apparently

>            \startxcell[suffix][ny=2] cell a 1 \stopxcell

should be

           \startxcell[suffix, ny=2] cell a 1 \stopxcell




> On 5 Jan 2018, at 14:32, Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl> wrote:
> 
> On 1/5/2018 4:57 AM, Henri wrote:
>> Dear list,
>> The Natural Tables have this great feature that I can control the layout with rowwise, columnwise,
>> or cellwise setups.  For example:
>> \starttext
>> \setupTABLE [frame=off]
>> \setupTABLE [r] [first] [topframe=on,bottomframe=on,style=bold]
>> \setupTABLE [c] [2]     [style=italic]
>> \setupTABLE [2] [3]     [color=red]
>> \setupTABLE [r] [last]  [bottomframe=on]
>> \startTABLE
>>   \NC A \NC A \NC A \NC\NR
>>   \NC B \NC B \NC B \NC\NR
>>   \NC C \NC C \NC C \NC\NR
>>   \NC D \NC D \NC D \NC\NR
>>   \NC E \NC E \NC E \NC\NR
>> \stopTABLE
>> \stoptext
> 
> it's also an extremely inefficient method
> 
>> How can I do such a thing with Extreme Tables?  If it is not yet possible I'd like to request the
>> inclusion of such a mechanism.
> from the manual, named setups:
> 
> \setupxtable[suffix][align=middle,foregroundcolor=red]
> \setupxtable[blabla][foregroundstyle=slanted]
> \setupxtable[crap]  [foregroundcolor=blue]
> \setupxtable[bold]  [crap][foregroundstyle=bold]
> 
> \startxtable % [frame=off]
>    \startxtablehead
>        \startxrow[bold]
>            \startxcell[suffix]       head a \stopxcell
>            \startxcell[blabla]       head b \stopxcell
>            \startxcell               head c \stopxcell
>        \stopxrow
>    \stopxtablehead
>    \startxtablebody
>        \startxrow
>            \startxcell[suffix][ny=2] cell a 1 \stopxcell
>            \startxcell               cell b 1 \stopxcell
>            \startxcell               cell c 1 \stopxcell
>        \stopxrow
>        \startxrow
>            \startxcell               cell b 2 \stopxcell
>            \startxcell               cell c 2 \stopxcell
>        \stopxrow
>        \startxrow
>            \startxcell[suffix]       cell a 3 \stopxcell
>            \startxcell               cell b 3 \stopxcell
>            \startxcell               cell c 3 \stopxcell
>        \stopxrow
>        \startxrow
>            \startxcell[suffix]       cell a 4 \stopxcell
>            \startxcell               cell b 4 \stopxcell
>            \startxcell               cell c 4 \stopxcell
>        \stopxrow
>        \startxrow
>            \startxcell[suffix]       cell a 5 \stopxcell
>            \startxcell               cell b 5 \stopxcell
>            \startxcell               cell c 5 \stopxcell
>        \stopxrow
>    \stopxtablebody
> \stopxtable
> 
> 
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>                                          Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
>              Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
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