Support ctable-like tables

[PanderMusubi]

Please support tables with the (as much as possible) syntax of cable, see also http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/ctable

[jamadagni]

Hello! SILE doesn't have any existing packages that creates tables?!

[ctrlcctrlv]

Hi. It does but it is nowhere near as powerful as ctables. I was planning to write a ctables extension for SILE, but it's been bumped down on my priority list. If this is something you'd be willing to pay for you can email me. Until then you can check out some of the examples I've made, like my repository PamudpodUnicodePaper, which contains code for enabling the simpler table that comes with SILE.

[jamadagni]

Hello and thanks for your reply. Saw your document. Very interesting especially to one who has worked on Indic Unicode, but really there don't seem to be any tables with column in your final document.

[ctrlcctrlv]

@jamadagni There is, there's a table on the first page with my name and email.

[jamadagni]

Hello yes. I did see your `.sil` file and it had the `\table` element but scarcely what would normally be perceived as a table, with multiple columns and rows.

…

On Tue, 8 Sep, 2020, 13:19 Fredrick Brennan, ***@***.***> wrote: @jamadagni <https://github.com/jamadagni> There is, there's a table on the first page with my name and email. — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#45 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAHHPSRDZBIKON6E7337ZITSEXOXHANCNFSM4A3PJH3Q> .

[ctrlcctrlv]

...There are multiple columns and rows.

Perhaps you will prefer the example used to build the documentation, although at a base level it is identical, since it looks more ordinary. 😄

Please see:

sile/documentation/developers.sil

Lines 31 to 48 in 4a92f58

	\noindent\begin{table}%
	\tr{\td{\code{core/sile.lua}}\td{\relax\qquad SILE startup and file handling}}
	\tr{\td{\code{core/baseclass.lua}}\td{\relax\qquad Base of document classes}}
	\tr{\td{\code{core/frame.lua}}\td{\relax\qquad Base class for frame objects}}
	\tr{\td{\code{core/frameparser.lua}}\td{\relax\qquad Parser for frame definitions}}
	\tr{\td{\code{core/languages.lua}}\td{\relax\qquad Code which loads language support}}
	\tr{\td{\code{core/length.lua}}\td{\relax\qquad Base class for SILE length objects}}
	\tr{\medskip} \tr{\td{\em{Main typesetting algorithms}}} \tr{\medskip}
	\tr{\td{\code{core/nodefactory.lua}}\td{\relax\qquad Prototypes for boxes and glue}}
	\tr{\td{\code{core/typesetter.lua}}\td{\relax\qquad Main typesetting algorithms}}
	\tr{\td{\code{core/break.lua}}\td{\relax\qquad Knuth-Plass line breaking algorithm}}
	\tr{\td{\code{core/hyphenator-liang.lua}}\td{\relax\qquad Liang’s hyphenation algorithm}}
	\tr{\td{\code{core/pagebuilder.lua}}\td{\relax\qquad Page building algorithm}}
	\tr{\medskip} \tr{\td{\em{Font and glyph shaping}}} \tr{\medskip}
	\tr{\td{\code{core/font.lua}}\td{\relax\qquad The \command{\\font} command and font settings}}
	\tr{\td{\code{core/base-shaper.lua}}\td{\relax\qquad Base class for glyph shaping}}
	\tr{\td{\code{core/harfbuzz-shaper.lua}}\td{\relax\qquad Glyph shaping using Harfbuzz}}
	\tr{\td{\code{core/pango-shaper.lua}}\td{\relax\qquad Glyph shaping using Pango}}

[alerque]

SILE's simpletable is a starting point, but yes a more advanced table module is definitely something we'd like to have at some point.

For now depending on your use case parallel frames (where each frame is essentially a column and the sync functions align content in rows) might be more useful than the current table implementation.

[simoncozens]

I remember when I tried looking at this many years ago, I was planning to use the CSS table model which contains some algorithms that might be useful for implementors.

[Omikhleia]

[simoncozens]

Whoa.

[OlivierNicole]

You're on fire these days!

[Omikhleia]

Well, I admit this is not really related to "ctable" (and "as much as possible" of its syntax), as per the original ticket...

But I couldn't find another ticket on complex tables. The true question should be "how complex" and what is the minimal subset of features that should be provided to cover 90% of the normal (non-nerdy) needs.

I read the "ctable" documentation, and honestly, to me, its syntax his awful and near to non-human. Some 30+ options, obscure column specifiers (so weird to me that I would never remember them), mixing of concerns (e.g. dedicated footnotes, specific captioning, weird content alignment logic etc.). I would hate having to use it, honestly... I understand the requester concern, though, it's also a powerful solution - and it may be interesting probably with LaTeX compatibility in mind - but heh.. Do we want or need to be LaTeX followers? The Web/CSS model is more akin to my line of thinking, though the way it addresses column/row merging (= spanning) could be debated.

My example above includes a few "cheats" - I actually just wanted to see if my current "parbox" implementation could be put to benefit beyond the most basic use case I had for it. A parbox being a "paragraph box" - that is, more or less, an hbox containing paragraphs. I pushed the initial code for it in my repo, with documentation. The above table is not there yet, I'll want to fine-tune it first 😉 but the naive logic is on that line of reasoning:

• a table is a parbox with borders an all sides and containing only row elements
• a row is
  • a parbox with horizontal borders and containing only basic cell or (sub)table elements
  • followed by a fined-tuned linebreak
• a cell is a parbox with internal padding, vertical borders, aligned vertically with respect to the other cells in the same row (defaults to middle)

(N.B. And I overused the parbox here, only cells would need it, and the other some simpler framed hbox)

So the above table actually is 4x3, with only 4 rows, hehe. Instead of row merging (on row no. 3), it uses cell spitting, in the form of a 3x2 sub-table. I don't pretend it has to be done this way - the whole question still is "how complex" and "which minimal features" !

[simoncozens]

I don't think we want to follow LaTeX ctable directly, and certainly not the horrendous syntax. But I think we probably want to make sure we can do as much of the functionality as possible.

That said, something is very definitely better than nothing...