How can I make a table with some lines superimposed?

Question

I made the following table using PowerPoint and now I want to generate it using LuaLaTeX or XeLaTeX. I need to use the font Arial with size 10,5 pt.

I find myself with several challenges:

• Generating the table
• Drawing the two dashed lines between 2 and 3 and 7 and 8 respectively
• Drawing the straight line that connects all the 5's of the table
• Drawing the string of red circular nodes on top of the table
• The node corresponding to the value 3,5 is floating between 3 and 4

I have searched on the net, but I haven't found any similar examples. I have read other questions on tables here in TeX.SE, and I think I should probably use a matrix of nodes provided in the tikz package. I have read the section in the TikZ & PGF Manual that covers the Matrix library, but I am still far away from getting here. I do need a hand with this.

Answer 1

Here is a solution with pst-node and arydshln. Is consists in using an ordinary tabularx environment and defining the relevant cells as nodes of various types and linking them with node connections.

It compiles with xelatex only.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array, tabularx, arydshln}
\usepackage{geometry} 
\usepackage{pst-node, multido}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setsansfont{Arial}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}[h]
  \sffamily\renewcommand\arraystretch{1.8}\centering
  \fontsize{10.5}{13}\selectfont
  \psset{linecolor=red}
  \makebox[0pt]{\begin{tabularx}{1.2\textwidth}{|*{12}{ >{\centering\arraybackslash}X|}}
    \multicolumn{12}{c}{TITLE} \\
    \hline
    \multicolumn{12}{|c|}{SOME INFORMATION} \\
    \hline
    \multicolumn{4}{|c|}{GROUP 1} & \multicolumn{2}{c|}{GROUP 2} & \multicolumn{2}{c|}{GROUP 3} & \multicolumn{4}{c|}{GROUP 4} \\
    A & B & A & B & \multicolumn{2}{c|}{C} & \multicolumn{2}{c|}{D} & & & & \\
    AA & AA & BB & BB & CC & DD & AA & BB & EE & FF & GG & HH \\
    \hline
    10 & 10 & 10 & 10 & 10 & 10 & 10 & 10 & 10 & 10 & 10 & 10 \\
    9 & 9 & 9 & 9 & 9 & 9 & 9 & 9 & 9 & 9 & 9 & 9 \\
    8 & 8 & 8 & 8 & 8 & 8 & 8 & 8 & \circlenode{c9}{8} & 8 & 8 & 8 \\
    \hdashline
    7 & 7 & 7 & 7 & 7 & 7 & 7 & 7 & 7 & \circlenode{c10}{7} & 7 & 7 \\
    6 & \circlenode{c2}{6} & 6 & 6 & 6 & 6 & 6 & 6 & 6 & 6 & 6 & 6 \\
    \rnode{R1}{5} & \rnode{R2}{5} & \rnode{R3}{5} & \rnode{R4}{5} & \rnode{R5}{5} & \rnode{R6}{5} & \rnode{R7}{5} & \rnode{R8}{5} & \rnode{R9}{5} & \rnode{R10}{5} & \rnode{R11}{\circlenode{c11}{5}} & \rnode{R12}{5} \\
    \circlenode{c1}{4} & 4 & 4 & 4 &\circlenode{c5}{4} & 4 & \rnode{t7}{4} & \circlenode{c8}{4} & 4 & 4 & 4 & 4 \\
    3 & 3 & 3 & 3 & 3 & 3 & \rnode{b7}{3} & 3 & 3 & 3 & 3 & 3 \\
    \hdashline
    2 & 2 & \circlenode{c3}{2} & \circlenode{c4}{2} & 2 & 2 & 2 & 2 & 2 & 2 & 2 & \circlenode{c12}{2} \\
    1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & \circlenode{c6}{1} & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 \\
    0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\
    \hline
    \end{tabularx}}
  \midAB(t7)(b7){m7}\rput(m7){\circlenode[framesep=0pt]{c7}{3,5}}%
  \multido{\ia=1+1, \ib=2+1}{11}{\ncline{c\ia}{c\ib}}
  \pnode[-0.85cm, 0](R1){R0}
  \pnode[0.85cm, 0](R12){R13}
  \psset{linewidth=0.5pt, linecolor=black, nodesep=3pt}
  \multido{\ia=0+1, \ib=1+1}{13}{\ncline{R\ia}{R\ib}}
\end{table}

\end{document} 

Answer 2

By generating a table, do you mean making one in the first place?

I recommend breaking something like this down into individual tasks (like the list you made) and approaching it one step at a time, starting from a very basic structure and gradually building it up. Each of these tasks can be found in various examples across the internet (particularly here) pretty quickly, but this should get your started if you need more of a direct starting point.

code

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{Arial}
\usetikzlibrary{fit,matrix}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[mycircle/.style={draw,circle, minimum size=1cm}]
% table
  \matrix[draw=black,row sep=0.75cm,column sep=0.75cm]{
    \node {}; & \node {group 1}; & \node {}; \\
    \node {a}; & \node {b}; & \node {a}; \\
    \node {aa}; & \node {aa}; & \node {bb}; \\
    \node {..}; & \node {..}; & \node {..}; \\
    \node {6}; & \node(baa6)[draw=red,text=black,mycircle] {6}; & \node {6}; \\
    \node(aaa5) {5}; & \node(baa5) {5}; & \node(abb5) {5}; \\
    \node(aaa4)[draw=red,text=black,mycircle] {4}; & \node {4}; & \node {4}; \\
    \node {3}; & \node {3}; & \node(abb3) {3}; \\
    \node(aaa2) {2}; & \node {2}; & \node(abb2) {2}; \\
  };
% straight line between 5's
  \draw(aaa5)--(baa5)--(abb5);
% dashed lines above 2's
  \draw[dashed](aaa2.north west)--(abb2.north east);
% the 3,5 node
  \node(aab35)[draw=red,text=black,mycircle,above=0.05cm of abb3] {3.5};
% string of red circular nodes
  \draw[red](aaa4)--(baa6)--(aab35);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

result