[XeTeX] table indentation

[Andy Black]

On 11/23/2009 4:00 AM, xetex-request at tug.org wrote:
> Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:47:09 -0500
> From: Mike Maxwell <maxwell at umiacs.umd.edu>
> To: Unicode-based TeX for Mac OS X and other platforms <xetex at tug.org>
> Subject: Re: [XeTeX] table indentation
> Message-ID: <4B0A13CD.90102 at umiacs.umd.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Ross Moore wrote:
>   
>> You just set the table inside a box, and measure it,
>> before inserting it onto the page (or doing something else).
>>
>> In TeX primitives, the procedure is:
>>     
>
> I asked a similar question on this list (and a couple other lists) about 
> a year ago, but got no replies at that time.  I have to think that this 
> topic (getting tables to *automatically* fit on a page, or 
> *automatically* use a package that enables them to run onto successive 
> pages with appropriate headings) comes up more these days, since there 
> are non-manual ways to generate documents.  Michiel Kamermans' scenario 
> was the automatic generation of tables from web data; I've also heard of 
> people generating documents where the tabular data comes from a 
> database.  In our case, the xelatex docs are converted from DocBook.  In 
> all these cases, it is undesirable to have to hand-edit the xelatex code 
> after the conversion, because that would need to do that every time the 
> source data changed.
>
> I wonder if you (or someone) would be interested in creating a package 
> that would do what you have outlined in your email: create a table in 
> latex, then test its size; based on the size, it would automagically 
> choose whether to set the table in an ordinary floating table 
> environment, turn it sideways, or run it over successive pages, using 
> existing packages (supertabular,...).  I guess there would be a number 
> of options, depending on whether the user considered it to be acceptable 
> to reduce the space between columns, the font size, etc.
>
> I know I would be indebted!
>   

I, too, would be most interested in (and indebted) to anyone who could 
create a package that would automagically adjust column widths to make 
the table fit on the page.

For example, in our application (XLingPaper), when using XSL-FO to 
produce PDF via RenderX's XEP, the width of the table columns is 
automatically adjusted to fit the width of the page.  With Xe(LaTeX), 
the user has to manually set column widths to get the table to fit.  The 
fact that RenderX has figured out how to do it automatically suggests 
that it can be done.

Thanks!

--Andy