner sep=0pt,
          rectangle,
          text width=2cm,
          text height=4cm,
          align=center,
          anchor=north west
        ] 
        at ($ (current page.north west) + (-0cm,-2*\thechapshift cm) $) 
        {\rotatebox{90}{\hspace*{.3cm}\parbox[c][1.5cm][t]{3.4cm}{%
            \raggedright\textcolor{black}{\scshape\leftmark}}}};
        \end{tikzpicture}%
      }%
    }  
    \fi
  \BgMaterial}%
  \stepcounter{chapshift}%
}

% redefinition of \chaptermark to contain only the title
\renewcommand\chaptermark[1]{\markboth{\thechapter.~#1}{}} 

\begin{document}

\chapter[intro]{Introduction}
\ChapFrame
\lipsum[1-7]

\chapter{Results}
\ChapFrame
\lipsum[1-7]

\chapter{Discussion}
\ChapFrame
\lipsum[1-7]

\end{document}

The result:

First version (background version < 2.0)

This was the first version of the code; it still can be used with the newest version of the background package:

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage{background}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\usepackage{ifthen}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\pagestyle{plain}

% background common settings
\SetBgScale{1}
\SetBgAngle{0}
\SetBgOpacity{1}
\SetBgContents{}

% auxiliary counter
\newcounter{chapshift}
\addtocounter{chapshift}{-1}

% the list of colors to be used (add more if needed)
\newcommand\BoxColor{%
  \ifcase\thechapshift blue!30\or red!30\or olive!30\or magenta!30\else yellow!30\fi}

% the main command; the mandatory argument sets the color of the vertical box
\makeatletter
\newcommand\ChapFrame{%
\AddEverypageHook{%
\ifthenelse{\isodd{\thepage}}
{\SetBgContents{%
  \begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,remember picture]
  \node[fill=\BoxColor,inner sep=0pt,rectangle,text width=2cm,
    text height=4cm,align=center,anchor=north east] 
  at ($ (current page.north east) + (-0cm,-2*\thechapshift cm) $) 
  {\rotatebox{90}{\hspace*{.3cm}\parbox[c][1.5cm][t]{3.4cm}{%
    \raggedright\textcolor{black}{\scshape\leftmark}}}};
  \end{tikzpicture}}%
}
{\SetBgContents{%
  \begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,remember picture]
  \node[fill=\BoxColor,inner sep=0pt,rectangle,text width=2cm,
    text height=4cm,align=center,anchor=north west] 
  at ($ (current page.north west) + (-0cm,-2*\thechapshift cm) $) 
  {\rotatebox{90}{\hspace*{.3cm}\parbox[c][1.5cm][t]{3.4cm}{%
    \raggedright\textcolor{black}{\scshape\leftmark}}}};
  \end{tikzpicture}}
}
\bg@material}%
  \stepcounter{chapshift}
}
\makeatother

% redefinition of \chaptermark to contain only the title
\renewcommand\chaptermark[1]{\markboth{\thechapter.~#1}{}} 

\begin{document}

\chapter[intro]{Introduction}
\ChapFrame
\lipsum[1-7]

\chapter{Results}
\ChapFrame
\lipsum[1-7]

\chapter{Discussion}
\ChapFrame
\lipsum[1-7]

\end{document}

An image of the resulting document showing the first pages:

Answer 2

This answer is a supplement to Gonzalo's excellent answer just to show another method. Here fancyhdr is used instead of background. I have adopted the color scheme as given by Gonzalo (Thanks to him).

% ----------------------------------------------------------------
% Book Class (This is a LaTeX2e document)  ***********************
% ----------------------------------------------------------------
\documentclass[10pt,x11names,svgnames,twoside]{book}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes.misc,calc}
\usepackage{lipsum,fancyhdr}
\usepackage[a4paper,left=1.2in,right=1in,top=1in,bottom=1in,headheight=\baselineskip,
   headsep=9mm,footskip=13mm,showframe,]{geometry}
% ----------------------------------------------------------------
\newcommand\MyColor{%                                                               % This line is  from Gonzalo's answer
  \ifcase\thechapter blue!30\or red!30\or olive!30\or magenta!30\else yellow!30\fi} % This line is  from Gonzalo's answer
%------------------------------------------
\fancypagestyle{plain}{%
  %% Clear all headers and footers
  \fancyhf{}
    %% Right headers on odd pages
  \fancyhead[RO]{%
  \rotatebox{90}{
      \begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,remember picture]
      \node[fill=\MyColor,text=white,
      font=\footnotesize,
      inner ysep=12pt, inner xsep=20pt,
      rounded rectangle,anchor=east,
      xshift=-0mm,yshift=-32mm,text width=3cm, text height=0.4cm]
      at ($ (current page.north east) + (2.9cm,-0cm) + (-4*\thechapter cm,0cm) $)
      {\sffamily\itshape\small\nouppercase{\leftmark}};
    \end{tikzpicture}
        }
        }
        %% Left headers on even pages
\fancyhead[LE]{%
  \rotatebox{90}{
      \begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,remember picture]
      \node[fill=\MyColor,text=white,
      font=\footnotesize,
      inner ysep=12pt, inner xsep=20pt,
      rounded rectangle,anchor=east,
      xshift=41mm,yshift=-2mm,text width=3cm, text height=0.4cm]
      at ($ (current page.north west) + (4cm,0cm) + (-4*\thechapter cm,0cm) $)
      {\sffamily\itshape\small\nouppercase{\leftmark}};
      \end{tikzpicture}
        }
        }
  \renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
  \renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}
  \fancyfoot[R]{\thepage}
}
% ----------------------------------------------------------------
\pagestyle{plain}
\renewcommand\chaptermark[1]{\markboth{\thechapter.~#1}{}} 
\begin{document}
%
\chapter{First chapter}
\lipsum[1-16]
\cleardoublepage
\chapter{Second chapter}
\lipsum[1-16]
\chapter{Third chapter}
\lipsum[1-16]
\chapter{Fourth chapter}
\lipsum[1-16]
%
\end{document}