Re: [O] Latex export of tables

[Suvayu Ali]

Hi Vikas,

On Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 05:26:19PM +0530, Vikas Rawal wrote:
> > > I am using org-mode version 8.0-pre (release_8.0-pre-247-gbc3ccd @
> > > /home/vikas/lisp/org-mode/lisp/).
> > > 
> > > I have a table generated by a source block in a document that I would
> > > like to export to latex. In the exported tex file, I would like org to
> > > insert a line like the following between \end(tabular} and \end{table}
> > > 
> > > \begin{minipage}{\textwidth} \tiny Note: Some descriptive text here. 
> > > \end{minipage}
> > 
> > I do not think this is possible.  You have to realise that Org does not
> > aim to support everything you can do with a backend natively.  One of
> > the primary reasons for that is the backend agnostic abstraction
> > provided by Org.
> 
> I have seen some way of doing things like this. See section 13.3 at
> http://orgmode.org/worg/org-tutorials/org-latex-export.html
> 
> I can't get it to work though. Will keep trying.

Many of the things on that page is old exporter specific and probably
will not work with the new exporter.

> There is also a reason for not doing it natively in latex even if the
> org-mode solution is somewhat round-about. I am writing a research
> paper using orgmode, with embedded R source blocks in it. I do not
> mind embedding some latex source block into it but I would not like to
> edit an exported latex file. After all, in the end, the objective is
> to be able to have an org file which produces a full paper when exported.

Then generate LaTeX tables from R not Org tables.  As far as I know, R
is capable of that.  I believe you can pass the ":wrap latex" option to
the babel block to wrap your LaTeX table with
"#+begin_latex..#+end_latex".

I'm suggesting this because if you continue on this path, i.e. litter
your Org file with hacks, soon you will end up with an extremely fragile
and complicated Org project.  I have been down that road while writing
my thesis.  At one point I realised the problem and made the decision to
split things into two kinds of files: static content (document
structuring, text, plots, etc), and dynamic content (babel, TikZ blocks
that generate tables, plots, figures, etc used by the static content
files).  It is still reproducible research, but modular and less hacky
(hence more stable).

Of course all of this is my personal opinion, it might be completely
inappropriate advise for your use case.

Good luck,

-- 
Suvayu

Open source is the future. It sets us free.