I'm currently using xtab to create long tables that span two columns, and multiple pages. What I'd like to do is have a finer degree of control over when the table is broken on a page / column boundary. I'm using \twocolumn for get the two columns.
Based on my research, supertabular doesn't seem to respect / pay attention to \newpage or \pagebreak — but longtable does. However, longtable doesn't support multiple columns. I understand xtab is something of an improved version of supertabular, but it also doesn't seem to respect \pagebreak or \newpage. The example below spans two pages, with two columns, with two ideal break points indicated. These tables are cue sheets for long bicycling routes, and I'd prefer column / page breaks to occur at sane stopping points, like pit stops, water breaks, etc. Is there any simple way to go about this?
\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage[left=0.25in,right=0.25in,top=0.25in,bottom=0.25in]{geometry}
\geometry{letterpaper}
\usepackage{helvet}
\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault}
\usepackage{colortbl}
\usepackage{xtab}
\begin{document}
\twocolumn
\tabletail{\hline}
\tablelasttail{\hline}
\begin{xtabular}{|p{0.25in}|p{0.35in}|p{2.25in}|l|}
\hline
\rowcolor[gray]{0}
\textbf{\textcolor{white}{Go}} & \textbf{\textcolor{white}{At}} & \textbf{\textcolor{white}{On}} & \textbf{\textcolor{white}{For}} \\ \hline
& 0.0 & Start of route & 0.0 \\ \hline
\textbf{R} & 0.0 & Onto Hudson Terrace & 0.7 \\ \hline
\textbf{L} & 0.7 & Onto bike path at Bruce Reynolds Blvd & 0.4 \\ \hline
\textbf{L} & 1.0 & Onto River Road. STEEP & 2.4 \\ \hline
\textbf{BL} & 3.4 & TRO River Road & 4.7 \\ \hline
\textbf{R} & 8.1 & @ Circle, take exit to descend down to Boat Basin & 0.0 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 8.2 & Make a U-turn. Back up we go! \textbf{Note:} \#1 - Alpine & 0.3 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 8.3 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 8.5 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 8.6 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 8.7 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 8.8 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 8.9 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 9.0 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 9.1 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 9.2 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 9.3 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 9.4 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 9.5 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 9.6 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 9.7 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 9.8 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\rowcolor{yellow} \textbf{PIT} & 9.8 & Alpine PD (Regroup Here) \newline \textbf{Note:} End of \#1 - Alpine \newline \textbf{BREAK COLUMN HERE} & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{QL} & 9.9 & Alpine Approach Rd & 0.2 \\ \hline
\textbf{R} & 10.1 & Route 9W & 4.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{L} & 14.2 & Oak Tree Rd $\Rightarrow$ Main St $\Rightarrow$ King's Hwy & 2.2 \\ \hline
\textbf{BL} & 16.4 & Greenbush Rd $\Rightarrow$ Western Hwy S & 3.0 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 16.5 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 16.6 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 16.7 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 16.8 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 16.9 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 17.0 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 17.1 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 17.2 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 17.3 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 17.4 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 17.5 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 17.6 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 17.7 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 17.8 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 17.9 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 18.0 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 18.1 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 18.2 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 18.3 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 18.4 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 18.5 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\rowcolor{yellow} \textbf{PIT} & 19.0 & Some Deli Somewhere \newline \textbf{BREAK PAGE/COLUMN HERE} & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 19.1 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 19.2 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\textbf{S} & 19.3 & Keep going forward (filler filler filler) & 0.1 \\ \hline
\end{xtabular}
\end{document}
Best Answer
I'm not sure the multi-page table packages are helping here, you can simply force the column widths and break by hand: