Re: [PATCH] allow for multiline headers

[Mario Frasca]

Hi Nicolas,

sorry for not explaining it clearly.  see, I'm considering from the 
point of view of a user, who organizes a table in terms of logical 
units, like a header, one or more body blocks, and a summary line.  
these concepts are not yet all supported by the org-table code, and 
again, I'm not considering what the code implements, just looking at the 
table from the user's point of view.

again, my idea is that we're describing something new, and I'm wondering 
what lisp construct could be used to describe a table like this one:

| h1 | h2 | h3 |
|----+----+----|
| 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 31 | 32 | 33 |
|----+----+----|
| a1 | a2 | a3 |
| b1 | b2 | b3 |
|----+----+----|
|  5 |  8 |  9 |

and my guess in the above case would be '(:header ("h1" "h2" "h3") :body 
((11 12 13)(21 22 23)(31 32 33)) :body ((a1 a2 a3)(b1 b2 b3)) :body ((5 
8 9)))

with a option for collapsing all :body parts into one, like in '(:header 
("h1" "h2" "h3") :body ((11 12 13)(21 22 23)(31 32 33)(a1 a2 a3)(b1 b2 
b3)(5 8 9)))

with a option for separating the last row (if the one-but-last is a 
'hline) as a summary, like in '(:header ("h1" "h2" "h3") :body ((11 12 
13)(21 22 23)(31 32 33)) :body ((a1 a2 a3)(b1 b2 b3)) :summary (5 8 9))

or using both options, like in '(:header ("h1" "h2" "h3") :body ((11 12 
13)(21 22 23)(31 32 33)(a1 a2 a3)(b1 b2 b3)) :summary (5 8 9))

your suggestion as a cons cell would only cover the first case, as in 
'(("h1" "h2" "h3") . ((11 12 13)(21 22 23)(31 32 33)(a1 a2 a3)(b1 b2 
b3)(5 8 9)))

in my very brief experience with org-tables, mostly from the point of 
view of org-plot, I think this (separating the bottom "summary" line) 
would be useful (I had to remove the "country summary" bottom line from 
a demographics histogram table).  for sure, if I follow your hint to use 
gnuplot code and refer to the table, then org-plot can stay as it is 
now.  in fact it would not need any maintenance, would it?

cheers,

Mario

On 29/06/2020 07:50, Nicolas Goaziou wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Mario Frasca <mario@anche.no> writes:
>
> > not only this … it could also be like (:header HEADER :body BODY :body
> > BODY), that is, repeating block.
> I'm not sure about what you mean.
>
> > I don't know, just doubting how to be more general.
> >
> > in practice, I'm thinking of the case when I have a header, a body,
> > and a summary, and I'm only interested in the header and body, not the
> > summary.
> >
> > just scattered thoughts … who fills in?
> There is no such thing as a "table summary" in Org syntax.
>
> Regards,