[Tex/LaTex] Table spanning multicolumn and multipage using xtabular

tablestimelinextab

I would like to have a timeline where if the length is larger than the page, it will first continue as a second column in the same page, and if required, will continue to the next page's first column, and so on ….

Following is a solution which is based on This answer but this solution is not exactly what should be best for my requirement. In the first link, it has been suggested that this can be achieved using xtabular.

Following is what I have achieved so far:

\documentclass[a4paper,twoside,twocolumn,11pt]{book}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{xtab}
\usepackage[TS1,T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{fourier, heuristica}
\usepackage{array, booktabs}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[x11names,table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{caption}
\DeclareCaptionFont{blue}{\color{LightSteelBlue3}}

\newcommand{\foo}{\color{LightSteelBlue3}\makebox[0pt]{\textbullet}\hskip-0.5pt\vrule width 1pt\hspace{\labelsep}}

\begin{document}


\renewcommand\arraystretch{1.4}\arrayrulecolor{LightSteelBlue3}
\captionsetup{font=blue, labelfont=sc, labelsep=quad,
              skip=0.5\baselineskip}
\topcaption{My List}
\xentrystretch{-0.15} % height of table in each page
\begin{xtabular}{@{\,}r <{\hskip 2pt} !{\foo} >{\raggedright\arraybackslash}p{6cm}}
% header and footer information
%\addlinespace[1.5ex]

\bottomrule
% body of table
1947 & AT\&T Bell Labs develop the idea of cellular phones\\
1968 & Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre envisage the `Dynabook'\\
1971 & Busicom `Handy-LE' Calculator\\
1973 & First mobile handset invented by Martin Cooper\\
1978 & Parker Bros.\ Merlin Computer Toy\\
1981 & Osborne 1 Portable Computer\\
1982 & Grid Compass 1100 Clamshell Laptop\\
1983 & TRS-80 Model 100 Portable PC\\
1984 & Psion Organiser Handheld Computer\\
1991 & Psion Series 3 Minicomputer\\
1947 & AT\&T Bell Labs develop the idea of cellular phones\\
1968 & Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre envisage the `Dynabook'\\
1971 & Busicom `Handy-LE' Calculator\\
1973 & First mobile handset invented by Martin Cooper\\
1978 & Parker Bros.\ Merlin Computer Toy\\
1981 & Osborne 1 Portable Computer\\
1982 & Grid Compass 1100 Clamshell Laptop\\
1983 & TRS-80 Model 100 Portable PC\\
1984 & Psion Organiser Handheld Computer\\
1991 & Psion Series 3 Minicomputer\\
1947 & AT\&T Bell Labs develop the idea of cellular phones\\
1968 & Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre envisage the `Dynabook'\\
1971 & Busicom `Handy-LE' Calculator\\
1971 & Busicom `Handy-LE' Calculator\\
1973 & First mobile handset invented by Martin Cooper\\
1978 & Parker Bros.\ Merlin Computer Toy\\
1981 & Osborne 1 Portable Computer\\
1982 & Grid Compass 1100 Clamshell Laptop\\
1983 & TRS-80 Model 100 Portable PC\\
1984 & Psion Organiser Handheld Computer\\
1991 & Psion Series 3 Minicomputer\\
1947 & AT\&T Bell Labs develop the idea of cellular phones\\
1968 & Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre envisage the `Dynabook'\\
1971 & Busicom `Handy-LE' Calculator\\
1973 & First mobile handset invented by Martin Cooper\\
1978 & Parker Bros.\ Merlin Computer Toy\\
1981 & Osborne 1 Portable Computer\\
1982 & Grid Compass 1100 Clamshell Laptop\\
1983 & TRS-80 Model 100 Portable PC\\
1984 & Psion Organiser Handheld Computer\\
1991 & Psion Series 3 Minicomputer\\
1978 & Parker Bros.\ Merlin Computer Toy\\
1981 & Osborne 1 Portable Computer\\
1982 & Grid Compass 1100 Clamshell Laptop\\
1983 & TRS-80 Model 100 Portable PC\\
1984 & Psion Organiser Handheld Computer\\
1991 & Psion Series 3 Minicomputer\\
1947 & AT\&T Bell Labs develop the idea of cellular phones\\
1968 & Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre envisage the `Dynabook'\\
1971 & Busicom `Handy-LE' Calculator\\
1973 & First mobile handset invented by Martin Cooper\\
1978 & Parker Bros.\ Merlin Computer Toy\\
1981 & Osborne 1 Portable Computer\\
1982 & Grid Compass 1100 Clamshell Laptop\\
1983 & TRS-80 Model 100 Portable PC\\
1984 & Psion Organiser Handheld Computer\\
1991 & Psion Series 3 Minicomputer\\
\end{xtabular}
\end{document}

