Caption and footnote width with ctable

Question

I am using ctable and I have a table with footnotes. Since the table is narrow, the caption text is squeezed in the table width, which looks odd. I can use mincapwidth to specify a minimum width for the table environment (not the table itself) which solves this issue, but creates another: it also applies to the footnote, which looks ugly since the footnote is small. Is there a way to make the footnote obey the width of the table itself and ignore mincapwidth?

Example:

\ctable[
caption = {Somewhat long long long caption which is long},
mincapwidth = \textwidth,
]{lr}{
  \tnote[a]{Short footnote}
}{
    \toprule
    Header 1 & Header 2 \\
    \midrule
    foo\tmark[a] & 1 \\
    \bottomrule
}

Which looks like this

Answer 1

Here is a solution that adds a new key-value footerwidth (default is the width of the table):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{ctable}% http://ctan.org/pkg/ctable
\usepackage{booktabs}% http://ctan.org/pkg/booktabs
\usepackage{xpatch}% http://ctan.org/pkg/etoolbox

\makeatletter
\newdimen\@ctblfooterwidth
\define@key{ctbl}{footerwidth}{\@ctblfooterwidth=#1}
\xpatchcmd{\ctable}% <cmd>
  {{\@ctblbeg}}% <search>
  {{\ifdim\@ctblfooterwidth=0pt
     \@ctblfooterwidth\@ctblw% or \@ctblfloatwidth for default as width of float
   \fi%
   \@ctblbeg}}% <replace> {\@defaultctblmincapwidth%
  {}{}% <success><failure>
\xpatchcmd{\ctable}{\hsize}{\@ctblfooterwidth}{}{}% Patch \ctable
\xpatchcmd{\ctable}{\hsize}{\@ctblfooterwidth}{}{}% Patch \ctable
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\ctable[
caption = {Somewhat long long long caption which is long},
mincapwidth = \textwidth,
]{lr}{
  \tnote[a]{Short footnote}
}{
    \toprule
    Header 1 & Header 2 \\
    \midrule
    foo\tmark[a] & 1 \\
    \bottomrule
}

\ctable[
caption = {Somewhat long long long caption which is long},
mincapwidth = \textwidth,
footerwidth = .5\textwidth
]{lr}{
  \tnote[a]{Short footnote}
}{
    \toprule
    Header 1 & Header 2 \\
    \midrule
    foo\tmark[a] & 1 \\
    \bottomrule
}
\end{document}

xpatch provides the patch to \ctable since it takes an optional argument.

The first patch inserts the appropriate definition of the newly defined dimension \@ctblfooterwidth if it has no length. The second and third patch replaces the default \hsize width of the footnote encasing in either a minipage or tabularx environment, as defined within \ctable originally.

Answer 2

I use, in this cases, a "poor man's ctable":

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}

\makeatletter
\newsavebox{\@tabnotebox}
\providecommand\tmark{} % so having ctable or not is irrelevant
\providecommand\tnote{}
\newenvironment{tabularwithnotes}[3][c]
  {\long\def\@tabnotes{#3}%
   \renewcommand\tmark[1][a]{\makebox[0pt][l]{\textsuperscript{\itshape##1}}}%
   \renewcommand\tnote[2][a]{\textsuperscript{\itshape##1}\,##2\par}
   \begin{lrbox}{\@tabnotebox}
   \begin{tabular}{#2}}
  {\end{tabular}\end{lrbox}%
   \parbox{\wd\@tabnotebox}{
     \usebox{\@tabnotebox}\par
     \smallskip\@tabnotes
   }%
  }
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\centering
\caption{Somewhat long long long caption which is long}
\medskip
\begin{tabularwithnotes}{lr}
 {
  \tnote[a]{Short footnote}
  \tnote[b]{Short footnote}
 }
\toprule
Header 1 & Header 2 \\
\midrule
foo\tmark[a] & 1\tmark[b] \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabularwithnotes}
\end{table}
\end{document}

The arguments to tabularwithnotes are the same as for tabular, with the notes in an additional argument.

Answer 3

First, you should not use the booktabs commands explicitly, they are used internally, with modifications. Use \FL, \ML, \LL, see my sample text below. Second: are you using ctable v1.21 or higher?

I suggest that I introduce an option footerwidth which:
- if absent changes nothing (obviously)
- if present without a value sets footnotes in the width of the tabular
- if present with a value, sets footnotes in the width of that value
Any better ideas?

An example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{ctable}
\usepackage[papersize={150mm,100mm},noheadfoot,margin=5mm]{geometry}
\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{document}

\ctable[
  caption = {Somewhat long caption, no footerwidth set},
  mincapwidth = \textwidth,
]{lr}{
  \tnote[a]{Short footnote}
}{\FL
  Header 1 & Header 2 \ML
  foo\tmark[a] & 1 \LL
}

\ctable[
  caption = {Somewhat long caption, footerwidth set, without a value},
  mincapwidth = \textwidth,
  footerwidth
]{lr}{
  \tnote[a]{Short footnote}
}{\FL
  Header 1 & Header 2 \ML
  foo\tmark[a] & 1 \LL
}

\ctable[
  caption = {Somewhat long caption, no footerwidth set to 15mm},
  mincapwidth = \textwidth,
  footerwidth = 15mm
]{lr}{
  \tnote[a]{Short footnote}
}{\FL
  Header 1 & Header 2 \ML
  foo\tmark[a] & 1 \LL
}
\end{document}

This produces:

End result http://wybo.xs4all.nl/ctable.png

Answer 4

Send a feature request – there should be an option to have the caption set outside the minipage which contains the table and notes. In the meantime, you can make this change yourself:

