Category: Technology

Finishing up my last dissertation edits, I ran into some trouble with the BeavTeX.cls style file where it would not create a new, blank (fly leaf) page at the start and end of my document.  The solution was to add the following code before the \maketitle command:

\mbox{}
\thispagestyle{empty}
\newpage

And add the same code before \end{document}.

This however caused a blank page to appear between the early pretext pages and the Table of Contents. To fix this, I opened the BeavTeX.cls file and edited the following code:

\def\ps@toca{\def\@oddhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{TABLE OF CONTENTS}\hfill \break
\rm\flushright\protect\underline{Page}\break}}
\def\@evenhead{}
\def\@oddfoot{}
\def\@evenfoot{}
}

The code should look like this:

\def\ps@toca{\def\@oddhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{TABLE OF CONTENTS}\hfill \break
\rm\flushright\protect\underline{Page}\break}}
\def\@evenhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{TABLE OF CONTENTS}\hfill \break
\rm\flushright\protect\underline{Page}\break}} %I added this bit DVB
\def\@oddfoot{}
\def\@evenfoot{}
}

I also had to modify another area of the code which originally looked like this:

\def\tableofcontents{
\cleardoublepage
\vskip 10cm
\pagestyle{tocb}
\thispagestyle{toca}
\setcounter{tocdepth}{\@depthoftoc}
{\let\footnotemark\relax % in case one is in the title
\@starttoc{toc}
}
}

Now it looks like this:

\def\tableofcontents{
% \cleardoublepage %switched this to a standard clear page
\clearpage %added this so it won't force two new pages if it isn't on an even page DVB
\vskip 10cm
\pagestyle{tocb}
\thispagestyle{toca}
\setcounter{tocdepth}{\@depthoftoc}
{\let\footnotemark\relax % in case one is in the title
\@starttoc{toc}
}
}

Adding in the extra information for \evenhead{} and the \tableofcontents definition will create the proper Table of Contents header when starting on even pages. However, this spawns another problem where the List of Figures now has a blank page before it. As above, I found this code which needs to be modified:

\def\listoffigures{
\cleardoublepage
\pagestyle{lofb}
\thispagestyle{lofa}
{\let\footnotemark\relax % in case one is in the title
\@starttoc{lof}
}
}

I modified it to look like this:

\def\listoffigures{
%\cleardoublepage %this is the problem
\clearpage %this is the solution DVB
\pagestyle{lofb}
\thispagestyle{lofa}
{\let\footnotemark\relax % in case one is in the title
\@starttoc{lof}
}
}

This caused the “List of Figures” and “List of Figures (Continued)” headers to disappear. The code to blame is:

\def\ps@lofa{\def\@oddhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{LIST OF FIGURES}\break
\flushleft\underline{Figure}\hfill\underline{Page}\break}}
\def\@evenhead{}
\def\@oddfoot{}
\def\@evenfoot{}
}

\def\ps@lofb{\def\@evenhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{LIST OF FIGURES (Continued)}\break
\flushleft\underline{Figure}\hfill\underline{Page}\break}}
\def\@oddhead{}
\def\@oddfoot{}
\def\@evenfoot{}
}

It now looks like:

\def\ps@lofa{\def\@oddhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{LIST OF FIGURES}\break
\flushleft\underline{Figure}\hfill\underline{Page}\break}}
\def\@evenhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{LIST OF FIGURES}\break
\flushleft\underline{Figure}\hfill\underline{Page}\break}} %now it can start on an even page
\def\@oddfoot{}
\def\@evenfoot{}
}

\def\ps@lofb{\def\@evenhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{LIST OF FIGURES (Continued)}\break
\flushleft\underline{Figure}\hfill\underline{Page}\break}}
\def\@oddhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{LIST OF FIGURES (Continued)}\break
\flushleft\underline{Figure}\hfill\underline{Page}\break}} %now this can be on an even page
\def\@oddfoot{}
\def\@evenfoot{}
}

Of course this just moved the blank page problem to be directly in front of the “List of Tables” portion of the pretext pages. The offending code is:

\def\ps@lota{\def\@oddhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{LIST OF TABLES}\hfil\break\strut
\rm\protect\underline{Table}\hfill
\rm\protect\underline{Page}\break }}
\def\@evenhead{}
\def\@oddfoot{}
\def\@evenfoot{}
}

\def\ps@lotb{\def\@evenhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{LIST OF TABLES (Continued)}\hfil\break\strut
\rm\protect\underline{Table}\hfill
\rm\hfill\protect\underline{Page}\break }}
\def\@evenhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{LIST OF TABLES (Continued)}\hfil\break\strut
\rm\protect\underline{Table}\hfill
\rm\hfill\protect\underline{Page}\break }} %this has been added in
\def\@oddfoot{}
\def\@evenfoot{}
}

Note that \evenhead{} is declared twice in the second portion of code. Why? I have no idea. The modified code is:

\def\ps@lota{\def\@oddhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{LIST OF TABLES}\hfil\break\strut
\rm\protect\underline{Table}\hfill
\rm\protect\underline{Page}\break }}
\def\@evenhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{LIST OF TABLES}\hfil\break\strut
\rm\protect\underline{Table}\hfill
\rm\protect\underline{Page}\break }} %now it can start on odd pages
\def\@oddfoot{}
\def\@evenfoot{}
}

\def\ps@lotb{\def\@evenhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{LIST OF TABLES (Continued)}\hfil\break\strut
\rm\protect\underline{Table}\hfill
\rm\hfill\protect\underline{Page}\break }}
\def\@oddhead{\vbox to \headheight{
\centerline{LIST OF TABLES (Continued)}\hfil\break\strut
\rm\protect\underline{Table}\hfill
\rm\hfill\protect\underline{Page}\break }} %this has been modified for odd headers
\def\@oddfoot{}
\def\@evenfoot{}
}

I also modified the following code:

\def\listoftables{
\cleardoublepage
\pagestyle{lotb}
\thispagestyle{lota}
{\let\footnotemark\relax % in case one is in the title
\@starttoc{lot}
}
}

The code now looks like:

\def\listoftables{
% \cleardoublepage %don't need this
\clearpage %this is what we need
\pagestyle{lotb}
\thispagestyle{lota}
{\let\footnotemark\relax % in case one is in the title
\@starttoc{lot}
}
}

That should take care of the blank-page-in-front-of-the-table-of-tables problem. These solutions can similarly be implemented for a list of appendices or any other pretext lists that have similar issues when using the BeavTeX.cls style file for an Oregon State University dissertation or thesis.