tikz table shape not correct

\documentclass[12pt,twoside]{report}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{mathtools}
\usepackage{tikz}
\tikzset{
table/.style={
matrix of nodes,
row sep=-\pgflinewidth,
column sep=-\pgflinewidth,
nodes={
rectangle,
draw=black,
align=center,
minimum width=10em,
minimum height=1em,
fill=gray!10,
},
%baseline={([yshift=-0.5ex]current bounding box.center)},
%minimum height=1.0em,
%text depth=0.2em,
%text height=0.8em,
%text centered,
nodes in empty cells,
row 1/.style={nodes={fill=black, text=white, font=\bfseries}},
}
}

\begin{document}

Hello World...
\begin{table}
\centering
\begin{tikzpicture}
\matrix[table, ampersand replacement=\&] (TabA1)
{
A1 \& A2 \& A3 \\
B1 \& $10^{2^{3^{4^{5}}}}$ \& B3 \\
$10^{2^{3^{4}}}$ \& C2 \& C3 \\
};
\end{tikzpicture}
\caption{Glossary}
\label{tabA1}
\end{table}

\end{document}


How do I get this table lines in correct shape?

Three alternative solutions for this kind of tables:

First: TiKZ as in the original question. The problem trying to use TikZ as an alternative to tabular is that the former doesn't adjust node sizes between them. All nodes keep its real size and if they are draw-n lines doesn't adjust. One solution for this problem has been shown in CarLaTeX answer. It consists in forcing some node size, large enough to encompass all cells contents.

If we prefer not to do it, an alternative solution consists in draw nodes without visible border (draw=none) and manually draw borders and fill nodes once the matrix is finished. We should do it on the background.

\begin{tikzpicture}
\matrix[table, ampersand replacement=\&] (TabA1)
{
A1 \& A2 \& A3 \\
B1 \& $10^{2^{3^{4^{5}}}}$ \& $10^{2^{3^{4^{5^{6^{7^{8}}}}}}}$ \\
};
\begin{scope}[on background layer]
\foreach \i in {1,2,3}
\draw[fill=black!10] ([xshift=\pgflinewidth]TabA1-1-\i.south west) rectangle ([xshift=-\pgflinewidth]TabA1-2-\i.south east);
\end{scope}
\end{tikzpicture}


Second: Using tabular with colortbl. In this case, a new column type has been declared (array is needed) with command \newcolumntype{C}[1]{>{\centering\arraybackslash\hspace{0pt} \columncolor[gray]{.9}}p{#1}}. All cells will have a gray background. For header row command \rowcolor will fix its background to black. I've also used \setlength\arrayrulewidth{.6pt} to avoid the problem mentioned in Adobe Reader and xcolor within a table breaks the line render.

\begin{tabular}{|C{10em}|C{10em}|C{10em}|}
\hline
\rowcolor[gray]{0}
\color{white}{A1} & \color{white}{A2} & \color{white}{A3} \\
\hline
B1 & $10^{2^{3^{4^{5}}}}$ & B3\\
\hline
\end{tabular}


Third: Using a tcbraster from tcolorbox. tcbraster are more or less like tabular but their elements are tcolorboxes. They have the advantage that its possible to automatically fix equal height for all boxes in the same row. So, we don't have to worry about node sizes or drawing in background. As in TikZ is possible to define different styles for columns or rows. With raster equal height=rows two compilations are needed to obtain the correct table.

\begin{tcbitemize}[%
raster columns=3,
raster equal height=rows,
raster width=33em,
boxrule=.6pt,
raster row skip=-.6pt,
raster column skip=-.6pt,
sharp corners,
colframe=black,
colback=black!10,
halign=center,
valign=bottom,
raster row 1/.style={colback=black, colupper=white}]
\tcbitem A1
\tcbitem A2
\tcbitem A3
\tcbitem B1
\tcbitem $10^{2^{3^{4^{5}}}}$
\tcbitem B3
\end{tcbitemize}


The complete code for all three solutions is:

\documentclass[12pt,twoside]{report}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{mathtools,array,colortbl}
\usepackage[most]{tcolorbox}

\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix, backgrounds}
\tikzset{
table/.style={
matrix of nodes,
row sep=-\pgflinewidth,
column sep=-\pgflinewidth,
nodes={
rectangle,
%draw=black,
align=center,
text width=10em,
%fill=gray!10,
},
%baseline={([yshift=-0.5ex]current bounding box.center)},
%minimum height=1.0em,
%text depth=0.2em,
%text height=0.8em,
%text centered,
nodes in empty cells,
row 1/.style={nodes={fill=black, text=white, font=\bfseries}},
}
}

