Left justification of nomenclature description in LaTeX - latex

Question

I'm using a LaTeX template (provided by ASME) to write a conference paper.
The asme2e.cls class defines a "nomenclature" environment as follows:
% Nomenclature environment
\newbox\tempbox
\newenvironment{nomenclature}{%
\newcommand\entry[2]{%
\setbox\tempbox\hbox{##1.\quad}
\hangindent\wd\tempbox\noindent{##1}\quad\ignorespaces##2\par}
\section*{NOMENCLATURE}}{\par\addvspace{12pt}}
which is used, in the .tex source file, as follows:
\begin{nomenclature}
% [...]
\entry{$C_{visc}$}{Viscous friction coefficient.}
\entry{$M$}{Spool mass.}
% [...]
\end{nomenclature}
resulting in the description texts not being left justified (since a fixed horizontal space is inserted between the symbol (e.g.: M) and the description (e.g.: Spool mass.), but the symbols have different lengths (e.g.: Cvisc is longer than M).
Is there a way to fix the class to have left-justified descriptions?
(I did a few experiments with \dimexpr and the calc package, but just got a bunch of errors).
(I also asked ASME if they could provide an updated template, but I'm still waiting for their feedback...)

Answer 1

I couldn't solve the problem, but I found a "quick and dirty" workaround, using the Tabbing and setspace packages.
Here is the new .tex source:
%[...]
\usepackage{Tabbing}
\usepackage{setspace}
%[...]
\begin{nomenclature}
{\setstretch{1.1}
\begin{tabbing}
\noindent
% [...]
\entry{$C_{visc}$}\quad\quad\={Viscous friction coefficient.}\\
\entry{$M$}\>{Spool mass.}\\
\entry{$v$}\>{Spool velocity.}\\
% [...]
\end{tabbing}
} % end \setstretch
\end{nomenclature}
%[...]
(Clearly, I'm completely bypassing the \entry command defined by the asme2e.cls class for the nomenclature environment).

Answer 2

I also tried to edit the asme2ej.cls file but nothing working for me. Then I ended up using the tabbing and set space packages. However, I did not use the \setstretch, and my document compiled just fine.
%[...]
\usepackage{Tabbing}
\usepackage{setspace}
%[...]
\begin{nomenclature}
\begin{tabbing}
\noindent
\entry{XYZ}\quad\quad\={This is an example}\\
\entry{PQR}\>{This is an example}\\
\entry{ZXC}\>{This is an example}\\
\entry{CVN}\>{This is an example}\\
\end{tabbing}
\end{nomenclature}
%[...]

Answer 3

I ran into a similar issue when submitting a paper to an ASME journal. My solution was to edit the asme2e.cls file:
\newenvironment{nomenclature}{%
\newcommand\entry[2]{\noindent\hbox to 0.05\textwidth{##1}\ignorespaces##2\par}
\section*{Nomenclature}}{\par\addvspace{12pt}}
You can change the amount of indentation by changing "0.05\textwidth".

Answer 4

I'm not sure if this is what you're asking, but see the following MWE:
\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\newlength{\nomenlabelindent}
\setlength{\nomenlabelindent}{4em}
\newenvironment{nomenclature}{%
\newcommand\entry[2]{%
\hangindent\nomenlabelindent\noindent\makebox[\nomenlabelindent][l]{##1\quad}\ignorespaces##2\par}%
\section*{NOMENCLATURE}}{\par\addvspace{12pt}}
\begin{document}
\begin{nomenclature}
\entry{$A$} {Parameter}
\entry{$B$} {Parameter}
\entry{$C$}{Parameter}
\entry{$D$}{Parameter}
\entry{$E$}{Parameter}
\end{nomenclature}
\end{document}
Output:
Nomenclature