<tgroup> Table Group

<tgroup> is a formatting element that bundles <colspec>, <thead>, and <tbody> elements that all use the same column specifications within a <table>. Tables may have multiple <tgroup> elements if the column specifications change.

Three attributes are used together to force horizontal alignment on a specific character, such as a decimal point. The ALIGN attribute must be set to “char” (align=”char”). The CHAR attribute should be set to the specific character on which the text will align (for example the decimal point, char=”.”). The CHAROFF attribute controls the position of the alignment by naming the percentage of the current column width that is to the left of the alignment character (for example, charoff=”30″). The required COLS attribute specifies the number of columns in the table.

Attributes

  • ALTRENDER – not required. Use if the content of the element should be displayed or printed differently than the rendering established in a style sheet for other occurrences of the element.
  • AUDIENCE – not required. Use to set whether the element’s contents will be visible to external users or to internal ones. Possible values are: “internal” and “external.”
  • ID – not required. Creates an ID for element. Can be used for linking.
  • ALIGN – not required. Designates the horizontal position of text within a column. Values may be: left, right, center, justify (flush left and right), and char (alignment on a single character such as a decimal, as positioned by CHAROFF within <colspec>).
  • COLS – required. Must contain the number of columns in this portion of the table. If the table should have more or fewer columns later on, a different <tgroup> is necessary.
  • COLSEP – not required. May be used to specify a rule “1” (or “0” for no rule) which will print or display between each column (can be overriden at a lower level).
  • ROWSEP – not required. May be used to specify a rule “1” (“0” for no rule) which will print or display below each row (can be overriden within the rows).

Subelements

<tgroup> may (and generally should) contain <colspec>, <tbody>, and <thead>.

Examples

The following example is taken from the LoC tag library:

<odd>
	<head>Appendix: Chronological List of the Names of Major Family Members, Their
	Spouses, and Children</head>
	<p>Papers of the individuals listed here make up the greater part of the
	Albemarle Family Papers.  Names of children who are known not to have survived to
	adulthood are omitted.</p>
	<table frame="none">
	<tgroup cols="3">
		<colspec colnum="1" colname="1" align="left" colwidth="50pt">
		<colspec colnum="2" colname="2" align="left" colwidth="50pt">
		<colspec colnum="3" colname="3" align="left" colwidth="50pt">
		<thead>
			<row>
				<entry colname="1">Major Family Members</entry>
				<entry colname="2">Spouses</entry>
				<entry colname="3">Children</entry>
			</row>
		</thead>
		<tbody>
			<row>
				<entry colname="1">John Albemarle (1760-1806)</entry>
				<entry colname="2">Mary Frances Delaney (1769-1835)</entry>
				<entry colname="3">John Delaney Albemarle (1787-1848)</entry>
			</row>
			<row>
				<entry colname="3">Lucretia Albemarle Goodrich (1788-1823)</entry>
			</row>
			<row>
				<entry colname="3">Porter Breckinridge Albermarle (1790-1831)</entry>
			</row>
			<row>
				<entry colname="3">Joseph Fairfax Albemarle (1792-1856)</entry>
			</row>
			<row>
				<entry colname="1">John Delaney Albemarle (1787-1848)</entry>
				<entry colname="2">Martha Mary Adams (1795-1862)</entry>
				<entry colname="3">John Adams Albemarle (1814-1867)</entry></row>
			<row>
				<entry colname="3">Mary Delaney Albemarle (1818-1880)</entry>
			</row> . . .
		</tbody>
	</tgroup>
	</table>
</odd>

EAD tag library entry for <tgroup>.