The placetable command

The placetable command acts the same way as the placefloat command. The first option, here tells ConTeXt to place the table (if possible) in the current location. The next option is a reference marker. The parameter is the caption of the table. If you don’t want a title but do want the word “table” and number, leave the parameter empty. If you do not want any caption at all, use none for your parameter. If you want a caption but not a number, see the section customizing captions on the figures and float page.

Here is are the source files that create customize captions.

Setting up the columns

The column setup should look familiar. I setup 3 columns, and made sure the first column was at least 30 mm wide.

Body commands

Rather than using the NC command to creat a new cell, this table uses VL, which creates a vertical line between each cell.

Notice how the HL command has the option 4. This option increases the line width by a factor of 4. You can use any integer you want—the larger the number, the thicker the width. You can use the same option after a VL command.

The endings for each row are different than the NL commands fromt the tabulate table. Each ending performs a different function.

* The SR command puts extra space between it and the next row. (Frankly, I don’t find this to be the case with my table, but this is what it is supposed to do.)

* The FR command establishes the correct distance for the first row.

* The MR establishes the correct distance for the middle row.

* The LR command establishes the correct distance for the last row.

Tips

• You can use the AR or automatic row command in place of the SR, FR, and LR commands. The AR command seems to do a good job adjusting the height.

Merging cells horizontally

In order to merge cells horizontally, use the NC instead of the VL command, and omit any text for the cell to be merged. In other words, simpley create an empty cell with no border.

\starttable[|l w(30mm)|l|l|]
\HL
\VL State     \VL 3-year average \VL 2-year average \VL\SR
\HL[4]
\VL Alabama   \NC                \VL 13.5           \VL\FR
...

Merging cells vertically

In order to merge cells vertically, don’t use the HR command to draw a continuous line. Instead, use a combination of the DL, DC and DR commands to draw lines under the columns you want.

* The DL command draws a line under the next column, and then skips a column. This last part is important to remember. If you start your line-drawing commands with a DL command, ConTeXt draws a line under column one and then leaves a blank for column two. In essence, the DL command issues two commands: (1) draw a line across the column(s); and (2) create an empty space across the following column.

If you want to draw a line across two columns, use an option after the DL command, and make the option the number of how lines you wish to draw.

% draw a line across two columns, then down't draw a line across the
% next
\DL[2] ...

Note the difference between the first and second command below. The first leaves no line under the middle column. The second command leaves no line under the third column.

% draws a line for column one, skips column two, and draws a line 
% for column three
\DL \DL ...
% draws a line for columns one and two, and skips column three
\DL[2] ...

* The DC command tells ConTeXt to draw no line.

% skips column one before drawing a line for column two
% and leaving the a blank for column 3
\DC \DL ...

* The DR command is used to end a row which contains DL or DC command.

% draws a line for column one, skips column two, and draws a line 
% for column three
% (same as above, except now the rows are properly ended)
\DL \DL \DR
% draws a line for columns one and two, and skips column three
\DL[2] \DR

Creating a multi-paged table

In order to create a multi-page table with this type of table, follow the example below. I’m not sure of all the details of this type of table, but I have been told it is depreacted, and that for multi-page tables it might be better to use the type of table in the next section. None-the-less, I was able to get this table to work.

% split the table across pages
\splitfloat
% make sure your group the \placetable with {}
{\placetable{Percentage of People without health
insurance in US}}
% make sure you group everything else with {}
% theis table head will repeated on each page
{\starttablehead
\HL
\VL State     \VL 3-year average \VL 2-year average  \VL\SR
\HL[4]
\stoptablehead
% this detail will be repeated at the bottom of each page
\starttabletail
\HL[4]
\stoptabletail
% create a starttables--notice the plural!
\starttables[|l w(30mm)|l|l|]
\VL Alabama   \VL 13.3      \VL 13.5   \VL\FR
\HL
...
\stoptables}

More Examples

Here are some more examples of tables.

This table is an example of merging cells horizontally and vertically. It also shows how to cutomize a header, center cell text, and create blank cells.

cell numbers

Each cell in the TABLE environment is assigned both a row and column number.

each cell as a row and column number

If the table has merged cells, the numbering does not change. The invisible cells are given their number, and the non-invisible cells keep theirs.

each cell as a row and column number

customization options

Here is a table of possible properties you can use to customize each cell.

Changing cells by their numbers

To change something for individual cells using cell addressing (that is, identifying the cells by their rows and numbers), use the [:setupTABLE] command, followed by the number of the column, followed by the number followed by the number of the row, and finally followed by the desired customization. The following table makes the first cell (1, 1) and the middle cell (2, 2) red.

%needed to get color
\setupcolors[state=start]
%
% set up first column, first row
\setupTABLE[1][1][background=color, backgroundcolor=red]
%
% setup second column, second row
\setupTABLE[2][2][background=color, backgroundcolor=red]

Changing rows

To change the appearance of one or more rows, use “r” as the property for your first option. In the second option, describe which rows you want to change. Use each for every row; odd for odd rows; even for even rows; first for the first row; last for the last row; a number to indicate a certain row; a series of numbers separated by commas to indicate a series of rows.

% change color of all even rows to red
\setupTABLE[r][even][background=color, backgroundcolor=red]

Changing columns

To change the appearance of one or more rows, use “c” as the property for your first option. You can use the same positional properties as you do for rows (see above).

% change color of all even columns to red
\setupTABLE[c][even][background=color, backgroundcolor=red]