# Automatic cell coloring with per-column minimum and maximum values

I want to color each cell in a table based on its value. I know solutions exist, but you have to set the minimum and maximum values globally for the table. They can be found for example in Are there an easy way to coloring tables depending on the value in each cell? and Automatic cell colouring using cellcolor: Undefined Control Sequence.

I tried to come up with a solution that allows me to set the minimum and maximum values per column to be able to color each cell with their individual minimum and maximum values.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames,svgnames,table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.10}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{collcell}
\usepackage{xfp}
\definecolor{goodgreen}{HTML}{c5eecc}
\definecolor{goodred}{HTML}{ffc7ce}
\newcommand{\MinNumber}{0}%
\newcommand{\MaxNumber}{1}%
\cellcolor{goodgreen!\fpeval{100.0*(#1-\MinNumber)/(\MaxNumber-\MinNumber)}!goodred}{#1}
}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\renewcommand*{\MinNumber}{#1}%
\renewcommand*{\MaxNumber}{#2}%
}
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{l|l|H{0}{1}|l|H{0}{100000}}
\hline
Name & Value 1 & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Value 2} & Value 3 & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Value 4} \\
\hline
a & \colorbox{goodgreen!20!goodred}{0.2} & 0.2 & \colorbox{goodgreen!20!goodred}{20000} & 20000\\
b & \colorbox{goodgreen!50!goodred}{0.5} & 0.5 & \colorbox{goodgreen!50!goodred}{50000} & 50000\\
c & \colorbox{goodgreen!60!goodred}{0.6} & 0.6 & \colorbox{goodgreen!60!goodred}{60000} & 60000\\
d & \colorbox{goodgreen!80!goodred}{0.8} & 0.8 & \colorbox{goodgreen!80!goodred}{80000} & 80000\\
\end{tabularx}
\end{table}
\end{document}


Unfortunately, this does not work correctly, since it seems to somehow calculate the mixture percentage before setting the values of \MinNumber and \MaxNumber. The error messages show that the calculation is done before:

Package color Error: Argument -26.265' not in range [0,1].
Package color Error: Argument 25.83789' not in range [0,1].
Package color Error: Argument -0.47716' not in range [0,1].


If I replace the \cellcolor command by \colorbox in the \ApplyGradient macro, it works. But I would like the whole cell to be colored, just like the \cellcolor command does.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames,svgnames,table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.10}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{collcell}
\usepackage{xfp}
\definecolor{goodgreen}{HTML}{c5eecc}
\definecolor{goodred}{HTML}{ffc7ce}
\newcommand{\MinNumber}{0}%
\newcommand{\MaxNumber}{0}%
\colorbox{goodgreen!\fpeval{100.0*(#1-\MinNumber)/(\MaxNumber-\MinNumber)}!goodred}{#1}
}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\renewcommand*{\MinNumber}{#1}%
\renewcommand*{\MaxNumber}{#2}%
}
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{l|l|H{0}{1}|l|H{0}{100000}}
\hline
Name & Value 1 & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Value 2} & Value 3 & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Value 4} \\
\hline
a & \colorbox{goodgreen!20!goodred}{0.2} & 0.2 & \colorbox{goodgreen!20!goodred}{20000} & 20000\\
b & \colorbox{goodgreen!50!goodred}{0.5} & 0.5 & \colorbox{goodgreen!50!goodred}{50000} & 50000\\
c & \colorbox{goodgreen!60!goodred}{0.6} & 0.6 & \colorbox{goodgreen!60!goodred}{60000} & 60000\\
d & \colorbox{goodgreen!80!goodred}{0.8} & 0.8 & \colorbox{goodgreen!80!goodred}{80000} & 80000\\
\end{tabularx}
\end{table}
\end{document}


Is that possible?

UPDATE

I deliberately chose to use the xfp package for calculations, because I want to bypass the Dimensions too large limitation of doing calculations in pgfplots.

# Bypass to the limitation of Dimensions too large in pgfplots

## UPDATE 3 - with xfp package

### --> data range: ± 10^10000

The original question was about a solution with the xfp package, because of this I have still been looking for an approach until I found it. Thus, I have redefined the \Percent macro as:

\newcommand\Percent{\fpeval{100.0*(#1-\MinNumber)/(\MaxNumber-\MinNumber)}}


in the \ApplyGradient one:

\newcommand{\ApplyGradient}[1]{%
\newcommand\Percent{\fpeval{100.0*(#1-\MinNumber)/(\MaxNumber-\MinNumber)}}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\PercentColor}{\Percent}
\xdef\PercentColor{\PercentColor}%
\cellcolor{goodgreen!\PercentColor!goodred}{#1}
}


And that´s it. Anyhow, I thought I had tried such as simple solution before and in the same way, but I did not succeed ...

