Improve the table in RichTextLabel

[Rindbee]

This PR uses an algorithm similar to that in BoxContainer::_resort() to allocate the available width. It makes the table occupy as much of the available width as possible.

When shrink is true, it ensures that if the width has reached the maximum width, it will not expand (even if an expand ratio is specified). If the maximum width is not reached, the behavior is similar to when shrink is false.

When the maximum width of a column is greater than its minimum width, expand=1 (if not specified) will be enabled automatically.

The minimum and maximum widths of columns take into account the case of nested tables.

Width calculation

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1,2 stylebox border widths; 3 the width of the scroll bar; 4 line indent; 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 half of table_h_separation; 13 padding.position.x of tabl_1 cell_1; 14 padding.size.x of tabl_1 cell_1; 15,17,19 same as 13, but for different cells; 16,18,20 same as 14, but for different cells; 21,22,23 available width for TextParagraph.

Available width for TextParagraph is equal to the available width for table in the TextParagraph.

cell.width = table_h_separation + padding.position.x + padding.size.x + Available width for TextParagraph + line indents

column.*width = max(cell.*width) in the same column. table.*width = sum(columns.*width).

Since padding may vary from cell to cell, the maximum and minimum width of a column is calculated from the left border to the right border (exclude table_h_separation).

The width of the outermost cell should be calculated recursively for the width of the nested tables within it.

Note: If the offset is calculated according to #93140, then col_count (not col_count - 1) * table_h_separation should be used.

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The previous _set_table_size() method has been split into two methods: _update_table_column_width() is used to calculate the width allocation; _update_table_size() is used to calculate the offset.

_update_table_column_width() should be called after calculating the maximum and minimum widths, and before resizing the elements (_resize_line()) within the table. This ensures that nested tables are allocated the ideal width, rather than being divided equally according to the ratios.

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While meeting the above width requirements, this PR minimizes the height occupied by the table.

	Image
Before
After

As shown in the table above, table_h_separation/table_v_separation are used as padding for all cells in the table. They take effect simultaneously with custom padding in cells. Perhaps they should be used as margin?

Height calculation

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1~8 half of table_v_separation; 9,11,13,14,16 padding.position.y for different cells; 10,12,15,17 padding.size.y for different cells; 18,19,20,21 height of different TextParagraph.

cell.height = table_v_separation + padding.position.y + padding.size.y + TextParagraph.y + line_separations + paragraph_separation.

row.height = max(cell.height) in the same row. table.height = sum(rows.height).

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• Fix RichTextLabel BBCode table background color can extend beyond parent's bounds #115833.
• Fix Missing space to the right of code blocks in editor help #116521.

[mooflu]

As shown in the table above, table_h_separation/table_v_separation are used as padding for all cells in the table. They take effect simultaneously with custom padding in cells. Perhaps they should be used as margin?

I think they should. Behaving more like a html/css table would be more familiar to most devs.

I was looking into making table separations work consistently like margins. I.e. cell’s background color isn’t applied to it.
My still buggy WIP (yours covers both cell padding and table separations, so I’ll stop working on mine)
e907b04

Played around with your changes and it behaves much more consistent than before 🎉
I did notice that horizontal cell padding can result in not matching the table box when text direction is set to right-to-left.
And cell border not showing up all around the cell.
RTL:

LTR:

[table=3] 
[cell padding=0,0,0,0  bg=red][center]brown fox lazy dog[/center][/cell]
[cell padding=10,0,0,0 bg=brown border=yellow][left]fox[/left][/cell]
[cell padding=10,0,0,0 bg=darkgreen][right]dog[/right][/cell]
[cell padding=10,0,0,0 bg=brown border=yellow][left]fox[/left][/cell]
[cell padding=0,0,0,0  bg=red][center]brown fox lazy dog[/center][/cell]
[cell padding=10,0,0,0 bg=darkgreen][right]dog[/right][/cell]
[/table]

[Rindbee]

I was looking into making table separations work consistently like margins. I.e. cell’s background color isn’t applied to it.

Do you mean cellspacing in HTML?

I did notice that horizontal cell padding can result in not matching the table box when text direction is set to right-to-left.

Regarding RTL, since the table is inline, and the RichTextLabel doesn't flip the other text horizontally after enabling RTL, I'm unsure at what step its Rect calculation reaches. Is its flip center the table center or the frame center?

This may need to be calculated along with other text.

I'm not very familiar with RTL. Although some ancient Chinese books are read from right to left, they are actually read from top to bottom, then from right to left. This is different from RTL.

Some ancient texts (calligraphy and painting) used as titles may appear to be RTL, but they can also be considered as one character per line. In short, this is not common in Chinese books.

I did notice that horizontal cell padding can result in not matching the table box when text direction is set to right-to-left.

Unable to reproduce.

And cell border not showing up all around the cell.

Peek.2026-02-17.10-34.mp4

The border not displaying may be due to floating-point precision.

[mooflu]

Do you mean cellspacing in HTML?

yes, or border-spacing in css

The border not displaying may be due to floating-point precision.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. In RTL only using RichTextLabel's text direction. I would expect borders to show at 100% zoom like with LTR. Probably because of cell overlap in RTL.

This is what I see when I toggle RichTextLabel's text direction:

ltr_rtl_table.mp4

jsfiddle to show rtl/ltr behavior for html/css. Click on the table to toggle ltr/rtl.
https://jsfiddle.net/tue6m0rb/6/

[Rindbee]

Peek.2026-02-17.12-26.mp4

The second table shows that it is inline. Furthermore, the other elements within the line are not sorted from right to left. This behavior is somewhat inconsistent. I'm not sure about its expected behavior either.

Is it simply a matter of flipping the table layout horizontally in place? It seems that if other elements in the same row aren't flipped, this is the only option.

The Chinese character order isn't flipped, but the Chinese punctuation is. Confusing.

Peek.2026-02-17.13-05.mp4

[Rindbee]

Peek.2026-02-17.14-42.mp4

Flip only within the table rect (the table is treated as a character).

[Rindbee]

The drawn border will extend beyond the rect on the left and top sides.

In RTL, because cells in a row are drawn from right to left, the border of the right cell may be covered by the background color of the left cell.

[Repiteo]

Thanks!