B.17.2 | The `array` and `tabularx` Packages

The `array` package is described in [LATEX-bis, Section 5.3] and in the local documentation of modern LATEX installations. It is a compatible extension of LATEX arrays (see B.10.2). Basically, it provides new column specifications and a `\newcolumntype` construct for user-defined column specifications. Table 1 gives a summary of the new column specifications and of how HEVEA implements them.

> Table 1: Column specifications from the `array` package

> `m{`width`}` |  | Equivalent to the `p` column specification (the width argument is ignored, entries are typeset in paragraph mode with paragraph breaks being reduced to a single line break), except that the entries are centered vertically.

> `b{`width`}` |  | Equivalent to the `p` column specification, except that the entries are bottom-aligned vertically.

> `>{`decl`}` |  | Can be used before `l`, `c`, `r`, `p{`...`}`, `m{`...`}` or `b{`...`}`. It inserts decl in front of the entries in the corresponding column.

> `<{`decl`}` |  | Can be used after `l`, `c`, `r`, `p{`...`}`, `m{`...`}` or `b{`...`}`. It inserts decl after entries in the corresponding column.

> `!{`decl`}` |  | Equivalent to `@{`decl`}`

Note that centered, top-aligned or bottom-aligned in the vertical direction, do not have exactly the same meaning in LATEX and in HTML. However, the aspect is the same when all columns agree w.r.t. vertical alignment. Ordinary column types (`c`, `l` and `r`) do not specify vertical alignment, which therefore becomes browser dependent.
The `>{`decl`}` and `<{`decl`}` constructs permit the encoding of TeX `\cases` macro as follows:

    \def\cases#1{\left\{\begin{array}{l>{$}l<{$}}#1\end{array}\right.}

(This is an excerpt of the `latexcommon.hva` file.)
New column specifications are defined by the `\newcolumntype` construct:
`\newcolumntype{`col`}[`narg`]{`body`}`
Where col is one letter, the optional narg is a number (defaults to `0`), and `body` is built up with valid column specifications and macro-argument references (`#`int). Examples are:

    \newcolumntype{C}{>{\bf}c}
    \newcolumntype{E}[1]{*{#1}{c}}
    \begin{tabular}{CE{3}}\hline
    one & two & three & four \\
    five & six & seven & eight \\ \hline
    \end{tabular}

The column specification `C` means that entries will be typeset centered and using bold font, while the column specifications `E{`num`}` stands for num centered columns. We get:

one | two | three | four
five | six | seven | eight

HEVEA implements column specifications with commands defined in the `\newcommand` style. Thus, they have the same behavior as regards double definition, which is not performed and induces a warning message. Thus, a column specification that is first defined in a `macro.hva` specific file, overrides the document definition.
The `tabularx` package [LATEX-bis, Section 5.3.5] provides a new tabular environment `tabularx` and a new column type `X`. HEVEA makes the former equivalent to `tabular` and the latter equivalent to `p{`ignored`}`. By contrast with the subtle array formatting that the `tabularx` package performs, this may seem a crude implementation. However, rendering is usually correct, although different.
More generally and from the HTML point of view such sophisticated formatting is browser job in the first place. However, the HTML definition allows suggested widths or heights for table entries and table themselves. From HEVEA point of view, drawing the border line between what can be specified and what can be left to the browser is not obvious at all. At the moment HEVEA choice is not to specify too much (in particular, all length arguments, either to column specifications or to the arrays themselves, are ignored). As a consequence, the final, browser viewed, aspect of arrays will usually be different from their printed aspect.