Automated matrix of tables with TikZ

Question

I'm working on this code

\documentclass[a4paper]{standalone}

\usepackage{amssymb,tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning, calc}

\begin{document}
\newcounter{compteur}
\setcounter{compteur}{1}
\newcounter{lettres}
    \setcounter{lettres}{1}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
\node[matrix, inner sep=0](truc){
    \node[anchor=west, inner sep=0](question){Question~\thecompteur};
    \addtocounter{compteur}{1}
    \node[right=of question](carre\thelettres){$\square$};


    \node[above =\baselineskip of carre\thelettres]{\Alph{lettres}};
    \stepcounter{lettres}
    \foreach\x [evaluate = \x as \y using int(\x+1)] in {1,...,4}{
        \node[right=of carre\x](carre\y){$\square$};

        \node[above =\baselineskip of carre\thelettres]{\Alph{lettres}};
        \stepcounter{lettres}
        }

    \foreach\a in{2,...,15}{
        \node[anchor=east, below=\baselineskip of question, inner sep=0](question){Question~\thecompteur};
        \foreach\b in {1,...,5}{
            \path let \p1=(question), \p2=(carre\b) in node at (\x2,\y1){$\square$};
            }
    \addtocounter{compteur}{1}
    }
    \\
};
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

that compiles into :

My problem is I would like to have several tables of this kind juxtaposed like some elements of another 6 rows/2columns matrix in which the 1st row/2nd column table element would have its first question labelled "Question 16" and so on.

Does a simple code solve this?

Answer 1

First step for reusing a sample is always creating a macro containing it. In your case these macro needs to accomplish three things:

• adjustable number of first question (in case you don't want to continue counting in every situation)
• variable number of questions
• variable number of boxes

So I did the following:

\documentclass{standalone}

\usepackage{amssymb,tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning}

\newcounter{question}
\setcounter{question}{1}
\newcounter{letter}

\tikzstyle{my question} = []
\tikzstyle{my box} = []
\tikzstyle{my heading} = []

% usage: \createtable[first question number]{number of questions}{number of letters}
\newcommand{\createtable}[3][\value{question}]{
  \setcounter{question}{#1} % do nothing by default
  \setcounter{letter}{1}
  \begin{tikzpicture}
  \node[my heading] (tmp1) {\Alph{letter}};
  \ifnum#3>1
  \foreach \current [evaluate = \current as \last using int(\current-1)] in {2,...,#3} {
    \stepcounter{letter}
    \node[my box, right=of tmp\last] (tmp\current) {\Alph{letter}};
  }
  \fi
%  \coordinate (upper right) at (tmp#3.north east);
  \foreach \y in {1,...,#2} {
    \node[my box, below=\baselineskip of tmp1] (tmp1) {$ \square $};
    \node[my question, left= of tmp1] (q\y) {Question~\arabic{question}};
    \stepcounter{question}
    \ifnum#3>1
    \foreach \x in {2,...,#3} {
      \node[my box, below=\baselineskip of tmp\x] (tmp\x) {$ \square $};
    }
    \fi
  }
%  \coordinate (lower left) at (q#2.south west);
%  \useasboundingbox (upper right) rectangle (lower left);
  \end{tikzpicture}
}

\begin{document}
  \createtable{5}{2}
  \createtable{2}{3}
\end{document}

Which leads to:

What do you need the matrix for? As far as I know it is not possible to put a & inside \foreach, so it seems to me that you have no benefit from that at all. In case you need that for a bounding box or something similar, check the comments in the code above.