Getting started with TeX - my first table (a nested table)

Question

I am brand new to LaTeX, and I am trying to create a LaTeX string to create a report with a known format. I will be inserting my LaTeX string into an A4 page in a scribus document.

Accoring to the Scribus documentation on using LaTex:

Just type your LaTeX code, but remember: The preamble and the end is added automatically during processing. So only add the parts between

\begin{document}

and

\end{document}

Since I am new to this, I will be very grateful if one of the experts in here can help me get started with creating the LaTeX string to generate a report of the nested table structure shown below.

What I am struggling with in particular are:

• the nesting of the columns (e.g. Main table -> Gender -> weight/height -> stats
• The shading of the column header cells
• Drawing lines with different shades of grey to separate between birthday, weight and height.

I will be very grateful for a LaTeX snippet that shows me how to generate such a report.

Answer 1

should also work with longtable

\documentclass[landscape,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[margin=1cm]{geometry}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{array,ragged2e}
\newcolumntype{C}{>{\Centering}p{1.5em}}
\def\Vrule{\vrule width 1pt}
\begin{document}

\footnotesize
\def\arraystretch{1.2}
\begin{tabular}{r
                |*4{C!{\color{black!50}\vrule}} C |
                 *4{C!{\color{black!50}\vrule}} C
                 !{\Vrule} c !{\Vrule}
                 *4{C!{\color{black!50}\vrule}} C |
                 *4{C!{\color{black!50}\vrule}} C |}
\multicolumn{1}{c}{}
 & \multicolumn{10}{c}{\bfseries Male} & 
   \multicolumn{1}{c}{\rule{1.5cm}{0pt}} & 
   \multicolumn{10}{c}{\bfseries Male}\\\cline{2-22}

 & \multicolumn{5}{|c}{weight} & \multicolumn{5}{|c}{height} & 
   \multicolumn{1}{!{\Vrule}c}{} &
   \multicolumn{5}{|c}{weight} & \multicolumn{5}{|c|}{height} \\\cline{2-11}\cline{13-22}
\rowcolor{black!20}
\textbf{Birthday} &
\textbf{min} & \textbf{q1} & \textbf{med} & \textbf{q3} & \textbf{max} & 
\textbf{min} & \textbf{q1} & \textbf{med} & \textbf{q3} & \textbf{max} &
  \cellcolor{white}\raisebox{1.5ex}{\textbf{Power}} &
\textbf{min} & \textbf{q1} & \textbf{med} & \textbf{q3} & \textbf{max} &
\textbf{min} & \textbf{q1} & \textbf{med} & \textbf{q3} & \textbf{max} \\\cline{2-22}

\textbf{Jan 2012} & & & & & & & & & & & 100 & & & & & & & & & & \\\cline{2-22}
                  & & & & & & & & & & & 110 & & & & & & & & & & \\\cline{2-22}
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

Answer 2

It seems that Excel2LaTeX will be able to reproduce most of the layout your asking for, and even more. (Are you fine with double lines instead of thick lines?) It runs on Windows and MacOS (using a beta version, see bug report), and you will need it only for translating the Excel sheet into LaTeX. (That is, the LaTeX document doesn't have to be compiled in Windows.)

Simply insert what this tool produces into Scribus, be sure to leave out the figure environment, though. The layout you ask for requires extra packages such as multirow, not sure if Scribus allows for this.

See also the Comprehensive list of tools that simplify the generation of LaTeX tables (work in progress).

On that note: I wouldn't actually call your table a "nested table". Perhaps "merged columns" would be more appropriate.