What I could not do:

Align the table at the top in both the columns
Making table heights equal (or almost equal) in both the columns
Adding (or Removing from top) the top horizontal border in the subsequent continuation of table.

Thanks for your help.

Best Answer

Some suggestions:

Provide \tablefirsthead, \tablehead, and \tablelasttail instructions in addition to \topcaption.
In particular, use \tablehead to create a quasi-caption for all text columns but the first.

\documentclass[a4paper,twoside,twocolumn,11pt]{book}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{xtab}
\usepackage[TS1,T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{fourier, heuristica}
\usepackage{array, booktabs, caption, ragged2e}
\usepackage[x11names,table]{xcolor}
\DeclareCaptionFont{blue}{\color{LightSteelBlue3}}

\newcommand{\foo}{\color{LightSteelBlue3}\makebox[0pt]{\textbullet}\hskip-0.5pt\vrule width 1pt\hspace{\labelsep}}

\begin{document}

\renewcommand\arraystretch{1.4}\arrayrulecolor{LightSteelBlue3}
\captionsetup{font=blue, labelfont=sc, labelsep=quad,
              skip=0.5\baselineskip}
% header and footer information
\topcaption{My List} \label{tab:timeline}
\tablefirsthead{\toprule}
\tablehead{\multicolumn{2}{c}{\color{LightSteelBlue3}\textsc{Table \ref{tab:timeline}}, cont'd}\\[0.6ex]
        \toprule}
\tablelasttail{\bottomrule}
\xentrystretch{-0.15} 

\begin{xtabular}{@{\,}r <{\hskip 2pt} !{\foo} >{\RaggedRight\arraybackslash}p{5cm}}
1947 & AT\&T Bell Labs develop the idea of cellular phones\\
1968 & Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre envisage the `Dynabook'\\
1971 & Busicom `Handy-LE' Calculator\\
1973 & First mobile handset invented by Martin Cooper\\
1978 & Parker Bros.\ Merlin Computer Toy\\
1981 & Osborne 1 Portable Computer\\
1982 & Grid Compass 1100 Clamshell Laptop\\
1983 & TRS-80 Model 100 Portable PC\\
1984 & Psion Organiser Handheld Computer\\
1991 & Psion Series 3 Minicomputer\\
1947 & AT\&T Bell Labs develop the idea of cellular phones\\
1968 & Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre envisage the `Dynabook'\\
1971 & Busicom `Handy-LE' Calculator\\
1973 & First mobile handset invented by Martin Cooper\\
1978 & Parker Bros.\ Merlin Computer Toy\\
1981 & Osborne 1 Portable Computer\\
1982 & Grid Compass 1100 Clamshell Laptop\\
1983 & TRS-80 Model 100 Portable PC\\
1984 & Psion Organiser Handheld Computer\\
1991 & Psion Series 3 Minicomputer\\
1947 & AT\&T Bell Labs develop the idea of cellular phones\\
1968 & Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre envisage the `Dynabook'\\
1971 & Busicom `Handy-LE' Calculator\\
1971 & Busicom `Handy-LE' Calculator\\
1973 & First mobile handset invented by Martin Cooper\\
1978 & Parker Bros.\ Merlin Computer Toy\\
1981 & Osborne 1 Portable Computer\\
1982 & Grid Compass 1100 Clamshell Laptop\\
1983 & TRS-80 Model 100 Portable PC\\
1984 & Psion Organiser Handheld Computer\\
1991 & Psion Series 3 Minicomputer\\
1947 & AT\&T Bell Labs develop the idea of cellular phones\\
1968 & Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre envisage the `Dynabook'\\
1971 & Busicom `Handy-LE' Calculator\\
1973 & First mobile handset invented by Martin Cooper\\
1978 & Parker Bros.\ Merlin Computer Toy\\
1981 & Osborne 1 Portable Computer\\
1982 & Grid Compass 1100 Clamshell Laptop\\
1983 & TRS-80 Model 100 Portable PC\\
1984 & Psion Organiser Handheld Computer\\
1991 & Psion Series 3 Minicomputer\\
1978 & Parker Bros.\ Merlin Computer Toy\\
1981 & Osborne 1 Portable Computer\\
1982 & Grid Compass 1100 Clamshell Laptop\\
1983 & TRS-80 Model 100 Portable PC\\
1984 & Psion Organiser Handheld Computer\\
1991 & Psion Series 3 Minicomputer\\
1947 & AT\&T Bell Labs develop the idea of cellular phones\\
1968 & Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre envisage the `Dynabook'\\
1971 & Busicom `Handy-LE' Calculator\\
1973 & First mobile handset invented by Martin Cooper\\
1978 & Parker Bros.\ Merlin Computer Toy\\
1981 & Osborne 1 Portable Computer\\
1982 & Grid Compass 1100 Clamshell Laptop\\
1983 & TRS-80 Model 100 Portable PC\\
1984 & Psion Organiser Handheld Computer\\
1991 & Psion Series 3 Minicomputer\\
\end{xtabular}

