Inserting a table

Inserting a table

[Christopher Dimech]

Have been trying to insert a table but am finding quite difficult 
following the source code.

(defun make-table ()
  (interactive)
  (table-insert 4 5)
  (table-forward-cell)
  (table-insert-sequence "column " 1 1 1 'center)
  (table-forward-cell 4)
  (table-insert-sequence "column 2" 1 1 1 'center)
  (table-release)
  )

Re: Inserting a table

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Christopher Dimech <dimech@gmx.com>
> Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2022 21:33:43 +0100
> 
> Have been trying to insert a table but am finding quite difficult 
> following the source code.

Why don't you follow the large commentary at the beginning of table.el
instead?

Re: Inserting a table

[Christopher Dimech]

> Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2022 at 8:52 AM
> From: "Eli Zaretskii" <eliz@gnu.org>
> To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: Inserting a table
>
> > From: Christopher Dimech <dimech@gmx.com>
> > Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2022 21:33:43 +0100
> > 
> > Have been trying to insert a table but am finding quite difficult 
> > following the source code.
> 
> Why don't you follow the large commentary at the beginning of table.el
> instead?
 
The difficulty is how to insert text in a particular cell. 

Re: Inserting a table

[Stefan Monnier via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor]

>> Why don't you follow the large commentary at the beginning of table.el
>> instead?
>  
> The difficulty is how to insert text in a particular cell. 

IIUC `table.el` was designed under the assumption that the table would
be edited interactively rather than from ELisp.
I'm not saying it won't work, but the lack of info may just reflect that
nobody has thought about it yet.  Maybe you can contribute to the doc
(and/or code if it proves necessary) after you find out how to do it?


        Stefan

Re: Inserting a table

[Heime]

------- Original Message -------
On Friday, November 4th, 2022 at 9:24 PM, Stefan Monnier via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org> wrote:


> > > Why don't you follow the large commentary at the beginning of table.el
> > > instead?
> > 
> > The difficulty is how to insert text in a particular cell.
> 
> 
> IIUC `table.el` was designed under the assumption that the table would
> be edited interactively rather than from ELisp.
> I'm not saying it won't work, but the lack of info may just reflect that
> nobody has thought about it yet. Maybe you can contribute to the doc
> (and/or code if it proves necessary) after you find out how to do it?
> 
> Stefan

I agree with your general assessment.  It would certainly be useful for many
users in rapidly insert tables programatically.  I find tables useful for 
displaying status information on emacs setup for instance.  For instance, to
show what features and associated customisations have been enabled and set.