I'm writing an application that generate latex code, therefore the solution must be the most generic possible to ensure that it will generate clean pdf all the time. I would like to let my users specify the thickness of the tables (both horizontal and vertical lines) and the best solution I've found so far is to use "\specialrule" from the booktabs package.
Here is a MWE :
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\newcommand\VRule[1][\arrayrulewidth]{\vrule width #1}
\begin{document}
Some text goes here
and here
and here
and here
and here
\begin{longtable}{!{\VRule[3pt]}c!{\VRule[3pt]}c!{\VRule[3pt]}c!{\VRule[3pt]}c!{\VRule[3pt]}c!{\VRule[3pt]}}
\specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
This & is & the & nice & header \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt} \endhead
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
Portable & 1 & 676 & 21.00 & 676.00 \\ \specialrule{3pt}{0pt}{0pt}
\end{longtable}
\end{document}
My problem is that the break does not work correctly depending on the height of content before the table and the thickness of the lines. In this case, the last horizontal line of the longtable on the first page is moved on the second page.
Best Answer
\hline
inlongtable
really needs to know a lot about howlongtable
s are put together, in particular how the left and right margin works, and what to do at a page break. It's basically more like\cline
, or rather two\cline
s one on top of the other to allow duplication at a break.So basically rules from other packages are not likely to work unless they explicitly cater for
longtable
.If you just need varying
\arrayrulewidth
you should be able to use\setlength{\arrayrulewidth}{3pt}
and then a normal\hline
.booktabs
does have some support for it but I note its documentation says explicitly.So it seems to imply that the behaviour at the page break is by design.