Overview of Tables
Tables provide a convenient mechanism for organizing content in the standard worksheet interface.
Creating a Table
Cell Contents
Editable and Noneditable Tables
Navigating Table Cells
Modifying the Structural Layout of a Table
Modifying the Physical Dimensions of a Table
Modifying the Appearance of a Table Programmatically
Modifying the Appearance of a Table
Working with Table Captions
Applying a Table Cross-Reference
Printing Options
Execution Order Dependency
Notes
Examples
To create a table:
From the Insert menu, select Table.
Specify the number of rows and columns in the Insert Table dialog.
If the cursor resides in an execution group, you can insert the table before or after the group.
If the cursor resides in a document block, you can insert the table before or after the document block.
If the cursor resides within an existing table, the table will be inserted at the cursor location.
If you want to include a table caption, select the Show table caption check box and enter a title (optional).
Click OK.
The default properties for the table include visible borders and auto-adjustment to 100% of the document width. These options, as well as the table dimensions, can be modified after table creation. The following is an example table using the default settings:
Any content that can be placed into a section can also be placed into a table cell including other sections and tables. Table cells can contain a mix of:
Input commands
2-D math
Embedded Components
Plots
Images
You can make a table noneditable. After a table has been marked noneditable, any content within the table cannot be modified. It is not possible to add new rows or columns or to add new content such as embedded components to the table cells or to run computations within the table. Existing interactive embedded components inside of the table will continue to work.
To make a table noneditable, in the Context Panel for the table, clear the Editable check box.
For details, see Controlling the Editability of Documents and Tables.
Use the Tab key to move between cells. Ensure Tab Navigation is selected under the Format menu.
Note: To instead use the Tab key to indent content within a cell, clear the check box beside Tab Navigation. For details, see Using the Tab Key.
The number of rows and columns in a table can be modified using the Insert and Delete submenus in the Table menu or using the Cut and Paste tools.
Inserting Rows and Columns
Row and column insertion is relative to the table cell that currently contains the text input cursor. If the worksheet has an active selection, insertion is relative to the selection boundaries.
Column insertion may be above or below the marker or selection.
Cutting and Deleting
With cut and paste operations, a dialog opens allowing you to specify the desired behavior. For example, you can delete the selected rows, or merely reset the contents of the selected cells.
Pasting
Pasting a table subselection into a table may result in the creation of additional rows or columns, overwriting existing cell content, or the insertion of a subtable within the active table cell.
Merging
You can merge cells across row or column boundaries. The resultant cell must be rectangular. The contents of the individual cells in the merge operation are concatenated in execution order.
The overall width of the table can be controlled in several ways.
The most direct way is to use a click-and-drag action on the left or right table boundary to drag the boundary to the desired width. Upon release of the mouse button, the table boundary is moved and the table layout is updated. This approach can also be used to resize the relative width of table columns.
Alternately, the size of the table can be controlled from the Table Properties dialog (found in the Context Panel for the table). Two sizing modes are supported:
Fixed percentage of page width. Using the first option, the table adjusts its width whenever the width of the worksheet changes. This option is useful for ensuring that the entire content of the table fits onto the screen or printed page.
Scale with zoom factor. The second option (scale with zoom factor) is used to preserve the layout of the table regardless of the size of the worksheet window or the zoom factor. If the table exceeds the width of the worksheet window, the horizontal scroll bar can be used to view the rightmost columns.
It is possible to access some table properties programmatically using the DocumentTools package. For details, see Table Properties using DocumentTools.
Table Borders
The style of exterior and interior borders is set using the Table Properties dialog.
You can set all, none, or only some of the borders to be visible in a table.
You can control the visibility of interior borders by using the Group submenu of the Table menu.
Grouping rows or columns suppresses interior borders within the table selection.
Grouping rows and columns requires that the interior border style is set to By row and column group.
Hidden borders are made visible when the mouse hovers over a table. Note that this feature (border visibility on mouse roll over) can be disabled. There are two ways to do so: for all tables in the worksheet or for one table.
To set the table border display settings for the entire worksheet:
From the View menu, select Show/Hide Contents.
Under the Show/Hide Contents menu, select Hidden Table Borders to show hidden table borders. Clear the check box to suppress the outline of the hidden table borders.
To set the table border display settings for a table:
Click anywhere inside your table.
In the Context Panel for the table is the Table Properties dialog.
From the Show hidden borders drop-down list, select from the options:
Never - Hidden table borders are never displayed.
According to Show/Hide Setting - The table obeys the global worksheet setting (default).
Always - Hidden table borders are always displayed on mouse hover.
When you change this border display setting for an individual table to Never or Always, it overrides the global worksheet settings.
Cell Colors
You can select a background color for a single cell, or a selection of cells.
To set the background color, first select the cell or cells you want to have a particular color. From the Table menu, select Cell Color. Choose a color from the Select A Color dialog, by using one of the following tools:
Select a pre-defined color from the Color Palette.
Move the slider beside the Color Wheel to display a range of colors, then choose one from the wheel.
Specify the RGB values of a color by moving the Color Value Sliders.
After you have selected the color, click OK to color the selected cells.
To remove all background color from a cell or cells, select the cells, and from the Table menu, select Cell Color. In the Select A Color dialog, click None, then OK.
Alignment Options
The table alignment tools provide a mechanism to control the horizontal alignment of columns or vertical alignment of rows.
