Tab Stop Specification

WordprocessingML allows for custom specification of tab stops at the paragraph

level. Tab stop spacing is a subset of paragraph formatting in this system,

so will be implemented within the docx.text.parfmt.ParagraphFormatting object.

Tab stops will be handled as a List-like TabStops object made up of TabStop

objects.

A TabStop object has three properties, alignment, leader, and position.

Alignment is a WD_TAB_ALIGNMENT member and position is a Length() object.

Tab stops are always sorted in position order. Alignment defaults to

WD_TAB_ALIGNMENT.LEFT, and leader defaults to WD_TAB_LEADER.SPACES.

Tab character insertion is already properly handled as part of Runs. This

feature deals with the horizontal spacing of tabs within the document only.

Protocol

.. highlight:: python

Getting and setting tab stops::

Word Behavior

When tab_stops are empty or the w:tabs structure is empty, Word uses default

tab stops at every half inch.

Word defaults to tabs every half inch following the last specified tab_stop.

TabStops must be in position order within the XML. If they are not, the out-

of-order tab stop will appear in the ruler and in the properties dialog, but

will not actually be used by Word.

XML Semantics

* Tab stops have a type (w:val), which allows the specification of left,

center, right, decimal, bar, and list alignment.

* The details of the list alignment are elusive. (I have not been able to

create this type of tab stops in Word, even within lists. Perhaps a later

version of Word than I use is required.)

* Tab stops can have a "leader" (w:leader) character.

Specimen XML

.. highlight:: xml

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Enumerations

* `WdTabAlignment Enumeration on MSDN`_

.. _WdTabAlignment Enumeration on MSDN:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/office/ff195609.aspx

Type xml text Numeric value

wdAlignTabBar bar 4

wdAlignTabCenter center 1

wdAlignTabDecimal decimal 3

wdAlignTabLeft left 0

wdAlignTabList list 6

wdAlignTabRight right 2

Additional Enumeration values not appearing in WdTabAlignment

Type xml text Numeric value

wdAlignTabClear clear 107

wdAlignTabEnd end 102

wdAlignTabNum num 103

wdAlignTabStart start 100

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff531527(v=office.12).aspx suggests that "start" is equivalent to "left" and that "end" is equivalent to "right". (I've confirmed this through manual editing of the XML.) "num" produces a "left" tab stop rather than the "decimal" tab stop I'd expected. A "clear" tab stop is not shown in Word's tab bar and default tab behavior is followed in the document. That is, Word ignores that tab stop specification completely, acting as if it were not there at all. This allows a tab stop inherited from a style, for example, to be ignored.

* `WdTabLeader Enumeration on MSDN`_

.. _WdTabLeader Enumeration on MSDN:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff845050.aspx

Type xml text Numeric value

wdTabLeaderDashes hyphen 2

wdTabLeaderDots dot 1

wdTabLeaderHeavy heavy 4

wdTabLeaderLines underscore 3

wdTabLeaderMiddleDot middleDot 5

wdTabLeaderSpaces none 0

MS API Protocol

The MS API defines a `TabStops object`_ which is made up of `TabStop objects`_.

.. _TabStops object:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/office/ff192806.aspx

.. _TabStop objects:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/office/ff195736.aspx

Schema excerpt

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