[NTG-context] Re: \starttable questions

[Henning Hraban Ramm <texml@fiee.net>]

Am 25.01.24 um 16:12 schrieb Jim:
> Hi, I was wondering if anyone here could help me with these three things:
> 
> For a long time I have been using Wichura's TaBle macros (i.e., what one
> gets with
>          \input table
> in plain TeX) and would like to use what appears to be ConTeXt's version of
> those (i.e., what one gets with \starttable ... \stoptable).
> 
> 
> However, https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/starttable says
>          The environment \starttable ... \stoptable is and (sic) old and
>          nearly obsolete way to handle tabular material
> 
> Q1: are there plans to remove \starttable ... \endtable from ConTeXt any
>      time "soon", or is that wiki comment gratuitously pessimistic?


Hans suggests to use tabulate as long as it fits.

tabulate uses mostly the same syntax as table(s), but as far as I looked 
into the sources, it’s a different (and probably better) implementation.

I’m quite sure \starttable will stay, it’s just discouraged since 
\startTABLE (natural tables) is better if you need more than \starttabulate.


> In a recent answer on this list, Mikael helped someone by pointing out the
> \HF[...] command.  The \HF command is not listed in the \starttable wiki page.
> 
> Q2: Is \HF[] documented anywhere?  If so, can someone point me to that/those
>      document(s)?

I also don’t know anything about \HF and didn’t find it in the source.
Are you sure it wasn’t just used in a math context?

> Perhaps an answer to Q2 will answer this one too, but in case it doesn't...
> 
> When using Wichura's \BeginTable ... \EndTable macros, I occasionally
> use the \\+nm feature to add n points above the current line and/or m
> points below the current line.
> 
> Q3: Does ConTexT's \starttable ... \endtable have this feature?
>      If so, how does one access this feature?

Probably not, you don’t use \\ in a ConTeXt table.
There’s \TB[] that understands the same parameters as \blank

Hraban


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