Output (same as with the other approaches):

Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames,svgnames,table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.10}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{collcell}
\usepackage{xfp}

\definecolor{goodgreen}{HTML}{c5eecc}
\definecolor{goodred}{HTML}{ffc7ce}
\newcommand{\MinNumber}{0}%
\newcommand{\MaxNumber}{0}%

\newcommand\Percent{\fpeval{100.0*(#1-\MinNumber)/(\MaxNumber-\MinNumber)}}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\PercentColor}{\Percent}
\xdef\PercentColor{\PercentColor}%
\cellcolor{goodgreen!\PercentColor!goodred}{#1}
}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\renewcommand*{\MinNumber}{#1}%
\renewcommand*{\MaxNumber}{#2}%
}

\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{l|l|H{0}{1}|l|H{0}{100000}}
\hline
Name & Value 1 & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Value 2} & Value 3 & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Value 4} \\
\hline
a & \cellcolor{goodgreen!20!goodred}0.2 & 0.2 & \cellcolor{goodgreen!20!goodred}20000 & 20000\\
b & \cellcolor{goodgreen!50!goodred}0.5 & 0.5 & \cellcolor{goodgreen!50!goodred}50000 & 50000\\
c & \cellcolor{goodgreen!60!goodred}0.6 & 0.6 & \cellcolor{goodgreen!60!goodred}60000 & 60000\\
d & \cellcolor{goodgreen!80!goodred}0.8 & 0.8 & \cellcolor{goodgreen!80!goodred}80000 & 80000\\
\end{tabularx}
\end{table}
\end{document}


## UPDATE 2 - with fpu library (pfg/tikz)

### --> data range: ± 10^324 (at least the IEEE double precision data range)

schtandard´s comment:

pgf also has a library called fpu that enables you to use numbers up to 10^{324}. (See section 56 of the manual.)

has given me a clue to overcome the limitation (numbers up to ±9.99910^{17}) of the fp package (thanks for this hint). For this reason, I have tried to implement the fpu tikzlibrary in my code. Therefore, I have added:

\usetikzlibrary{fpu}
\pgfkeys{/pgf/fpu=true}
\pgfkeys{/pgf/fpu/output format=fixed}


to the preamble. Furthermore, I have redefined the \Applygradient macro once again :

\newcommand{\ApplyGradient}[1]{%
\pgfmathparse{100.0*(#1-\MinNumber)/(\MaxNumber-\MinNumber)}
\xdef\Percent{\pgfmathresult}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\PercentColor}{\Percent}
\xdef\PercentColor{\PercentColor}%
\cellcolor{goodgreen!\PercentColor!goodred}{#1}
}


and thus I have obtained the same desired output:

Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames,svgnames,table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.10}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{collcell}

\usetikzlibrary{fpu}
\pgfkeys{/pgf/fpu=true}
\pgfkeys{/pgf/fpu/output format=fixed}

\definecolor{goodgreen}{HTML}{c5eecc}
\definecolor{goodred}{HTML}{ffc7ce}
\newcommand{\MinNumber}{0}%
\newcommand{\MaxNumber}{0}%

\pgfmathparse{100.0*(#1-\MinNumber)/(\MaxNumber-\MinNumber)}
\xdef\Percent{\pgfmathresult}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\PercentColor}{\Percent}
\xdef\PercentColor{\PercentColor}%
\cellcolor{goodgreen!\PercentColor!goodred}{#1}
}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\renewcommand*{\MinNumber}{#1}%
\renewcommand*{\MaxNumber}{#2}%
}

\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{l|l|H{0}{1}|l|H{0}{100000}}

\hline
Name & Value 1 & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Value 2} & Value 3 & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Value 4} \\
\hline
a & \cellcolor{goodgreen!20!goodred}0.2 & 0.2 & \cellcolor{goodgreen!20!goodred}20000 & 20000\\
b & \cellcolor{goodgreen!50!goodred}0.5 & 0.5 & \cellcolor{goodgreen!50!goodred}50000 & 50000\\
c & \cellcolor{goodgreen!60!goodred}0.6 & 0.6 & \cellcolor{goodgreen!60!goodred}60000 & 60000\\
d & \cellcolor{goodgreen!80!goodred}0.8 & 0.8 & \cellcolor{goodgreen!80!goodred}80000 & 80000\\
\end{tabularx}
\end{table}
\end{document}


## UPDATE 1 - with fp package

### --> data range: ± 9.99910^17

I have found an approach using \cellcolor with the macro \FPeval of the fp package instead of \colorbox with the macro \fpeval of the xfp package (I hope this is not a problem for you). Therefore, I have redefined the macro \Applygradient from the solution to Automatic cell colouring using cellcolor: Undefined Control Sequence by Werner:

\newcommand{\ApplyGradient}[1]{%
\FPeval{\Percent}{100.0*(#1-\MinNumber)/(\MaxNumber-\MinNumber)}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\PercentColor}{\Percent}
\xdef\PercentColor{\PercentColor}%
\cellcolor{goodgreen!\PercentColor!goodred}{#1}
}


