[Tex/LaTex] Vertical alignment in tabular cells with variable height

Question

I have the code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{ | X | c | }
  \hline
  \lipsum[1] & top\\
  \hline
  \lipsum[1] & center\\
  \hline
  \lipsum[1] & bottom\\
  \hline
\end{tabularx}
\end{document}

Gives this:

The top row is already aligned top. How can I vertically align the center row at the center? And the bottom row at the bottom?

Answer 1

The vertical adjustment of the row "c" is related to the definition of the columntype X which uses the specifier p.

You need m for a centered adjustment and b for bottom. This can be achieved by \multicolumn, whereby the line width must be saved (I don't know a good solution).

Here is an example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}

\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{ | X | c | }
  \hline
  \lipsum*[1]\xdef\tempwidth{\the\linewidth} & top\\\hline
  \multicolumn{1}{|m{\tempwidth}|}{\lipsum*[1]} & center\\\hline
  \multicolumn{1}{|b{\tempwidth}|}{\lipsum*[1]} & bottom\\\hline
\end{tabularx}
\end{document}