\makeatletter
\newcommand{\modctable}[4][]{%
   \let\@ctbltaborfig  \@defaultctbltaborfig
   \let\@ctblalign     \@defaultctblalign
   \let\@ctblsideways  \@defaultctblsideways
   \let\@ctblcontinued \empty
   \let\@ctblpos       \@defaultctblpos
   \let\@ctblcaption   \empty
   \let\@ctblcap       \undefined
   \let\@ctbllabel     \empty
   \let\@ctblbotcap    \@defaultctblbotcap
   \let\@ctblstarred   \@defaultctblstarred
   \let\@ctblsuper     \@defaultctblsuper
   \let\@ctblnotespar  \@defaultctblnotespar
   \let\@ctbldoinside  \@defaultctbldoinside
   \@ctblframerule     \@defaultctblframerule
   \@ctblcaptionskip   \@defaultctblcaptionskip
   \@ctblframesep      \@defaultctblframesep
   \@ctblwidth         \@defaultctblwidth
   \@ctblmaxwidth      \@defaultctblmaxwidth
   \@ctblmincapwidth   \@defaultctblmincapwidth
   \def\@ctblfgactual {@defaultctblframefg}
   \def\@ctblbgactual {@defaultctblframebg}
   \def\@ctblbeg      {\begin{\@ctblsideways\@ctbltaborfig\@ctblstarred}}
   \def\@ctblbegin    {\@ctblbeg}
   \def\@ctblend      {\end{\@ctblsideways\@ctbltaborfig\@ctblstarred}}
   \setkeys{ctbl}{#1}
   \ifdim\@ctblwidth=0pt\else
      \ifdim\@ctblmaxwidth=0pt\else
         \PackageError{ctable}{
            You may not use the width and maxwidth options together}{
            Use either width or maxwidth}
      \fi
   \fi
   \ifx\@ctblpos\empty
      \ifx\@ctblsideways\empty\else
      \PackageError{ctable}{
         You may not use the pos and sideways options together}{
         Rotated tables and figures are always typeset on a separate page}
      \fi
   \fi
   \ifx\@ctblcaption\empty
      \ifx\@ctbllabel\empty\else
         \PackageError{ctable}{
            You may not label a captionless table}{
            Such a label can't be referenced}
      \fi
   \fi
   \sbox\ctbl@t{%
      \@ctblXcolumntype{l}% temporarily make  type X = l
      \@ctblframe{\@ctblfgactual}{\@ctblbgactual}{%
         \@ctbldoinside
         \begin{tabular}{#2}
            #4%
         \end{tabular}%
      }%
   }%
   \newif\if@ctblusex\@ctblusexfalse
   \ifdim\@ctblmaxwidth=0pt
      \ifdim\@ctblwidth=0pt
      \else
         \@ctblusextrue
      \fi
   \else
      \ifdim\wd\ctbl@t>\@ctblmaxwidth
         \@ctblusextrue
      \fi
   \fi
   \if@ctblusex
      \sbox\ctbl@t{%
         \@ctblXcolumntype{Y}% restore X
         \@ctblframe{\@ctblfgactual}{\@ctblbgactual}{%
            \@ctbldoinside
            \begin{tabularx}{\ifdim\@ctblwidth>0pt\@ctblwidth\else\@ctblmaxwidth\fi}{#2}
               #4%
            \end{tabularx}%
         }%
      }%
   \fi
   \@ctblw=\wd\ctbl@t
   \@ctblfloatwidth=\ifdim\@ctblmincapwidth>\@ctblw
      \@ctblmincapwidth
   \else
      \@ctblw
   \fi
   \@ctblbegin
      \ifx\@ctblcontinued\empty\else\addtocounter{\@ctbltaborfig}{-1}\fi
      \@ctblalign
      \@ctblCaption
      \begin{minipage}{\@ctblfloatwidth}\parindent0pt
         %%%%\ifx\@ctblbotcap\@ctblfalse\@ctblCaption\vskip\@ctblcaptionskip\fi
         \centering{\usebox\ctbl@t} % insert the tabular
         \def\@ctblfootnotes{#3}%
         \ifx#3\empty\else{% append footnotes, if any
            \footnotesize
            \ifx\@ctblnotespar\@ctbltrue%
               \\[.2ex]
               \begin{minipage}{\hsize}%
                  #3%
               \end{minipage}%
            \else%
               \\
               \begin{tabularx}{\hsize}{r@{\,}>{\raggedright}X}
                  #3%
               \end{tabularx}%
            \fi

         }
         \fi
         %%%%\ifx\@ctblbotcap\@ctbltrue\vskip\@ctblcaptionskip\@ctblCaption\fi
      \end{minipage}
   \@ctblend
}
\makeatother

Then the command in-text becomes:

\modctable[
caption = {Somewhat long long long caption which is long},
]{lr}{
  \tnote[a]{Short footnote}
}{
    \toprule
    Header 1 & Header 2 \\
    \midrule
    foo\tmark[a] & 1 \\
    \bottomrule
}

Answer 5

I know this question was asked and answered, however such a question is still relevant today and due to updates in the ctable package I thought I should add my contribution to this question for future visitors.

From ctablev1.26 onwards there's an option footerwidth=.. where a width can be specified for the footer seperate to mincapwidth.

I should add that it works just like Werner explaind in their answer, such that it defaults to typsetting the footnotes to have the width of the table regardless of what mincapwidth says. This could also have an argument to give it a fixed width as you would do to mincapwidth and it acts independently of mincapwidth

Therefore your code would become:

\ctable[
caption = {Somewhat long long long caption which is long},
mincapwidth = \textwidth,
footerwidth
]{lr}{
  \tnote[a]{Short footnote}
}{
    \toprule
    Header 1 & Header 2 \\
    \midrule
    foo\tmark[a] & 1 \\
    \bottomrule
}