org-mode table alignment options (siunitx S-column)

org-mode table alignment options (siunitx S-column)

[Michael Giepen]

I would like to align the decimals of the values in the following table 
with siunitx "S column".


################################################
#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage{siunitx}

#+CAPTION: My caption
#+ATTR_LATEX: :align lS
| Column |    Value |
| A      |   2234.2 |
| B      | 243.2345 |
| C      |     2.03 |
| D      |      4.0 |

################################################

Like this, no problem.

However, with wider tables you have to put a lot of attributes and the 
following implementation would be clearer if it would be more org-mode 
like with the attributes inside the table.

#+CAPTION: My caption
#+ATTR_LATEX: :align lS
| Column |    Value |    Value |    Value |    Value |    Value |
| <l>    |      <S> |      <S> |      <S> |      <S> |      <S> |
| A      |   2234.2 |   2234.2 |   2234.2 |   2234.2 |   2234.2 |
| B      | 243.2345 | 243.2345 | 243.2345 | 243.2345 | 243.2345 |
| C      |     2.03 |     2.03 |     2.03 |     2.03 |     2.03 |
| D      |      4.0 |      4.0 |      4.0 |      4.0 |      4.0 |

But only l, c, and r and numbers for width are recognised within < >,  
the S not.

Could this be expanded somehow to allow for any letter, or at least to 
the ones that make sense?

Re: org-mode table alignment options (siunitx S-column)

[Nicolas Goaziou]

Hello,

Michael Giepen <giepen.m@googlemail.com> writes:

> However, with wider tables you have to put a lot of attributes and the 
> following implementation would be clearer if it would be more org-mode 
> like with the attributes inside the table.
>
> #+CAPTION: My caption
> #+ATTR_LATEX: :align lS
> | Column |    Value |    Value |    Value |    Value |    Value |
> | <l>    |      <S> |      <S> |      <S> |      <S> |      <S> |
> | A      |   2234.2 |   2234.2 |   2234.2 |   2234.2 |   2234.2 |
> | B      | 243.2345 | 243.2345 | 243.2345 | 243.2345 | 243.2345 |
> | C      |     2.03 |     2.03 |     2.03 |     2.03 |     2.03 |
> | D      |      4.0 |      4.0 |      4.0 |      4.0 |      4.0 |
>
> But only l, c, and r and numbers for width are recognised within < >,  
> the S not.
>
> Could this be expanded somehow to allow for any letter, or at least to 
> the ones that make sense?

Org implements minimal alignment rules, but it does so across all major
export back-ends. Introducing some new syntax here has at least
2 drawbacks:

  1. It requires an implementation in every major back-ends, which may
     not be always possible (e.g., in LaTeX, another default package is
     required)

  2. It may introduce some false positives (e.g., is "| <foo> |" an
     alignment cookie or a regular field?).

I think #+ATTR_BACKEND: :align ... goes a long way towards removing
these limitations, at least on the export side.


Regards,

-- 
Nicolas Goaziou

Re: org-mode table alignment options (siunitx S-column)

[Eric S Fraga]

On Tuesday, 16 Feb 2016 at 17:58, Nicolas Goaziou wrote:

[...]

> I think #+ATTR_BACKEND: :align ... goes a long way towards removing
> these limitations, at least on the export side.

I agree.

I have always taken the view that the <x> syntax was for presentation in
org mode, not for export, probably because I mostly use the <NN>
construct to be able to see wide tables in emacs...  Given the
capability of specifying :align on export backends, I don't think
there's any need for extending the current syntax.

-- 
: Eric S Fraga (0xFFFCF67D), Emacs 25.0.91.1, Org release_8.3.3-601-gff9890