Re: [Gnumed-bugs] current_meds_notes placeholder

[Jim Busser]

On 2011-08-18, at 4:33 AM, Karsten Hilbert wrote:

>> in which the first and third columns need the majority of
>> the available width and – even despite the accommodation
>> – still need to paragraph-wrap, what we need the
>> placeholder to return is a table format
>> 
>>      \noindent address@hidden|p{6.5cm}|l|p{6.5cm}|}
> 
> Why not
> 
>       \noindent \begin{tabular}{|p{6.5cm}|l|p{6.5cm}|}
> 
> ?

Your simpler form *will* work. The difference is that the longer form achieves 
to utilize the full width of the page. This will make for a more-consistent 
appearance when other tables likewise require most of the width and are printed 
in the same report. Without this provision, the result will be a series of 
tables having varying spans. That may be ok when a table uses only half the 
page width, but once it uses most of the width it gets visually jarring to have 
tables extending one after another, in one case 0.74 of the way across the 
page, and in another case 0.85, then 0.93, then 0.81.


>> 2) we also need to get rid of the empty
>> 
>>      & {\scriptsize }
>> 
>> at the end of each row.
> 
> Why ?
> 
> We certainly can't get rid of the "&" part or else LaTeX
> will break building the table.

I was only meaning the final '&' in each row (since no data follows), I was not 
meaning every '&'.

The reason is because you end up with a table that is broken by the empty 
information as per the first screenshot, whereas removing the terminal per-line

        & {\scriptsize }

coupled with removing the & which ends

        Substance & Strength & Brand & \\

results in the second screenshot. If you remove the '& {\scriptsize }' while 
leaving in the third '&' in

        Substance & Strength & Brand & \\

you get a defect at the right edge of the first row of the table (third screen 
shot).