For column alignment, the current selection is expanded to encompass all rows in the table. The alignment choice applies to all cells within the expanded selection. If the worksheet does not contain a selection, the cursor position is used to identify the column.
Similarly, the selection is expanded to include all columns for vertical alignment options. The following table illustrates the vertical alignment options. The baseline option is very useful for aligning equations across multiple cells within a row of a table.
Controlling the Visibility of Cell Content
The Table Properties dialog includes two options to control the visibility of cell content. These options allow control over the visibility of Maple input and execution group boundaries. Thus, Maple input may be hidden in a table, even if input is set to visible for the worksheet in the View>Show/Hide Contents dialog. The formatting options provide a mechanism to create a table of results. (See the Examples section below.)
For another way to create a table of results, see DataTableComponent.
Captions offer a way of adding a description to a table, drawing the reader's attention to a table, and identifying the table so it can be referenced from elsewhere in the worksheet. Maple provides the ability to add captions to tables within documents and worksheets. Table captions are generated sequentially. If you remove or insert a caption, Maple automatically re-numbers all table captions and updates cross references.
Adding a Caption to a Table
To add a caption to a table:
Click a table that you created in the worksheet.
Select the Show Caption check box. By default, the Show Caption box is not selected.
Select your display option from the available choices.
Note: Table captions are not available for subtables.
Available Choices for Table Caption Display Options
Caption number only: The caption will be of the form Table #, where # is a sequentially generated numeric value based on the number of captions already in the worksheet.
Caption title only: The caption will display only the description entered in the Title field.
Caption number and title: The caption will display both the caption number and caption title. The caption will have the form Table #: <description_from_Title_field>
Changing the Alignment or Position of Table Captions
To change the alignment or position of a table caption for an individual table:
Click the table for which you would like to change the caption alignment or position.
In the Context Panel for the table is the Table Properties dialog. Formatting of the caption is done under here.
To adjust the position of the table caption to above the table, under Position Caption click the Above radio button. Similarly, to have the table caption appear below the table, click the Below radio button.
To adjust the alignment so that the table caption is left aligned with the table, centered, or right aligned with the table, click the desired alignment under Align Caption.
To change the alignment or position of a table caption globally in a document:
From the Format menu, select Captions.
In the Table tab, use the radio buttons to control caption position and alignment, as described in the previous section.
Click Apply To All Tables.
Removing a Caption from a Table
To remove a caption from a table:
In the Context Panel for the table, in the Table Properties dialog, clear the Show Caption check box.
Removing Table Captions Globally from a Worksheet
To remove all table captions from a worksheet:
From the View menu, select Show/Hide Contents...
Clear the Table Captions check box.
Changing the Font Color and Size of Table Captions
To change the font color or font size of table captions in a worksheet:
From the Format menu, select Styles....
In the Style Management window, select the Caption text style from the list.
Click the Modify button.
After you have finished making your changes, click OK.
Tables provide formatted and summarized information that is easy for a reader to parse. By adding table cross-references to your document, you provide quick access to the table and make navigation of your document easier.
Applying a cross-reference is similar to applying an equation label. To apply a cross-reference in a worksheet or document:
Navigate to the position within the document or worksheet where the table will be referenced and switch to Text mode of input.
From the Insert menu, select Label. Alternatively, use the shortcut keys Ctrl+L (Command+L on Mac). The Insert Label dialog is displayed. For the Type of label, select Table. Enter the table number for the table you want to reference in the Identifier field (for example, enter 1 if you want to reference Table 1).
Note: When you are inserting a cross-reference you can only reference tables in the same worksheet.
If you want to keep the reference to the same table, regardless of its table number, then right-click on the newly inserted table cross-reference and check Label Reference.
The Table Properties dialog contains options to control the placement of page breaks when printing. The user can force a table to fit on a single page, allow page breaks between rows, or allow page breaks within a row.
The order in which cells are executed by an "Execute All" may be set in the Table Properties dialog. The following tables illustrate the effect of execution order.
The Table menu items are found in the Context Panel for a table or through the Format > Table menu.
The Table Properties dialog is found in the Context Panel or through Format > Table > Properties.
Table of Values
This example illustrates how to set the visibility options for cell contents to display a table of values.
Table Settings:
From the Context Panel for the table, in the Table Properties dialog, set Table Size Mode to Scale with zoom factor.
Clear the check boxes for Show input and Show execution group bounds.
Formatting Table Headers
The following table makes use of cell merging for formatting row and column headers, and row and column grouping to control the visibility of cell boundaries.
Using the Table menu:
Merge the following sets of (Row,Column) cells: (1,1) to (2,2), (1,3) to (1,4), and (3,1) to (4,1).
Group columns 1 and 2, and columns 3 and 4.
Group rows 1 and 2, and rows 3 and 4.
Using the Table Properties dialog:
Change Table Size Mode to Scale with zoom factor.
Set Exterior Borders to None.
Set Alignment of columns 3 and 4 to Center.
2-D Math and Plots
This example illustrates the use of tables to display 2-D math and plots side by side.
Set Exterior and Interior Borders to None.
Change row Alignment to Center.
Table of Mathematical Expressions
This example illustrates using the baseline alignment option to align equations across columns in a table.
Set Exterior Border to Top and Bottom.
Group columns 1 and 2.
Group rows 2 to 4.
Set row Alignment to Baseline for all rows.
See Also
Controlling the Editability of Documents and Tables
DataTableComponent
Show or Hide Content
Table Properties using DocumentTools
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