[xep-support] Emulating an inline table

[G. Ken Holman]

At 2003-09-24 17:54 -0500, Louis Meigret wrote:
>I would like to emulate an inline table that could be mixed in the midst 
>of a text paragraph.
>...
>Mandate for  __________________ , a registered doctor.
>               (name of person)

This is one of the purposes for <inline-container> so that one can add 
block-level constructs in the middle of an inline.

The following is how I would approach it if I had inline container:

   <block xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
     Mandate for
     <inline-container alignment-adjust="-1.5em">
       <table>
         <table-body>
           <table-row border-after-style="solid" border-after-width="1pt">
             <table-cell><block>&#xa0;</block></table-cell>
           </table-row>
           <table-row>
             <table-cell><block>(name of person)</block></table-cell>
           </table-row>
         </table-body>
       </table>
     </inline-container>, a registered doctor.
   </block>

Unfortunately, XEP doesn't yet support <inline-container> but I would think 
it would be on their list of things to do.

So, then the next thing I tried successfully in XSL-FO was the use of an 
auto-width table:

   <table xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
     <table-body>
       <table-row>
         <table-cell number-rows-spanned="2">
           <block>Mandate for </block>
         </table-cell>
         <table-cell border-after-style="solid" border-after-width="1pt">
           <block>&#xa0;</block>
         </table-cell>
         <table-cell number-rows-spanned="2">
           <block>, a registered doctor.</block>
         </table-cell>
       </table-row>
       <table-row>
         <table-cell><block>(name of person)</block></table-cell>
       </table-row>
     </table-body>
   </table>

But, again unfortunately, XEP doesn't yet support auto-width tables ... 
this probably isn't as high on their list as the inline-container ... but 
then I'm just speculating based on a perceived complexity by a non-implementer.

So, if you take the second approach and hardwire your column and table 
widths to precisely fit your predetermined text ... then you will get the 
effect you want in XEP.  But I don't think you can yet get the effect when 
you have arbitrarily long sequences before and after the two-high bit.

I hope this helps.

................. Ken

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