How to vertically align some text in a table?

Question

EDIT

I was given the following code for a table template (modified in order to take into account David's remarks below) :

\documentclass[12pt, a4paper, final]{article} 
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{booktabs}

% This command computes and creates a vertical space
% depending on the number of rows to compensate for.
% It makes use of the counter verticalcompensationrows
% and the length \verticalcompensationlength which equals
% \aboverulesep plus \belowrulesep
\newlength{\verticalcompensationlength}
\setlength{\verticalcompensationlength}{\aboverulesep}
\addtolength{\verticalcompensationlength}{\belowrulesep}
\newcounter{verticalcompensationrows}
\newcommand{\verticalcompensation}[1]{%
\setcounter{verticalcompensationrows}{#1}%
\addtocounter{verticalcompensationrows}{-1}%
\vspace*{-\value{verticalcompensationrows}\verticalcompensationlength}%
}

% This command reimplements \multirow to compensate
% for the vertical offset, but looses some functionality
% of the \multirow command (not discussed here).
\newcommand{\multirowbt}[3]{%
\multirow{#1}{#2}{\verticalcompensation{#1}#3}%
}

\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{lp{13cm}}
\toprule
\multicolumn{2}{c}{Table title or something else ...}  \\
\midrule
\multirowbt{4}{*}{My name} & A bit of text  \\
\cmidrule{2-2}
 & A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text  \\
\cmidrule{2-2}
 & A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text \\
\cmidrule{2-2}
 & A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text \\
\midrule
\multirowbt{3}{*}{Your name} & Some text \\
\cmidrule{2-2}
 & More text More text More text \\
\cmidrule{2-2}
 & More text More text More text \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

It outputs the table shown in Figure 1 below :

However, when I have some text that covers more than one line, the vertical aligned in column 1 is no longer OK, as demonstarated by TABLE 2.

In his answer below, David gives a solution to this problem using \raisebox. This works, but it requires me to change the amount the box has to be shifted for each column of each table.

I was wondering whether anyone knew of a way to get Latex to center this content automatically.

Answer 1

If you box the contents in column 2, the m-column specification will vertically center its anchor point, providing the alignment you're after. My way of boxing it is by putting it in a tabular of known/fixed width and making sure that it fits within the text block:

\documentclass[12pt]{article} 
\usepackage{booktabs,array}% http://ctan.org/pkg/{booktabs,array}
\begin{document}

\noindent
\setbox0=\hbox{Your name}% Store the widest left-column entry
\begin{tabular}{lm{\dimexpr\textwidth-3\tabcolsep-\wd0}@{}}
  \toprule
  \multicolumn{2}{c}{Table title or something else ...}  \\
  \midrule
  My name & \begin{tabular}{p{\dimexpr\linewidth-\tabcolsep}@{}}
    A bit of text  \\
    \midrule
    A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text  \\
    \midrule
    A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text \\
    \midrule
    A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text
  \end{tabular} \\
  \midrule
  Your name & \begin{tabular}{p{\dimexpr\linewidth-\tabcolsep}@{}}
    Some text \\
    \midrule
    More text More text More text \\
    \midrule
    More text More text More text
  \end{tabular} \\
  \bottomrule
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

The widest left-column entry is stored and used in the width-calculation for the right m-column.

Answer 2

\documentclass[12pt, a4paper, final]{article} 


\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\renewcommand\tabularxcolumn[1]{m{#1}}



\begin{document}

\noindent
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{lX}
\toprule
\multicolumn{2}{c}{Table title or something else ...}  \\
\midrule
\smash{\raisebox{-50pt}{My name}} & A bit of text  \\
\cmidrule{2-2}
 & A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text  \\
\cmidrule{2-2}
 & A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text \\
\cmidrule{2-2}
 & A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text \\
\midrule
\smash{\raisebox{-20pt}{Your name}} & Some text \\
\cmidrule{2-2}
 & More text More text More text \\
\cmidrule{2-2}
 & More text More text More text \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}

\end{document}

Answer 3

And of course the always present overkill tikz-based solution:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}

\def\tikzmark#1{\tikz[overlay, remember picture]\node[coordinate] (#1) {};}
\def\textbetween#1#2#3{ % #1 #2 row ids, #3 content
\tikz[overlay, remember picture]\path ([yshift=1ex] #1)--(#2) node[midway,right] {#3};% 
}

\begin{tabular}{p{2cm}p{10cm}}
\toprule
\multicolumn{2}{c}{Table title or something else ...}  \\
\midrule
\tikzmark{1} & A bit of text  \\
\cmidrule{2-2}
             & This is what happens when I write too much text in one line: it creates
               an extra line and the item in the first column is no longer aligned!  \\
\cmidrule{2-2}
             & A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text \\
\cmidrule{2-2}
\tikzmark{2} & A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text A bit more text \\
\midrule
\textbetween{1}{2}{My Name}%
\tikzmark{1} & Some text \\
\cmidrule{2-2}
             & More text More text More text \\
\cmidrule{2-2}
\tikzmark{2} & More text More text More text \\
\bottomrule
\textbetween{1}{2}{Your Name}%
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

Usage: Put \tikzmark{x} at the first and last row filled by your multirow, being x an arbitrary identifier for the row, and then use the macro \textbetween to put the text centered between the two marks.

Note that you have to give a fixed width to the first column too. I used 2cm in this case. Also remember to compile twice.