Tables

Generate table rows automatically from a collection of data.

How it works

Create a table in your .odt template with placeholder cells. ODF-Report clones the template row for each item in your collection, replacing the placeholders in each clone.

Naming a table

To use a table with ODF-Report, it needs a name:

1. In LibreOffice Writer, right-click on the table
2. Select Table Properties...
3. Type a name in the Name field (e.g., EMPLOYEES)

Basic usage

Given a template table named EMPLOYEES with cells containing [NAME] and [EMAIL]:

report = ODFReport::Report.new("template.odt") do |r|
  r.add_table("EMPLOYEES", @employees) do |t|
    t.add_column(:name)
    t.add_column(:email)
  end
end

This creates one row for each employee in @employees, with the placeholders replaced by the corresponding values.

Column values

Columns support the same value resolution as fields:

r.add_table("ITEMS", @items) do |t|
  # Method name matches placeholder name
  t.add_column(:description)

  # Different method name
  t.add_column(:item_id, :id)

  # Block transform
  t.add_column(:price) { |item| format("$%.2f", item.price) }
end

Header rows

If your table has a header row, pass header: true to preserve it. The first row will be left untouched and only subsequent rows are used as templates:

r.add_table("ITEMS", @items, header: true) do |t|
  t.add_column(:description)
  t.add_column(:quantity)
  t.add_column(:price)
end

The header row ("Description", "Qty", "Price") stays as-is. The second row is the template.

Removing empty tables

Use skip_if_empty: true to remove the entire table when the collection is empty or nil:

r.add_table("OPTIONAL_DATA", @items, skip_if_empty: true) do |t|
  t.add_column(:name)
end

Without this option, an empty collection would leave the template row (with unresolved placeholders) in the document.

Zebra rows (alternating styles)

If your template table has multiple rows below the header, they are cycled for each data item. This is useful for alternating row styles (e.g., different background colors):

| Header 1    | Header 2    |
|-------------|-------------|
| [COL1]      | [COL2]      |  ← row style A
| [COL1]      | [COL2]      |  ← row style B

ODF-Report alternates between the two template rows as it generates output, producing a zebra-striped table.

Formatting

Any formatting applied to the placeholder cells in the template is preserved. Font, size, color, alignment, cell borders, and background colors all carry over to the generated rows.