README.md

Plain Text Table - User Manual

Interactively create and edit tables and export them to plain text. The tool can be used online.

Edit the table

Edit the grid and fill it with the the data you want to represent as text.

With the context menu in each cell, the text alignment (vertical and horizontal) can be set. Those properties are reflected in the output.

Merged cells are supported (colspan and rowspan). Select the cells you want to merge, use the context menu and select Merge cells. Merged cells can be unmerged the same way (with the menu item Unmerge cells)

Charset option

• Unicode
• Ascii

Headers option

Horizontal Header:

Type of column headers.

• None: No header. The first line is directly the content.
• First line: The first line of the table is used as header.
• Number: number are used as column header.
• Letter: letters are used as column header (A, B, C.. - like in Excel).

Vertical Header:

Type of line headers.

• None: No header. The first column is directly the content.
• First column: The first column of the table is used as header.
• Number: number are used as line header (1, 2, 3.. - like in Excel).
• Letter: letters are used as line header.

Borders option

For each border you can select:

• None: no border at all
• Single: single border
• Double: double border

Depending on the char set (Unicode or ASCII) some combinations are not possible.

To help you to understand which border your are modifying with one combo box, the border corresponding to the selected combo box is highlighted in the output. To remove the highlighting just focus somewhere else.

Horizontal Top Border

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
║   ║   Name    │ First Name │ Track Id │ Checked ║
╠═══╬═══════════╪════════════╪══════════╪═════════╣
║ 1 ║ Sheffield │ Alice      │      347 │   yes   ║
╟───╫───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼─────────╢
║   ║           │ Carrie,    │          │         ║
║ 2 ║ Smith     │ Bob and    │      152 │         ║
║   ║           │ Friends    │          │         ║
╟───╫───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼─────────╢
║ 3 ║ Samson    │ Dick       │      948 │   yes   ║
╚═══╩═══════════╧════════════╧══════════╧═════════╝

Horizontal Inner Header Border

╔═══╦═══════════╤════════════╤══════════╤═════════╗
║   ║   Name    │ First Name │ Track Id │ Checked ║
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
║ 1 ║ Sheffield │ Alice      │      347 │   yes   ║
╟───╫───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼─────────╢
║   ║           │ Carrie,    │          │         ║
║ 2 ║ Smith     │ Bob and    │      152 │         ║
║   ║           │ Friends    │          │         ║
╟───╫───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼─────────╢
║ 3 ║ Samson    │ Dick       │      948 │   yes   ║
╚═══╩═══════════╧════════════╧══════════╧═════════╝

This border is only present if column headers are defined (horizontal header set to first line, number or letter).

Horizontal Inner Border

╔═══╦═══════════╤════════════╤══════════╤═════════╗
║   ║   Name    │ First Name │ Track Id │ Checked ║
╠═══╬═══════════╪════════════╪══════════╪═════════╣
║ 1 ║ Sheffield │ Alice      │      347 │   yes   ║
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
║   ║           │ Carrie,    │          │         ║
║ 2 ║ Smith     │ Bob and    │      152 │         ║
║   ║           │ Friends    │          │         ║
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
║ 3 ║ Samson    │ Dick       │      948 │   yes   ║
╚═══╩═══════════╧════════════╧══════════╧═════════╝

Horizontal Bottom Border

╔═══╦═══════════╤════════════╤══════════╤═════════╗
║   ║   Name    │ First Name │ Track Id │ Checked ║
╠═══╬═══════════╪════════════╪══════════╪═════════╣
║ 1 ║ Sheffield │ Alice      │      347 │   yes   ║
╟───╫───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼─────────╢
║   ║           │ Carrie,    │          │         ║
║ 2 ║ Smith     │ Bob and    │      152 │         ║
║   ║           │ Friends    │          │         ║
╟───╫───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼─────────╢
║ 3 ║ Samson    │ Dick       │      948 │   yes   ║
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Vertical Left Border

