Using Philex how can I change the spacing between subexamples?

Question

Please, can someone explain how to patch Philex to customize the spacing between examples, subexamples and subsubexamples, respectively.

For example, if I want spacing between subexamples but no spacing between subsubexamples, and if I want even more spacing between examples than between subexamples.

Related page : Using linguex, how can I change the spacing between subexamples?

MWE :

  \documentclass[12pt,oneside]{article}
    \usepackage{philex}
    \usepackage{etoolbox}
    \newlength{\SubItemSkip}
    \setlength{\SubItemSkip}{.66\baselineskip}
    \makeatletter
    \patchcmd{\a}{\itemsep\z@}{\itemsep\SubItemSkip}{}{}
    \makeatother
\begin{document}
\lb{tests}{
    \lba{inforx}{Possible modification by `in/for \textit{x} time'.}
    \lbb{fc}{Possible modification by \textit{frequent}/\textit{constant}.}
    \lbb{control}{Possible Implicit Agent Control.}
    \lbz{byp}{\textit{By}-phrases and, when available, possessives realize arguments.}}


\lb{examples}{
    \lba{inforx-ex}{
        \lba{inx-ex}{La destruction de la ville par l'armée en quelques heures nous a stupéfaits.}
        \lbz{forx-ex}{Le chef de service a ordonné la surveillance du patient par les internes durant plusieurs jours.}}}


\end{document}

Answer 1

Here's some code that allows you to set both the \topsep and the \itemsep values for the sub- and subsub-examples. The spacing between examples at the top level is simply a new paragraph, so there's no way to set that spacing; you can add \medskip or bigskip between examples if you need to. In this sample code, I've set different values for each one; it probably makes sense to have identical \topsep and \itemsep values for any one level, however.

Since this code only modifies linguex code, it will work equally well for linguex.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{philex}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\newlength{\lngxtopsepii}
\setlength{\lngxtopsepii}{10pt}% linguex uses .3\Extopsep by default
\newlength{\lngxtopsepiii}
\setlength{\lngxtopsepiii}{5pt}
\newlength{\lngxitemsepii}
\setlength{\lngxitemsepii}{10pt}
\newlength{\lngxitemsepiii}
\setlength{\lngxitemsepiii}{5pt}
\makeatletter
\patchcmd{\a}{\ifnum\theExDepth=2\topsep .3\Extopsep\else\topsep 0pt\fi 
     \parsep\z@\itemsep\z@}
     {\ifnum\theExDepth>1\topsep\csname lngxtopsep\roman{ExDepth}\endcsname
     \itemsep\csname lngxitemsep\roman{ExDepth}\endcsname\else\topsep\z@\itemsep\z@\fi
     \parsep\z@}{}{}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\lbp{clauses}{PP}{Some main words, followed by
\lba{first}{Time flies
\lba{firstnew}{Like an arrow}
\lbz{lastnew}{And much too fast}}
\lbb{second}{But never stops}
\lbz{last}{Which is lucky}
and a concluding comment.}
\medskip
\lbp{clauses}{PP}{Some main words, followed by
\lba{first}{Time flies
\lba{firstnew}{Like an arrow}
\lbz{lastnew}{And much too fast}}
\lbb{second}{But never stops}
\lbz{last}{Which is lucky}
and a concluding comment.}
\end{document}

Code explantion

The main example command in linguex is the \a macro, which sets up the \list environment that underlies the example. So we use the patching facilities of the etoolbox package to modify the definition of \a. The \patchcmd macro takes four arguments: the part of the original macro to be replaced, the replacement, and two arguments for "patch successful" and "patch unsuccessful". As long as we know the patch will work then these can safely be left empty.

So in the specific example here, I have replaced the linguex code that sets the \topsep and \itemsep of the list to code that sets the values dependent on the level of the list. I've named the lengths used with ii and iii suffixes so that I can construct the value from the list depth value using \roman{ExDepth}.

Output