Do Grid Tables Support Inline Code?

[michaelweylandt]

Description

Hello,

I'm trying to use an inline code block in a 'grid' table. (I need multi-line blocks, so I can't use pipe-tables and I would prefer to stay "Markdown-ish" instead of writing HTML directly.)

In the below document, the pipe table seems to render properly, while the grid table is a bit messy.

Is there a way to do what I'm hoping or do I need to bite the bullet and create table objects in R/Python?

---
title: "Table Tests"
---

```{r}

radius <- 5
```

| Col1         | Col2            | Col3 |
|:------------:|:---------------:|:----:|
| `{r} radius` |                 |      |
|              | `{r} 3 + 4 + 5` |      |


+--------------+-----------------+------+
| Col1         | Col2            | Col3 |
+:============:+:===============:+:====:+
| `{r} radius` |                 |      |
|              | `{r} 3 + 4 + 5` |      |
+--------------+-----------------+------+

**[Ed. - Added]** The following example comes from the Quarto documentation: 

+---------+--------+------------------+
| Right   | Left   | Centered         |
+========:+:=======+:================:+
| Bananas | $1.34  | built-in wrapper |
+---------+--------+------------------+


+---------+----------+------------------+
| Right   | Left     | Centered         |
+========:+:=========+:================:+
| Bananas | `r 1.34` | built-in wrapper |
+---------+----------+------------------+

Thanks!

[mcanouil]

Your grid table is malformed, so even without inline code, it won't work.

Anyhow, if with the proper and documented grid table syntax, it does not work, then you have your answer.

[michaelweylandt]

Oh - that's embarrassing. I've edited my question to include a properly formatted example, which still seems not to work.

I suppose my question was more existential: i) why does this syntax not work? (It seems like a weird "gap" in functionality. Is this intentional or a possible bug) and ii) Is there a supported way to achieve the same effect?

[michaelweylandt]

Digging a bit further into this, the issue appears to be that:

This quarto code:

+---------+----------+------------------+
| Right   | Left     | Centered         |
+========:+:=========+:================:+
| Bananas | `r 1.34` | built-in wrapper |
+---------+----------+------------------+

gets rendered to

+---------+----------+------------------+
| Right   | Left     | Centered         |
+========:+:=========+:================:+
| Bananas | 1.34 | built-in wrapper |
+---------+----------+------------------+

which Pandoc then doesn't recognize as a proper grid table. I don't know if this could be fixed without making pandoc more flexible or having quarto "re-align" the table after the fact; both of those options are beyond my pay grade, however.

[cscheid]

Your assessment here is correct and unfortunately it's impossible for Quarto to correctly "re-align" the tables in all cases.

[Steinthal]

That’s why I prefer list-table.

---
title: "Table Tests"
format: 
  pdf:
    filters: 
      - list-table

---

```{r}
radius <- 5
```

# Test list-table

::: {.list-table width="1,5,7" aligns="r,l,c" header-rows=1}

   *  - Right
      - Left
      - Centered

   * - Bananas
     - `{r} 3 + 4 + 5` -- `{r} radius`
     - built-in wrapper

:::

[michaelweylandt]

Thanks @Steinthal - this works perfectly for my use case - and now I don't have to work so hard to keep a grid table properly aligned. Win-win!

[michaelweylandt]

Unfortunately, there is no reliable way to use inline code within grid-tables as it's impossible to ensure proper alignment of the generated markdown (confirmed by @cscheid).

The pandoc-ext/list-table extension filter can be used instead and provides much of the same functionality (h/t @Steinthal )

To install, run

$ quarto add pandoc-ext/list-table

and then add

filters: 
    - list-table

to the relevant header metadata to activate. (Note that this extension must be reinstalled on a per-project basis.)

Thanks All!

[cscheid]

Thanks for wrapping up the discussion neatly. I now think we should warn users about executable code inside grid tables. I'll open an issue to track for when we add linting support.

[Steinthal]

@cscheid, any chance to implement list-tables natively in Quarto? Should I open a FR?

[cscheid]

I don't think it's sufficiently broadly used to be necessary over the existence of the filter.