[Tex/LaTex] How to uncover table column with borders

beameroverlaystables

I try to show frame in 4 slides. First 2 are fine, but I fail in showing a table using two slides. Content of first column appears correctly – only on slide 4, but borders around this column are still shown

\documentclass[12pt]{beamer}
%\documentclass[12pt,handout]{beamer}
\usepackage{multirow} %Used for tables with merged cells
\usepackage{collcell} %pdflatex.exe hangs without this one

\begin{document}
  \begin{frame}{Communication Models}

  \begin{itemize}[<+->]
    \item OSI
    \item TCP/IP
  \end{itemize}

  \onslide<3->
  \begin{center}
  %Works almost fine, but first column should disappear fully (not just text)
  \begin{tabular}{|>{\onslide<4->}l<{\onslide<3->}|l|l|l|}
    \hline
    \textbf{Mnemonic}&  \textbf{\#} & \textbf{OSI} & \textbf{TCP/IP}              \\ \hline
    All              &  7           & Application  & \multirow{3}{*}{Application} \\ \cline{1-3}
    People           &  6           & Presentation &                              \\ \cline{1-3}
    Seem             &  5           & Session      &                              \\ \hline
    To               &  4           & Transport    & Transport                    \\ \hline
    Need             &  3           & Network      & Internet                     \\ \hline
    Data             &  2           & Data Link    & \multirow{2}{*}{Link Access} \\ \cline{1-3}
    Processing       &  1           & Physical     &                              \\ \hline
  \end{tabular}
  \end{center}
  \end{frame}
\end{document}

Instead of:

\begin{tabular}{|>{\onslide<4->}l<{\onslide<3->}|l|l|l|}

I tried to use:

\begin{tabular}{>{\onslide<4->}|l<{\onslide<3->}|l|l|l|}
\begin{tabular}{ \ifnum\slideno>3 | \fi >{\onslide<4->}l<{\onslide<3->}|l|l|l|}

but first version gives:

! Package array Error: >{..} at wrong position: token ignored.

and second:

! Package array Error: Illegal pream-token (\ifnum): `c' used.

Is it possible to make first column to be hidden on several slides completely (including borders)?

Solution, based on Piet's answer (UPD2)

Updated solution (UPD3) uses page-independent slideinframe counter, which is counted for each frame separately

This solution uses \newcolumntype{G} for first column, which does not appear at slide 3, but appears at slide 4 and handouts.

% Add line below to preamble
\def\Gobble#1\EndGobble{}
% UPD3: 3 lines below define slide counter within a frame (found here: http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/120940/119704)
\makeatletter
\def\c@slideinframe{\beamer@slideinframe}
\makeatother
...
% Add lines below to body (before tabular, and edit tabular definition)
% Next line is to show first column on handouts
\newcolumntype{G}{|l}
% Rules below hide first column on first 3 slides of beamer presentation, no influence on handouts
\only{beamer}{
  % UPD3: Change "page" to "slideinframe"
  %\ifnum\value{page}>3 \newcolumntype{G}{|l}\else
  \ifnum\value{slideinframe}>3 \newcolumntype{G}{|l}\else
  % I would be grateful if someone could describe the magic below :)
  \newcolumntype{G}{@{}>{\Gobble}l<{\EndGobble}@{}}\fi
}
% Apply newcolumntype
\begin{tabular}{G|l|l|l|}

Solution based on samcarter's workaround (UPD1)

Draw a rectangle with color, equal to background color
This solution needs fine tuning (position and size of the rectangle)

% Add line below to preamble:
\usepackage{tikz}
...
% Add lines to the end of frame:
  \only<beamer>{
    \vspace*{-4.7cm}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
      \begin{onlyenv}<3>
        \draw [color=bg, fill=bg] (0,0) rectangle (3.67,4.3); 
      \end{onlyenv}
    \end{tikzpicture}
  }
\end{frame}
\end{document}

Best Answer

Edit: I have changed this to a slightly cleaner solution with \newcolumntype.

You cannot put macros in a tabular spec that have to be expanded at definition time. You you must make the whole begin{tabular}{...} line conditional. And then you still have the first column text that must be swallowed up.

Alternatively, define a new columntype, conditional on the slide number. Here is an example:

\documentclass[12pt]{beamer}
\usepackage{multirow} %Used for tables with merged cells
\usepackage{collcell} %pdflatex.exe hangs without this one

\def\Gobble#1\EndGobble{}
\begin{document}
  \begin{frame}{Communication Models}

  \begin{itemize}[<+->]
    \item OSI
    \item TCP/IP
  \end{itemize}

  \onslide<3-4>
  \begin{center}
  \only<3> {\newcolumntype{G}{@{}>{\Gobble}l<{\EndGobble}@{}}}
  \only<4> {\newcolumntype{G}{|l}}

   \begin{tabular}{G|l|l|l|}
    \hline
    \textbf{Mnemonic}&  \textbf{\#} & \textbf{OSI} & \textbf{TCP/IP}              \\ \hline
    All              &  7           & Application  & \multirow{3}{*}{Application} \\ \cline{1-3}
    People           &  6           & Presentation &                              \\ \cline{1-3}
    Seem             &  5           & Session      &                              \\ \hline
    To               &  4           & Transport    & Transport                    \\ \hline
    Need             &  3           & Network      & Internet                     \\ \hline
    Data             &  2           & Data Link    & \multirow{2}{*}{Link Access} \\ \cline{1-3}
    Processing       &  1           & Physical     &                              \\ \hline
  \end{tabular}
  \end{center}
  \end{frame}
\end{document}
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