graphicstablesvertical alignment
I have a table with two columns. The column on the left contains a picture (\epsfig) the column on the right contains the description.
The description starts on the same height as the lower end of the epsfig
I would like the description to start on the same height as the beginning of the epsfig.
How can I achieve this?
Suppress the \vspace{0pt} commands and use the optional argument to control the position of the tabulars:
\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
\noindent\parbox[t]{2cm}{%
\begin{tabular}[t]{ccc}
x & x & x\\
x & x & x\\
x & x & x\\
x & x & x\\
x & x & x
\end{tabular}
}\hfill
\parbox[t]{2cm}{%
\begin{tabular}[t]{ccc}
x & x & x\\
x & x & x
\end{tabular}\\[1em]
\begin{tabular}{ccc}
x & x & x
\end{tabular}
}
\end{document}
The problem is in understanding precisely how tabular works.
Each cell has a reference point of reference and all the reference points are eventually put on the same horizontal line. For l, c, and r cells the reference point is on the baseline; for a p cell the reference point is on the first line's baseline; for m cells the reference point is midway from the top and the bottom of the text; for b cells it's on the last line's baseline.
Thus a tabular specification such as
{l m{3cm} p{3cm}}
will not place the middle cells of a row mid aligned with respect to the last cell, but rather its content will stick above the last column by (slightly less than) half its vertical size.
The kind of alignment you're trying to get can't be obtained without measuring the cells' contents, as Stefan Kottwitz's answer about \tabbox shows: that 3.7\baselineskip was good for that example, not in general.
Here's a way out, in your specific case (note the use of \adjustbox for the picture):
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{booktabs,adjustbox}
\newcommand{\finalcells}[2]{%
\begingroup\sbox0{\begin{minipage}{3cm}\raggedright#1\end{minipage}}%
\sbox2{\begin{minipage}{3cm}\raggedright#2\end{minipage}}%
\xdef\finalheight{\the\dimexpr\ht0+\dp0+\smallskipamount\relax}%
\xdef\finalheightB{\the\dimexpr\ht2+\dp2+\smallskipamount\relax}%
\ifdim\finalheightB>\finalheight
\global\let\finalheight\finalheightB
\fi\endgroup
\begin{minipage}[t][\finalheight][t]{3cm}\raggedright#1\end{minipage}&
\begin{minipage}[t][\finalheight][t]{3cm}\raggedright#2\end{minipage}}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{c m{2cm} m{3cm} m{3cm} m{3cm}}
\toprule
\multicolumn{1}{c}{Header 1} &
\multicolumn{1}{c}{Header 2} &
\multicolumn{1}{c}{Header 3} &
\multicolumn{1}{c}{Header 4} &
\multicolumn{1}{c}{Header 5} \\
\midrule
Short Text &
Slightly Longer Text &
\adjustbox{valign=c}{%
\begin{tikzpicture}
% Draw beam and end lines
\draw (-1.5,-0.75) rectangle (1.5,0.75) ;
\end{tikzpicture}%
}
&
\finalcells{Some text that extends onto more than one line as there's plenty of it.}
{Some text that extends onto more than one line as there's plenty of it.
Some text that extends onto more than one line as there's plenty of it.} \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{document}
Best Answer
This should work within a table. It aligns the picture and the text.