[Tex/LaTex] Table row with white text on black background

colortablestabularx

I am trying to reproduce a table like those in this picture

The table I want to reproduce

So far I have

\noindent
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{| l | X | l | l | }
\hline
& Does the proposed research involve processing of genetic information or personal data (e.g. health, sexual lifestyle, ethnicity, political opinion, religious or philosophical conviction)? & &  \\
\hline
& Does the proposed research involve tracking the location or observation of people? & &  \\
\hline
& I CONFIRM THAT NONE OF THE ABOVE ISSUES APPLY TO MY PROPOSAL  & YES & \\
\hline
\end{tabularx}

How can I get the white text on black background top row of the tables in the picture (which seems to be a three column row where the others are four columns)?. Also, is it possible to get something like the fine double line you see round the outside of the table and in fact all round the white on black top row of the table in the following higher resolution snapshot (click to enlarge):

Best Answer

The idea is to use some of the commands provided by the table option of the xcolor package. The first option would be to use \rowcolor to specify the desired color for the whole row; however, since you need to use \multicolumn to override the default column specification (in order to have centered contents in some cells),the effect of \rowcolor will be lost, so it's better to use \cellcolor inside \multicolumn for the modified cells. The color for the text can be changed using the \textcolor (from the color package) command. These ideas can be better implemented through a new command. To get the fine double line, I used a \fbox (locally changing \fboxsep) to place a frame around the table, and a "fake" row; feel free to change the length according to your needs:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}

\newcommand\BlackCell[1]{%
  \multicolumn{1}{c|}{\cellcolor{black}\textcolor{white}{#1}}
}

\begin{document}

\begingroup
\noindent
\setlength\fboxsep{0.6pt}\fbox{%
\begin{tabularx}{\dimexpr\textwidth-2\fboxsep-2\fboxrule\relax}{| l | X | l | l | }
\hline
\BlackCell{} & \BlackCell{Research on Human Embryo/Foetus} & \BlackCell{YES} & \BlackCell{Page} \\\hline\multicolumn{4}{c}{}\\[-11.5pt]\hline
& Does the proposed research involve processing of genetic information or personal data (e.g. health, sexual lifestyle, ethnicity, political opinion, religious or philosophical conviction)? & &  \\
\hline
& Does the proposed research involve tracking the location or observation of people? & &  \\
\hline
& I CONFIRM THAT NONE OF THE ABOVE ISSUES APPLY TO MY PROPOSAL  & YES & \\
\hline
\end{tabularx}%
}
\endgroup

\end{document}

enter image description here

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] white text on black background in entire table

You can do this with the [table] option of xcolor (which uses colortbl):

You can use the array package to define column types whose colour is black. E.g.

\newcolumntype{B}{>{\columncolor{black}\color{white}}c}}

defines a B column which is identical to a c column, but black with white text. You can also define similar column types for the other types of columns (l, p and m, for example). For p column types, you need to add hspace{0pt} at the beginning of the cell to avoid odd spacing issues.

\newcolumntype{L}{>{\columncolor{black}\color{white}}l}}
\newcolumntype{P}[1]{>{\columncolor{black}\hspace{0pt}\color{white}}p{#1}}
\newcolumntype{M}[1]{>{\columncolor{black}\hspace{0pt}\color{white}}m{#1}}

Here's an example using each type.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{array}
\begin{document}
\arrayrulecolor{white}
\newcolumntype{B}{>{\columncolor{black}\color{white}}c}
\newcolumntype{L}{>{\columncolor{black}\color{white}}l}
\newcolumntype{P}[1]{>{\columncolor{black}\hspace{0pt}\color{white}}p{#1}}
\begin{tabular}{|B|L|P{1in}|}
\hline
A & B & C \\
\hline
D & E & F \\
\hline
G & H & I \\
\hline
J & K & L \\
\hline
M & N & O \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

output of code

[Tex/LaTex] Table cell with unwanted black background

The problem is cause by the \rowcolor command in the last line of your {tabular}. Just remove it ;-)

By the way. You could use \rowcolors to automatically change the colors of the rows. Furthermore I recommend to use booktabs and \(top|mid|bottom)rule instead of \hline.

\documentclass[]{article}

\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}

% fix for \rowcolors in {tabularx}, see https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/297357/4918
\newcounter{tblerows}
\expandafter\let\csname c@tblerows\endcsname\rownum

\usepackage{booktabs}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}[h]
   \centering
   \caption{Points} 
   \label{tab:Points}
   \rowcolors{2}{}{black!10}
   \begin{tabularx}{.9\textwidth}{cccX}
      \toprule
      \textbf{Heading 1} & \textbf{Heading 2} & \textbf{Heading 3} & \textbf{Heading 4} \\ 
      \midrule
      1 & a & 10 & Some text, Some text, Some text, Some text, Some text  \\ 
      1 & b & 4 &  \\ 
      1 & c & 4 &  \\ 
      1 & d & 4 & Some other text, Some other text \\ 
      1 & e & 4 &  \\ 
      \midrule
      Total &  & 26 &  \\ 
      \bottomrule
   \end{tabularx}
\end{table}

\end{document}

For some reason with {tabularx} the {2} argument of \rowcolors is ignored, which is not the case for {tabluar} … I ask a new question regarding this issue: Why is the start row of \rowcolors ignored in tabularx?

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] white text on black background in entire table

[Tex/LaTex] Table cell with unwanted black background

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