Robert Engelhardt wrote:

Hello all,

I'm a new ConTeXt user (started using it a few days ago) and I do have three problems now with tables which I could not solve reading the manual and the content of the ConTeXt wiki. I've created a minimal example (see below) illustrating my problems:

1. How can create lines with different widths using the "\DL" command as I do with "\HL[<factor>]" oder "\VL[<factor>]"? This would, in my example, allow to align the "dummy<x>" text in the first table with the numbers <x> in the second table.

2. How can I create a carriage return in the text of a table cell? Neither "\crlf" nor "\\" do work (tried it with the "AAA" and "BBB" text in the first table to get them into the same cell.

3. How can I synchronize the height of the first two lines of the first table with those of the second table, no matter if there's a line between the rows (as in the second table, a thin one as in my example or even a fat one) or not (like in the first table which visually has a "big cell")? Can I create an "invisible line"? How do I line up the "BBB" with the "YYY / ZZZ" line? Or, another possibility, how do I control the rows independently, having the "BBB" in the first table very close to the "AAA", perhaps even three lines of text there, and at the same time only two rows of text in the second table? What about having only one line of text in the first table, vertically centered to the corresponding two rows of the second table?

=== [example] ===

\starttext \define\bold{8} \startcombination[2*1] {\starttable[|c|] \HL[\bold] \VL[\bold] AAA \VL[\bold]\FR \VL BBB \VL\LR \HL[\bold] \VL dummy1 \VL\SR \HL \VL dummy2 \VL\SR \HL \VL dummy3 \VL\SR \HL[\bold] \VL dummy4 \VL\SR \HL \VL dummy5 \VL\SR \HL \VL dummy6 \VL\SR \HL[\bold] \VL dummy7 \VL\SR \HL \VL dummy8 \VL\SR \HL \VL dummy9 \VL\SR \HL[\bold] \stoptable}{} {\starttable[|c|cw(3cm)|] \HL[\bold] \VL[\bold] \use{2} XXX \VL[\bold]\FR \HL \VL YYY \VL[1] ZZZ \VL\LR \HL[\bold] \VL 1 \VL \VL \SR \DL\VL\DR \VL 2 \VL \VL \SR \DL\VL\DR \VL 3 \VL \VL \SR \DL\VL\DR \VL 4 \VL \VL \SR \DL\VL\DR \VL 5 \VL \VL \SR \DL\VL\DR \VL 6 \VL \VL \SR \DL\VL\DR \VL 7 \VL \VL \SR \DL\VL\DR \VL 8 \VL \VL \SR \DL\VL\DR \VL 9 \VL \VL \SR \HL[\bold] \stoptable}{} \stopcombination \stoptext

=== [/example] ===

I know, a layout with all these horizontal lines and two tables sitting next to each other is not the best one, but I'm trying to reconstruct an existing document which is designed that way. Thanks for your help!

btw, redefining\bold is a bad idea, use \Bold (i.e. capitalize your personal commands) \starttext \def\DummyLine {\VL \blackrule[height=.5\linewidth,depth=.5\linewidth,width=0pt] \VL \NR} \def\DummyBoldT{\VL \blackrule[height=4\linewidth, depth=0\linewidth, width=0pt] \VL \VL \NR} \def\DummyBoldB{\VL \blackrule[height=0\linewidth, depth=3\linewidth, width=0pt] \VL \VL \NR} \define\bold{8} \startcombination[2*1] {\starttable[|c|] \HL[\bold] \VL[\bold] AAA \VL[\bold]\FR \DummyLine \VL BBB \VL\LR \HL[\bold] \VL dummy1 \VL\SR \HL \VL dummy2 \VL\SR \HL \VL dummy3 \VL\SR \HL[\bold] \VL dummy4 \VL\SR \HL \VL dummy5 \VL\SR \HL \VL dummy6 \VL\SR \HL[\bold] \VL dummy7 \VL\SR \HL \VL dummy8 \VL\SR \HL \VL dummy9 \VL\SR \HL[\bold] \stoptable}{} {\starttable[|c|cw(3cm)|] \HL[\bold] \VL[\bold] \use{2} XXX \VL[\bold]\FR \HL \VL YYY \VL[1] ZZZ \VL\LR \HL[\bold] \VL 1 \VL \VL \SR \DL\VL\DR \VL 2 \VL \VL \SR \DL\VL\DR \VL 3 \VL \VL \SR \DummyBoldT \DL\VL\DR \DummyBoldB \VL 4 \VL \VL \SR \DL\VL\DR \VL 5 \VL \VL \SR \DL\VL\DR \VL 6 \VL \VL \SR \DummyBoldT \DL\VL\DR \DummyBoldB \VL 7 \VL \VL \SR \DL\VL\DR \VL 8 \VL \VL \SR \DL\VL\DR \VL 9 \VL \VL \SR \HL[\bold] \stoptable}{} \stopcombination \stoptext ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: 038 477 53 69 | fax: 038 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com | www.pragma-pod.nl -----------------------------------------------------------------