Align inline tikz with text

Question

I'm trying to draw a set of colored balls with tikz, inside some text, but I'm struggling to align the nodes with the text. Here is a minimal working example:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz,xifthen}
\begin{document}
This is a set of colored balls:
{
    \tikz[baseline]{%
    \foreach \x/\color in {1/red,2/white,3/blue} {
      \node[circle,draw,fill=\color,line width=1pt,minimum size=0.25em,anchor=base] at (\x,0) {};
      \ifthenelse{\NOT 1 = \x}{\node at ({\x-0.5},0) {,};}{}
    }
  }
}.
\end{document}

This produces the following output:

I would like to have the circles vertically centered with the text/math. I have tried various options for the anchor, but perhaps I am missing something really simple. Any pointers would be appreciated.

Is this suppose to be a list(set) of colored circles? The spacing is all wrong when manually placing them at a given coordinate. — hpekristiansen, Feb 28 '24 at 10:42
Alright, so I should not be writing (\x,0), but instead calculate the vertical midpoint? — vikraman, Feb 28 '24 at 10:45
You could put the circles in separate small tikzpictures and let latex do what latex do - manage the space for you — hpekristiansen, Feb 28 '24 at 10:47
Thanks, maybe that's the better thing to do, but I've found a workaround for now that I just posted below. — vikraman, Feb 28 '24 at 10:55

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 28 '24 at 10:41

4

\documentclass[border=1cm]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz, xifthen}
\begin{document}
This is a set of colored balls:
\{, %, inserted to show baseline
\begin{tikzpicture}[baseline]
\foreach \x/\color in {1/red,2/white,3/blue} {
\node[circle, draw, fill=\color, line width=1pt, minimum size=0.25em, anchor=south] at (\x,0) {};
\ifthenelse{\NOT 1 = \x}{\node[anchor=base] at ({\x-0.5},0) {,};}{}
}
\end{tikzpicture}
,\}. %, inserted to show baseline
\end{document}

answered Feb 28 '24 at 10:41

hpekristiansen

37,006

Let TeX do the talking, like you sugested, would have been better, only the circle should be by tikz and then treat it in maths as a symbol. Then the curlies also can be scaled appropriately in math mode. – yannisl Feb 28 '24 at 12:01
1

@yannisl: I fully agree. If this is a list, then the horizontal spacing is horrible wrong. It is hard to know OPs use case - why has it been done in a foreach with an if when there is only three!? -clearly there is something else going on. – hpekristiansen Feb 28 '24 at 12:26

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 28 '24 at 10:54

With help from the comments, I came up with a solution by calculating the right coordinates: using a border of 0.1em and a radius of 0.25em, the center is at (0.25 + 0.1 + 0.1)/2 = 0.225, so I can position the circles at that specific y-coordinate and anchor to base.

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz,xifthen}
\begin{document}
This is a set of colored balls:
{
    \tikz[baseline]{%
    \foreach \x/\color in {1/red,2/white,3/blue} {
      \node[circle,draw,fill=\color,line width=0.1em,minimum size=0.25em,anchor=base] at (\x,0.225em) {};
      \ifthenelse{\NOT 1 = \x}{\node at ({\x-0.5},0) {,};}{}
    }
  }
}.
\end{document}

As my Prof used to say, brute force maths is perfectly acceptable. Glad you found your solution. — yannisl, Feb 28 '24 at 12:02
Sorry, but it looks very strange. Compare it with the output of \large\{A, B, C\} — hpekristiansen, Feb 28 '24 at 12:34

pascal974 · Answer 3 · 2024-02-29T14:15:02.897

With this post How to vertical center a TikZ node within a text line? and Àpprendre à programmer en tex on ctan p. 259

\begingroup
        \setbox0\hbox{$\vcenter{}$}%
        \xdef\htmath{\the\ht0}%
\endgroup

gives us the vertical offset of the mathematical axis.

With expl3, we prepare a sequence in which we put a tikz command, then we use this sequence separated by ",".

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\tikzset{%
  ball/.style args={#1}{%
    circle, 
    draw, 
    fill=#1, 
    line width=1pt, 
    minimum size=0.25em,
    node contents={},
  }
}
\ExplSyntaxOn
\clist_new:N \l_modulename_color_clist
\seq_new:N \l_modulename_balls_seq
\NewDocumentCommand{\myballs}{ O{red,white,blue} }
  {
  % in the doc Apprendre à programmer en tex p.259
    \begingroup
    \setbox0\hbox{$\vcenter{}$}%
    \xdef\htmath{\the\ht0}%
    \endgroup
  %The~mathematical~axis:~\htmath\par
  %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
    \clist_set:Nn \l_modulename_color_clist {#1}
    \seq_clear:N \l_modulename_balls_seq
    \clist_map_inline:Nn \l_modulename_color_clist 
      {
        \seq_put_right:Nn \l_modulename_balls_seq {\tikz[baseline=-\htmath]\node [ball=##1];}
      }
    \seq_use:Nn \l_modulename_balls_seq {,~}
  }
\ExplSyntaxOff
\begin{document}
This is a set of colored balls: \myballs
\Huge
and in with \verb|\Huge|: \myballs[yellow,green,black,purple]
\end{document}

Align inline tikz with text

3 Answers3