This compiles correctly and it is possible to obtain your desired output:

Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames,svgnames,table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.10}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{collcell}
\usepackage{fp}

\definecolor{goodgreen}{HTML}{c5eecc}
\definecolor{goodred}{HTML}{ffc7ce}
\newcommand{\MinNumber}{0}%
\newcommand{\MaxNumber}{0}%

\FPeval{\Percent}{100.0*(#1-\MinNumber)/(\MaxNumber-\MinNumber)}
\pgfmathsetmacro{\PercentColor}{\Percent}
\xdef\PercentColor{\PercentColor}%
\cellcolor{goodgreen!\PercentColor!goodred}{#1}
}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\renewcommand*{\MinNumber}{#1}%
\renewcommand*{\MaxNumber}{#2}%
}

\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{l|l|H{0}{1}|l|H{0}{100000}}

\hline
Name & Value 1 & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Value 2} & Value 3 & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Value 4} \\
\hline
a & \cellcolor{goodgreen!20!goodred}0.2 & 0.2 & \cellcolor{goodgreen!20!goodred}20000 & 20000\\
b & \cellcolor{goodgreen!50!goodred}0.5 & 0.5 & \cellcolor{goodgreen!50!goodred}50000 & 50000\\
c & \cellcolor{goodgreen!60!goodred}0.6 & 0.6 & \cellcolor{goodgreen!60!goodred}60000 & 60000\\
d & \cellcolor{goodgreen!80!goodred}0.8 & 0.8 & \cellcolor{goodgreen!80!goodred}80000 & 80000\\
\end{tabularx}
\end{table}
\end{document}


## Limitation

In the documentation of the fp package states:

Fixed point arithmetic for TEX with numbers ranging from −999999999999999999.999999999999999999 to +999999999999999999.999999999999999999

# With the limitation of Dimensions too large in pgfplots

### --> data range: ± 16384

Just replacing \colorbox with \cellcolor in tabularx to your working solution and taking the original definition of \Applygradient from the solution to Automatic cell colouring using cellcolor: Undefined Control Sequence by Werner:

\newcommand{\ApplyGradient}[1]{%
\pgfmathsetmacro{\PercentColor}{100.0*(#1-\MinNumber)/(\MaxNumber-\MinNumber)}
\xdef\PercentColor{\PercentColor}%
\cellcolor{goodgreen!\PercentColor!goodred}{#1}
}


Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames,svgnames,table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.10}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{collcell}
\usepackage{xfp}

\definecolor{goodgreen}{HTML}{c5eecc}
\definecolor{goodred}{HTML}{ffc7ce}
\newcommand{\MinNumber}{0}%
\newcommand{\MaxNumber}{0}%

\pgfmathsetmacro{\PercentColor}{100.0*(#1-\MinNumber)/(\MaxNumber-\MinNumber)}
\xdef\PercentColor{\PercentColor}%
\cellcolor{goodgreen!\PercentColor!goodred}{#1}
}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\renewcommand*{\MinNumber}{#1}%
\renewcommand*{\MaxNumber}{#2}%
}

\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{l|l|H{0}{1}|l|H{0}{100}}
\hline
Name & Value 1 & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Value 2} & Value 3 & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Value 4} \\
\hline
a & \cellcolor{goodgreen!20!goodred}0.2 & 0.2 & \cellcolor{goodgreen!20!goodred}20 & 20\\
b & \cellcolor{goodgreen!50!goodred}0.5 & 0.5 & \cellcolor{goodgreen!50!goodred}50 & 50\\
c & \cellcolor{goodgreen!60!goodred}0.6 & 0.6 & \cellcolor{goodgreen!60!goodred}60 & 60\\
d & \cellcolor{goodgreen!80!goodred}0.8 & 0.8 & \cellcolor{goodgreen!80!goodred}80 & 80\\
\end{tabularx}
\end{table}

• This is a nice solution, but unfortunately it only works for numbers smaller than 16384 because of the calculations are done in dimensions. I forgot to add to my question that it also needs to support larger numbers. That is why I chose to use the xfp package. I'll update the question. Jun 20, 2019 at 10:48
• pgf also has a library called fpu that enables you to use numbers up to 10^{324}. (See section 56 of the manual.) Jun 20, 2019 at 18:43
• @schtandard, thanks for the hint +1, :) I have found an approach with the fpu library, see my answer.
– Ñako
Jun 20, 2019 at 21:02
• Very nice answer. Now to the bonus question: why does it work this way, but not using the xfp macro directly inside the color calculation? Jun 21, 2019 at 10:46
• @jessepeng, I think the answer to this question has already been given by Werner. Each table cell forms a group, so your addition of \fpeval is lost by the time it reaches \ApplyGradient. If you make the definition \global (I've done so using \global\edef or, equivalently, \xdef`) it works as expected
– Ñako
Jun 22, 2019 at 0:00