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[Andrew Cooper <address@hidden>]

Henri Lesourd wrote:

> On my computer, the following markup :
> [[
> <bib-list|[99]|
>  <margin-first-other|0mm|5mm|X>aaa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aaa aaa aa 
> aaa
>  aaa aa aaa aa aa aaaa aaaa aaaa aaa aaa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aaa aaa
>  aa aaa aaa aa aaa aa aa aaaa aaaa aaaa aaa
> ]]
>
> is displayed as (the string ">>>" being used below to show the 
> indentation) :
> [[
>   Xaaa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aaa aaa aa aaa aaa aa aaa
>   >>>> aaaa aaaa aaa aaa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aaa aaa
>   >>>> aaa aa aaa aa aa aaaa aaaa aaaa aaa
> ]]
> Therefore, it is clear that the <margin-first-other|...> macro works
> the same for each line, it is definitely not operating only on the
> first line of the first reference.

That's interesting. Just writing a biblist + bibitem as you do there 
(without using the automatic generation), with the following markup:

[[
<\bib-list|[99]>
  <bibitem*|X>aaa aaaaaaa aaaaa aaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa
  aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa
  aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa
  aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaa\

  <bibitem*|<margin-first-other|0mm|50mm|X>>aaa aaaaaaa aaaaa aaaaaaa
  aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa
  aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa
  aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaa
</bib-list>
]]

produces a biblist with two _identical_ entries. Note the deliberately 
exaggerated argument to margin-first-other (MFO), just to be certain the 
indent isn't getting 'lost' anywhere. Any values given to MFO make no 
difference.

Of course, let's say we give bibitem the argument "Squirrel":

<bibitem*|Squirrel>

This argument goes through the mill of subroutines boiling down to 
render-bibitem and produces:

[Squirrel] aaa aaaaaaa aaaaa aaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa
>>>> aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaa
>>>> aaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaa
>>>> a aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaa

The text of the entry (aaaa etc.) is superficially indented with respect 
to the label "Squirrel" that results, but crucially _not_ with respect 
to the first character of the entry (i.e. the first 'a' in the above 
examples. So if you don't want a label like [Squirrel] in front of each 
entry (and I don't), and you get rid of it by changing:

<render-bibitem|<macro|x|[x]>>

to (keeping the empty macro for no good reason):

<render-bibitem|<macro|x|>>

Then bibitem's argument renders as a 'zero-length string':

aaa aaaaaaa aaaaa aaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaa
aaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaa
a aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaa

And the indentation doesn't happen. My contention is that 
margin-first-other isn't responsible for this indentation - it just 
happens 'anyway' provided the label is of finite length (i.e. exists). 
The fact that it appears to act on every entry is a consequence of the 
fact that every entry is rendered in the same way in this regard ( 
because it's a list, and this is how 'lists' work?).

> > The question is, how do you do something to _each_ entry in the list?
>
> If you look at the markup for a bibliography, you see that it is
> of the shape :
> [[
> <bibliography|bib|alpha|TeXmacs_Core1.bib|
>  <bib-list|[99]|
>    <bibitem*|X1><label|Y1><margin-first-other|0mm|5mm|aaa aa aa aa aa aa
>    aa aa aa aa aaa aaa aa aaa aaa aa aaa aa aa aaaa aaaa aaaa aaa>aaa aa
>    aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aaa aaa aa aaa aaa aa aaa aa
>
>    <bibitem*|X2><label|Y2><margin-first-other|0mm|5mm|aaa aa aa aa aa aa
>    aa aa aa aa aaa aaa aa aaa aaa aa aaa aa aa aaaa aaaa aaaa aaa>aaa aa
>    aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aa aaa aaa aa aaa aaa aa aaa aa
>    ...........>
> ]]
>
> therefore, if you change <bibitem*|...>, the effect of the change should
> clearly have effect on all the items of the <bib-list|...>, just because
> each item starts by <bibitem*|...> itself.

This sounds so obvious it's hard to see why it wouldn't be the case. 
Throw some text into the argument of bibitem and, as it passes through 
the subroutine mill, it duly appears in front of every entry. As the 
opening example demonstrates, MFO works on stuff beyond its closing 
bracket (why does it have a 'body' argument if that's the case?), so one 
would assume that throwing a <margin-first-other|0mm|5mm|> into 
<bibitem*|****> would do the job, as you say.

Instead, have a look at the following manually-created biblist:

[[
<\bib-list|[99]>
  <bibitem*|X><margin-first-other|40mm|60mm|>aaa aaaaaaa aaaaa aaaaaaa
  aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa
  aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa
  aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaa\

  <bibitem*|<margin-first-other|40mm|60mm|X>>aaa aaaaaaa aaaaa aaaaaaa
  aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa
  aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa
  aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaa
</bib-list>
]]

There is a distinct difference between these two entries. The position 
of  MFO in the first clearly has an effect. In the second, it has no 
(useful) effect. Let's consider a related question: how would you go 
about wrapping the text of each biblist entry into a routine that 
_required_ the text to be given as an argument, e.g. 
<with|colour|green|Some text>?

> Are you sure you performed the change I suggested on <bibitem*|...> itself,
> and not on some of its (many) subroutines (i.e., <bibitem|...>, without
> the '*', for example...) ?

I performed the change as you indicated (and many other ways besides). 
Anyway, still no progress.

Thanks for your help so far.

--
Andrew