Can I partially re-use a table or build it up over chapters?

Question

In my thesis I have a table that I want to build up over the course of a chapter. Specifically, I am presenting statistics about different datasets, including one that I created myself to address issues in the existing data.

Ideally I would write the table+tabular code once and then refer to that code everywhere the table needs to be repeated, just revealing or hiding different parts of it.

So I might write:

   \begin{table}
     \caption{Sample Table}
     \label{tab:sample-table}
     \begin{tabular}{lr}
       dataset & some numbers\\
       \hline
       A & 10\\
       B & 11\\
       C & 12\\
       \hline
       D & 48\\
       E & 144\\
     \end{tabular}
   \end{table}

And then in one place use some command like:

   \inserttable[1-4]{tab:sample-table}

to insert the header & rows A-C, and in another place write:

   \inserttable{tab:sample-table}

in order to insert the whole table.

Is there any package or set of macros for doing this or do I have to repeat the table every place that I want to reference it?

My table is quite a bit larger and more complex than this, and my concern is that if I have to update some of the values I might update them in one place and forget the others if I have to duplicate the code.

Answer 1

Here is one way to do this. First define the entries of the entire table:

\newcommand*{\MyTabularEntries}{%
   Row & dataset & some numbers \\,
   \unexpanded{\cmidrule(r){1-1}\cmidrule(lr){2-2}\cmidrule(l){3-3}},
   3 & A & 10 \\,
   4 & B & 11 \\,
   5 & C & 12 \\,
   \unexpanded{\cmidrule{1-3}},
   7 & D & 48 \\,
   8 & E & 144 \\,
}%

and then build the table with only the dried rows by invoking

\InsertTable[<csv list of rows>]{<title>}{\MyTabularEntries}

Notes:

• I added a row number to make it easier to see that this solution is working correctly. The header and cmidrule are counted.
• I also used the booktabs package as that produces better tables.

References

• Build tabular content via \foreach

Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{xparse}
\usepackage{tikz}

\newcommand*{\MyTempTableTokens}{}%
\makeatletter
    \newtoks\@tabtoks
    %%% assignments to \@tabtoks must be global, because they are done in \foreach
    \newcommand\AddTableTokens[1]{\global\@tabtoks\expandafter{\the\@tabtoks#1}}
    \newcommand\eAddTableTokens[1]{%
      \protected@edef\MyTempTableTokens{#1}%
      \expandafter\AddTableTokens\expandafter{\MyTempTableTokens}%
    }
    %%% variable should always be operated on always locally or always globally
    \newcommand*\ResetTableTokens{\global\@tabtoks{}}
    \newcommand*\PrintTableTokens{\the\@tabtoks}

%% \processlist is based on a contribution by Hood Chatham
\newcount\tempcount
\newcommand*{\MacroToExecute}{}%
\def\processlist#1#2{\def\MacroToExecute{#1}\processlist@#2,\@nil}
\def\processlist@#1,{%
    \in@-{#1}%
    \ifin@
        \processrange#1\@nil
    \else
        \MacroToExecute{Row #1}{}%
    \fi
    \@ifnextchar\@nil{\@gobble}{\processlist@}%
}

\def\processrange#1-#2\@nil{%
    \tempcount=#1\relax
    \loop
        \MacroToExecute{Row \the\tempcount}{}%
        \advance\tempcount1\relax
    \unless\ifnum\tempcount>#2\repeat
}
\makeatother

\newcommand*{\MyTabularEntries}{%
       Row & dataset & some numbers \\,
       \unexpanded{\cmidrule(r){1-1}\cmidrule(lr){2-2}\cmidrule(l){3-3}},
       3 & A & 10 \\,
       4 & B & 11 \\,
       5 & C & 12 \\,
       \unexpanded{\cmidrule{1-3}},
       7 & D & 48 \\,
       8 & E & 144 \\,
}%

\newcounter{RowNumber}
\NewDocumentCommand{\InsertTable}{%
    O{1-10}% #1 = range of lines to print, defaults to all lines from 1-99
    m%           #2 = table title
    m%           #3 = list of entries (terminated by comma).
}{%
    \processlist{\csdef}{#1}%
    \ResetTableTokens%
    \setcounter{RowNumber}{0}%
    \foreach \Entry in #3 {%
        \stepcounter{RowNumber}%
        \ifcsdef{Row \arabic{RowNumber}}{%
            \eAddTableTokens{\Entry}%
        }{%
            %% This row number was not requested so skip it
        }%
    }%
    \begin{tabular}{lll}
        \toprule
        \multicolumn{3}{c}{#2} \\
        \PrintTableTokens
        \bottomrule
    \end{tabular}%
    %  Clear the desired rows list
    \processlist{\csundef}{#1}%
}

\begin{document}

    \InsertTable{All Rows}{\MyTabularEntries}%

    \par\medskip
    \InsertTable[1-5]{Rows 1-5}{\MyTabularEntries}%

    \par\medskip
    \InsertTable[1,2,4,6-10]{Rows 1,2,4,6-10}{\MyTabularEntries}%
\end{document}

Answer 2

This isn't a complete answer answer because I think Peter Grill's answer is pretty good. I am just providing here a macro to process a list of individual rows and ranges to work with Peter's code.

\newcount\tempcount
\def\processlist#1{\processlist@#1,\@nil}
\def\processlist@#1,{%
    \in@-{#1}%
    \ifin@
        \processrange#1\@nil
    \else
        \csgdef{Row #1}{}%
    \fi
    \@ifnextchar\@nil{\@gobble}{\processlist@}%
}

\def\processrange#1-#2\@nil{%
    \tempcount=#1\relax
    \loop
        \csgdef{Row \the\tempcount}{}%
        \advance\tempcount1\relax
    \unless\ifnum\tempcount>#2\repeat
}