\newcolumntype{C}[1]{%
>{\centering\arraybackslash\hspace{0pt}%
\columncolor[gray]{.9}}p{#1}}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}
\centering
\begin{tikzpicture}
\matrix[table, ampersand replacement=\&] (TabA1)
{
A1 \& A2 \& A3 \\
B1 \& $10^{2^{3^{4^{5}}}}$ \& B3 \\
};
\begin{scope}[on background layer]
\foreach \i in {1,2,3}
\draw[fill=black!10] ([xshift=\pgflinewidth]TabA1-1-\i.south west) rectangle ([xshift=-\pgflinewidth]TabA1-2-\i.south east);
\end{scope}

\end{tikzpicture}
\caption{Glossary: with \texttt{TikZ} drawing cells on background layer}
\label{tabA1}
\end{table}

\begin{table}
\setlength\arrayrulewidth{.6pt}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{|C{10em}|C{10em}|C{10em}|}
\hline
\rowcolor[gray]{0}
\color{white}{A1} & \color{white}{A2} & \color{white}{A3} \\
\hline
B1 & $10^{2^{3^{4^{5}}}}$ & B3\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\caption{Glossary: with \texttt{coltbl}}
\label{tabA1}
\end{table}

\begin{table}
\centering
\begin{tcbitemize}[%
raster columns=3,
raster equal height=rows,
raster width=33em,
boxrule=.6pt,
raster row skip=-.6pt,
raster column skip=-.6pt,
sharp corners,
colframe=black,
colback=black!10,
halign=center,
valign=bottom,
raster row 1/.style={colback=black, colupper=white}]
\tcbitem A1
\tcbitem A2
\tcbitem A3
\tcbitem B1
\tcbitem $10^{2^{3^{4^{5}}}}$
\tcbitem B3
\end{tcbitemize}
\caption{Glossary: with \texttt{tcolorbox}}
\label{tabA1}
\end{table}

\end{document}

• Thx for the Code! with the third option: So elements of the table I just specify consequtively in each row of code (no ampersand?)? Btw: I have an error compiling your code: fist it says "tcbprocessing.code.tex version 4.10" and then it's complaining "shellesc.sty not found"?!?! – Diger Aug 18 '17 at 10:42
• @Diger In a tcbraster you just list the elements and they are automatically distributes according the raster columns number. It also breaks when there is not enough space for a new row. What I don't know how to do it is to repeat the header of the table. A tcbraster is not a longtable. – Ignasi Aug 18 '17 at 15:41
• @Diger About the error, do you use an updated system? It seems that something is missing in your system. – Ignasi Aug 18 '17 at 15:42
• What do you mean by updated system? Is it a miktex problem or a texniccenter problem or do u mean it's a os issue? – Diger Aug 20 '17 at 11:28
• @Diger I mean a "miktex" problem. texniccenter is just a front end to your "latex-system" which is provided by MikTeX (in your case). MikTeX provides frequent updates to itself and packages (visit www.miktex.org). The error you have seems to be due to an outdated tcolorbox version. – Ignasi Aug 20 '17 at 16:35

What about setting the text height of the second row?

\documentclass[12pt,twoside]{report}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{mathtools}
\usepackage{tikz}
\tikzset{
table/.style={
matrix of nodes,
row sep=-\pgflinewidth,
column sep=-\pgflinewidth,
nodes={
rectangle,
draw=black,
align=center,
text width=10em,
fill=gray!10,
},
%baseline={([yshift=-0.5ex]current bounding box.center)},
%minimum height=1.0em,
%text depth=0.2em,
%text height=0.8em,
%text centered,
nodes in empty cells,
row 1/.style={nodes={fill=black, text=white, font=\bfseries}},
row 2/.style={nodes={text height=3.3ex}},
}
}

\begin{document}

Hello World...
\begin{table}
\centering
\begin{tikzpicture}
\matrix[table, ampersand replacement=\&] (TabA1)
{
A1 \& A2 \& A3 \\
B1 \& $10^{2^{3^{4^{5}}}}$ \& B3 \\
};
\end{tikzpicture}
\caption{Glossary}
\label{tabA1}
\end{table}

\end{document}


• The problem with this is, that I then have a fixed height for ALL tables. I however want the table to be varying in size depending on how much content/text a row has...Defining height for EACH row of EACH table is a bit to much definitionwise... – Diger Aug 16 '17 at 22:21
• So there is no possiblity to have a flushed/justified table without fixing the text height?!?!?? – Diger Aug 16 '17 at 23:13
• @Diger Is tikz mandatory for you or could you choose a simple tabular? See here: tex.stackexchange.com/a/172523/101651 – CarLaTeX Aug 17 '17 at 2:11
• Well I liked the style above with the nice black title line and greyish background and it would be unfortunate if I had to change all the tables of my document which are like 50? A bit too much... – Diger Aug 17 '17 at 9:25
• I added minimum width and minimum height to the nodes, but also this does not do what I want... – Diger Aug 17 '17 at 9:35