X═══╦═══════════╤════════════╤══════════╤═════════╗
X   ║   Name    │ First Name │ Track Id │ Checked ║
X═══╬═══════════╪════════════╪══════════╪═════════╣
X 1 ║ Sheffield │ Alice      │      347 │   yes   ║
X───╫───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼─────────╢
X   ║           │ Carrie,    │          │         ║
X 2 ║ Smith     │ Bob and    │      152 │         ║
X   ║           │ Friends    │          │         ║
X───╫───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼─────────╢
X 3 ║ Samson    │ Dick       │      948 │   yes   ║
X═══╩═══════════╧════════════╧══════════╧═════════╝

Vertical Inner Header Border

╔═══X═══════════╤════════════╤══════════╤═════════╗
║   X   Name    │ First Name │ Track Id │ Checked ║
╠═══X═══════════╪════════════╪══════════╪═════════╣
║ 1 X Sheffield │ Alice      │      347 │   yes   ║
╟───X───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼─────────╢
║   X           │ Carrie,    │          │         ║
║ 2 X Smith     │ Bob and    │      152 │         ║
║   X           │ Friends    │          │         ║
╟───X───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼─────────╢
║ 3 X Samson    │ Dick       │      948 │   yes   ║
╚═══X═══════════╧════════════╧══════════╧═════════╝

This border is only present if line headers are defined (vertical header set to first column, number or letter).

Vertical Inner Border

╔═══╦═══════════X════════════X══════════X═════════╗
║   ║   Name    X First Name X Track Id X Checked ║
╠═══╬═══════════X════════════X══════════X═════════╣
║ 1 ║ Sheffield X Alice      X      347 X   yes   ║
╟───╫───────────X────────────X──────────X─────────╢
║   ║           X Carrie,    X          X         ║
║ 2 ║ Smith     X Bob and    X      152 X         ║
║   ║           X Friends    X          X         ║
╟───╫───────────X────────────X──────────X─────────╢
║ 3 ║ Samson    X Dick       X      948 X   yes   ║
╚═══╩═══════════X════════════X══════════X═════════╝

Vertical Bottom Border

╔═══╦═══════════╤════════════╤══════════╤═════════X
║   ║   Name    │ First Name │ Track Id │ Checked X
╠═══╬═══════════╪════════════╪══════════╪═════════X
║ 1 ║ Sheffield │ Alice      │      347 │   yes   X
╟───╫───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼─────────X
║   ║           │ Carrie,    │          │         X
║ 2 ║ Smith     │ Bob and    │      152 │         X
║   ║           │ Friends    │          │         X
╟───╫───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼─────────X
║ 3 ║ Samson    │ Dick       │      948 │   yes   X
╚═══╩═══════════╧════════════╧══════════╧═════════X

ASCII intersection character

When the charset is set to Ascii, this option allows to configure what the character at the intersection of two borders will be.

Plus (default):

+====+========+
| Id | Name   |
+====+========+
| 1  | Alice  |
+----+--------+
| 2  | Bob    |
+----+--------+
| 3  | Carrie |
+====+========+

Horizontal border:

===============
| Id | Name   |
===============
| 1  | Alice  |
---------------
| 2  | Bob    |
---------------
| 3  | Carrie |
===============

Vertical border:

|====|========|
| Id | Name   |
|====|========|
| 1  | Alice  |
|----|--------|
| 2  | Bob    |
|----|--------|
| 3  | Carrie |
|====|========|

Cell padding

There is a checkbox to configure if additional spaces should be added to ensure a cell padding of one space in each cell.

Checked (default):

┌────┬────────┐
│ Id │ Name   │
├────┼────────┤
│ 1  │ Alice  │
│ 2  │ Bob    │
│ 3  │ Carrie │
└────┴────────┘

Not checked:

┌──┬──────┐
│Id│Name  │
├──┼──────┤
│1 │Alice │
├──┼──────┤
│2 │Bob   │
├──┼──────┤
│3 │Carrie│
└──┴──────┘

Predefined style

In order to help you with the configuration of the tool, you can select one of the predefined styles. Just click on the image corresponding to the style you want to apply.

Output

The output is displayed right below the table.