\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Multi page table in twocolumn document spanning two columns overlaps

You actually expect to change page layout somewhere on middle of the text. Simple and rude solution is to add \onecolumn before your table and on the its end add \twocolumn. However, this cause start of new layouts on the new pages. Consequently empty space before and after table can be quite large (till to whole page).

For solution of your problem it cross my mind the following possibilities:

set your table as separated document and than include it (for example in appendix) with help of pdfpages package.
shrink table to column width and redesign it to one column and contents of the first column as row before content of the second column
use description instead of table

As illustration of use \onecolumn/\twocolumn solution and use of description as possible solution please test the following MWE:

\documentclass[twocolumn]{article} % in real case: {svjour3} twocolumn
\usepackage{xtab,lipsum,array,ragged2e}

\begin{document}

\section{Introduction}
\label{intro}
\lipsum[1-5]

\begin{description}\RaggedRight
\item[1st Row First Column]~\\   \lipsum*[2]
\item[2nd Row Second Column]    \lipsum*[2]
\item[3rd Row Third Column]     \lipsum*[2]
\item[4th Row Fourth Column]    \lipsum*[2]
\item[5th Row Fourth Column]    \lipsum*[2]
\item[6th Row Fourth Column]    \lipsum*[2]
\item[7th Row Fourth Column]    \lipsum*[2]
\item[8th Row Fourth Column]    \lipsum*[2]
\end{description}

\section{Section}
\label{sec:1}
\lipsum*[1]

\subsection{Subsection}
\label{sec:1.1}
\lipsum*[2]

\onecolumn
\topcaption{The caption} \label{tab:1}
\tablefirsthead{
    \hline
    \textbf{Column1} & \textbf{Column2} \\
    \hline}
\tablehead{
    \multicolumn{2}{@{}l}{\em Table \ref{tab:1}, cont'd\strut}\\
    \hline
    \textbf{Column1} & \textbf{Column2} \\
    \hline}
\tabletail{\hline}
\tablelasttail{\hline}
\begin{xtabular}[b]{@{}p{0.2\textwidth}@{\hspace{0.01\textwidth}}p{0.79\textwidth}}
1st Row First Column  & \lipsum*[2]\\
2nd Row Second Column & \lipsum*[2]\\
3rd Row Third Column  & \lipsum*[2]\\
4th Row Fourth Column & \lipsum*[2]\\
5th Row Fourth Column & \lipsum*[2]\\
6th Row Fourth Column & \lipsum*[2]\\
7th Row Fourth Column & \lipsum*[2]\\
8th Row Fourth Column & \lipsum*[2]\\
\end{xtabular}
\twocolumn

\end{document}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Multi page table in twocolumn document spanning two columns overlaps

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