CTAN update: alterqcm
Datum: 28. Oktober 2026 17:51:39 MEZ
Alain Matthes submitted an update to the
alterqcm
package.
Version: 5.00c 2026-10-27
License: lppl1.3c
Summary description: Multiple choice questionnaires in two column tables
Announcement text:
## Changed Option handling now uses pgfkeys, loaded on its own without PGF/TikZ. xkeyval is no longer loaded. All key names are unchanged. ifthen is no longer loaded. calc is still loaded, because users write expressions such as \linewidth-1cm inside their questions. Each language is now defined in a single table (\aq@deflang) instead of three separate copies. The numeric language codes are gone. The French strings in the source are now written in UTF-8 directly (Réponses instead of R\'eponses). Internal macros now use the \aq@ prefix. These generic names are no longer defined: \nextrandom, \setrannum, \addtotoks, \mysymb, \goodrep, \liste, \nb and \last@val. \points is now defined only if it is free, so it no longer clashes with the exam class. Use \AQpoints. alea now shuffles the proposals properly (Fisher–Yates), using the random primitive of the engine. The code taken from random.tex has been removed. \AQannexe: all columns have the same width, and the true/false labels follow the current language. The documentation is now compiled with LuaLaTeX. xeCJK is replaced by luatexja-fontspec with the Fandol fonts. The package works with pdfLaTeX and LuaLaTeX. LuaLaTeX is recommended for Greek, Russian and Chinese. ## Added \AQset{...} sets default options for all the following tables. New key seed=<integer>: with alea, the same order is drawn on every compilation. A question can now have any number of proposals. The previous limit was 5, and any extra proposals were silently dropped. If \square or \blacksquare is not defined by any loaded package (for example when amssymb is not loaded), a built-in square is used instead. The option long without \usepackage{longtable} now gives a clear error, and the table is set with tabular. Before, the column specification was printed as text in the document. ## Fixed In long tables, a stray space shifted the questions by about 2pt. The width of the question box was read from the wrong register (\wd\aq@wdquest). This affected the transparent mode. A test on numprop that could never take effect has been removed. Strings now match between the language options and the language= key (Russian « Вопросы », French « Suite sur la page suivante »). Measuring the height of the proposals no longer produces spurious "Overfull \hbox" warnings. Documentation: the absolute path used with \InputQuestionList is now a relative path. transparent mode: the invisible rule is no wider than the cell, so the circles now sit where the boxes are, including with VF. The question column no longer produces an "Overfull \vbox", and with VF the question text is now hidden too. The environment starts with \noindent. The table is as wide as \textwidth, so the paragraph indent made it overflow by \parindent. Documentation: long code lines in the examples are wrapped.
The package’s Catalogue entry can be viewed at https://ctan.org/pkg/alterqcm The package’s files themselves can be inspected at https://mirrors.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/alterqcm/
Thanks for the upload. For the CTAN Team Petra Rübe-Pugliese
CTAN is run entirely by volunteers and supported by TeX user groups. Please join a user group or donate to one, see https://ctan.org/lugs
## Changed Option handling now uses pgfkeys, loaded on its own without PGF/TikZ. xkeyval is no longer loaded. All key names are unchanged. ifthen is no longer loaded. calc is still loaded, because users write expressions such as \linewidth-1cm inside their questions. Each language is now defined in a single table (\aq@deflang) instead of three separate copies. The numeric language codes are gone. The French strings in the source are now written in UTF-8 directly (Réponses instead of R\'eponses). Internal macros now use the \aq@ prefix. These generic names are no longer defined: \nextrandom, \setrannum, \addtotoks, \mysymb, \goodrep, \liste, \nb and \last@val. \points is now defined only if it is free, so it no longer clashes with the exam class. Use \AQpoints. alea now shuffles the proposals properly (Fisher–Yates), using the random primitive of the engine. The code taken from random.tex has been removed. \AQannexe: all columns have the same width, and the true/false labels follow the current language. The documentation is now compiled with LuaLaTeX. xeCJK is replaced by luatexja-fontspec with the Fandol fonts. The package works with pdfLaTeX and LuaLaTeX. LuaLaTeX is recommended for Greek, Russian and Chinese. ## Added \AQset{...} sets default options for all the following tables. New key seed=<integer>: with alea, the same order is drawn on every compilation. A question can now have any number of proposals. The previous limit was 5, and any extra proposals were silently dropped. If \square or \blacksquare is not defined by any loaded package (for example when amssymb is not loaded), a built-in square is used instead. The option long without \usepackage{longtable} now gives a clear error, and the table is set with tabular. Before, the column specification was printed as text in the document. ## Fixed In long tables, a stray space shifted the questions by about 2pt. The width of the question box was read from the wrong register (\wd\aq@wdquest). This affected the transparent mode. A test on numprop that could never take effect has been removed. Strings now match between the language options and the language= key (Russian « Вопросы », French « Suite sur la page suivante »). Measuring the height of the proposals no longer produces spurious "Overfull \hbox" warnings. Documentation: the absolute path used with \InputQuestionList is now a relative path. transparent mode: the invisible rule is no wider than the cell, so the circles now sit where the boxes are, including with VF. The question column no longer produces an "Overfull \vbox", and with VF the question text is now hidden too. The environment starts with \noindent. The table is as wide as \textwidth, so the paragraph indent made it overflow by \parindent. Documentation: long code lines in the examples are wrapped.
The package’s Catalogue entry can be viewed at https://ctan.org/pkg/alterqcm The package’s files themselves can be inspected at https://mirrors.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/alterqcm/
Thanks for the upload. For the CTAN Team Petra Rübe-Pugliese
CTAN is run entirely by volunteers and supported by TeX user groups. Please join a user group or donate to one, see https://ctan.org/lugs
Alterqcm – Multiple choice questionnaires in two column tables
The alterqcm package is a LaTeX2ε package for making multiple choices questionnaires in a table with two columns. The aim is to provide some useful macros to build QCM in tables. The package works with utf8, pdfLaTeX, LuaLaTeX and XeLaTeX (with some languages). The documentation is in English.
| Paket | Alterqcm |
| Version | 5.00c 2026-10-27 |
| Copyright | 2009–2026 Alain Matthes 2019 Alain Matthes, Apostolos Syropoulos, and Anastasios Dimou |
| Betreuer | Alain Matthes Anastastios Dimou (inaktiv) Apostolos Syropoulos (inaktiv) |