changing the default width

agranik

I am trying to output a table of 2 columns using /t formatting:

However, if the length of the word if the first column exceeds 7 characters, the next column is pushed further then the rest. Which leads me to my question:

Is there a way to change the default width of columns from 8 to ,say, 12 characters?

Thank you

planetsim

well what columns are needing width changed

mhalloran

Cells can't be sized by the number of characters. You can, however, have excellent control of the cells' size by using a combination of shims and declared cell widths.

A shim is just a transparent image that I put on the in the first row of each table. Because it's an image file, browsers will never make the cell smaller then the shim.
Next is the cell width. This controls how many words are put on a line before a carriage return. The text will never exceed the given width unless a single string of characters (without a space) is wider then the given cell width. This will cause the cell to stretch.

<?PHP
$cell1=200;
$cell2=100;
#cell3=300;
?>
<table>
<tr>
<td><img src="images/shim.gif" width="<?echo $cell1;?>" height="1"></td>
<td><img src="images/shim.gif" width="<?echo $cell2;?>" heidht="1"></td>
<td><img src="images/shim.gif" width="<?echo $cell2;?>" height="1"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="<?echo $cell1;?>">first cell</td>
<td width="<?echo $cell2;?>">This is the second cell</td>
<td width="<?echo $cell3;?>">third cell</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="<?echo $cell1;?>">first cell</td>
<td width="<?echo $cell2;?>">This is the second cell</td>
<td width="<?echo $cell3;?>">third cell</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" width="<?echo ($cell1+$cell2);?>">first and second cell</td>
<td width="<?echo $cell3;?>">third cell</td>
</tr>
</table>

Now all you have to do is adjust the cells variables at the top until you get the format you are after.

twilson

agranik,

I understand what you are trying to do, and I have looked around for a way to make the tab length longer. I don't think there is a way to do it.

Here's how I would do it:

while ($col1val, $col2val) {

$col1length = strlen($col1val);

if ($col1length > 7) {
echo "$col1val\t$col2val";
} else {
echo "$col1val\t\t$col2val";
}
}

So if the word in col1 is less than 8 chars, it'll use two tabs, 8 or more chars, it'll use one tab.

Hope this helps,
Tom 🙂

agranik

Thank you Tom,

I solved the problem in a slightly different way,

using my Perl knowledge. In fact, this problem arose from a Perl program, but I just love this board and there is a big similarity between Perl and PHP.

Thanks again,

Andrei