Reserve the place for further overlays

Question

I have 3 parts in a tabular, I want onslide1- to be always displayed. After 1 clic, I want only2 to be shown; after another clic, at the position of only2, I want only3- to replace only2 forever; after another clic, onslide4- will appear. The code is as follows:

\documentclass{beamer}
\usetheme{Boadilla}
\usepackage[frenchb]{babel}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
  \begin{tabular}{ll|ll}
    \onslide<1->{
      \\\hline onslide1- \\\hline
    }

    \onslide<2->{
    \only<2>{
      \\[-2.8ex]
      only2\\\vspace{3cm}\\only2
      \\\hline
    }%

    \only<3->{
      \\[-2.8ex]
      only3-\\\vspace{3cm}\\only3-
      \\\hline
    }}

    \onslide<4->{
      \\\hline onslide4- \\\hline
    }

  \end{tabular}
\end{frame}

The problem is when onslide1- is displayed in the very beginning, it doesn't leave the place for only2 or only3- which will appear later. I try to add a \onslide<2->, because normally \onslide reserve the place, but it doesn't work here... Does anyone know how to solve that?

PS: I realize that the following code, which is simpler than previous, has same problem:

\begin{frame}
\begin{tabular}{ll|ll}
  \onslide<1->{onslide1\\}
  \only<2>{only2\\}%
  \only<3->{only3-\\}
  \onslide<4->{onslide4-\\} 
\end{tabular}
\end{frame}

However, the following code doesn't have this problem. So it seems that it is due to the position of \\, but I do need \\\hline in the initial code.

\begin{frame}
\begin{tabular}{ll|ll}
  \onslide<1->{onslide1}\\
  \only<2>{only2}%
  \only<3->{only3-}\\
  \onslide<4->{onslide4-}\\ 
\end{tabular}
\end{frame}

Answer 1

Use overlayarea:

\documentclass{beamer}
\usetheme{Boadilla}
\usepackage[frenchb]{babel}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
\begin{overlayarea}{7cm}{7cm}
\begin{tabular}{ll|ll}
    \onslide<1->{%
      \\\hline onslide1- \\\hline
    }
    \only<2>{%
      \\[-2.8ex]
      only2\\\vspace{3cm}\\only2
      \\\hline
    }%
    \only<3->{%
      \\[-2.8ex]
      only3-\\\vspace{3cm}\\only3-
      \\\hline
    }
    \onslide<4->{%
      \\\hline onslide4- \\\hline
    }
  \end{tabular}
\end{overlayarea}
\end{frame}

\end{document}

Answer 2

Try with \visible or \uncover instead of \only and \onslide.