[Tugindia] XMLTEX - multicolumn - multispan

[Ragu.solaiappan, Integra]

Dear TUG,

Some days before, I have posed a problem to TUG – but the problem was not
solved.  Here is my problem statement – help is required.

When I use a .cls file in TeX workflow, the cls is working for a table with
multicolumn and dcolumn. But when I use the same cls file for XML workflow
it is shows a error (XMLTEX by David Carlisle, Sabastine). The error is
“\omit is misplaced”.

To solve this error, I have removed \omit from the \multispan definition.
After removing this \omit from \multispan (multicolumn), I could get my
output by using \multispan<number of span>.

But this <number of span> is taking only 2 columns as an argument. My
requirement is to span more than two columns. I could span more than two
columns only by giving multiple times of \multispan<number of span>. Is
there any other alternative method to avoid such multiple time of
\multispan<number of span>?


My question is:

(1)	Why \omit is not working for XMLTEX and why \multispan is not taking
multiple columns as its argument.

The following lines are a part of my XMT/XML.

\XMLstring\att at INTalignLeft<>l</>
\XMLstring\att at INTalignCenter<>c</>
\XMLstring\att at INTalignRight<>r</>

\XMLelement{entry}
{
\XMLattribute{INTcol}{\INTcol}{0}
\XMLattribute{INTalign}{\XML at INTalign}{c}
}
{\xmlgrab}
{
   \ifthenelse{\equal{\INTcol}{0}}
    {
        \gdef\temp{#1\tabcellsep}\aftergroup\temp
    }
    {
        \ifx\XML at INTalign\att at INTalignLeft
            \xdef\INTcols{\INTcol}
            \gdef\temp{\multispan2\hfil\hskip -3pt  #1
\hfill&}\aftergroup\temp
        \fi
%
        \ifx\XML at INTalign\att at INTalignCenter
            \xdef\INTcols{\INTcol}
            \gdef\temp{\multispan\INTcols\hfill\hskip -2pt  #1
\hfill&}\aftergroup\temp
        \fi
%
        \ifx\XML at INTalign\att at INTalignRight
            \xdef\INTcols{\INTcol}
            \gdef\temp{\multispan\INTcols\hfill
#1\hskip -0pt\hfil&}\aftergroup\temp
        \fi
    }
}

And the XML file is

<row><entry></entry>
<entry INTcol="2" INTalign="l" rowsep="1" namest="col2"
nameend="col3">Labour and </entry>
<entry INTcol="2" INTalign="l" namest="col4" nameend="col5"
rowsep="1">Total</entry>
<entry INTcol="2" INTalign="l" namest="col6" nameend="col7"
rowsep="1">Pure</entry>
<entry INTcol="2" INTalign="l" namest="col8" nameend="col9"
rowsep="1">Relative</entry>
<entry INTcol="2" INTalign="l" namest="col10"
nameend="col11">Interaction</entry></row>
<row>

Regards
Ragu