Guide to LaTeX (4th Edition) (Tools and Techniques

106 Chapter 4. Displayed Text
\multicolumn{1}{|r|}{Year} & 2003 & 2004 & 2005 \\
\cline{2-4}
& \euro\ \vline\ US \$ & \euro\ \vline\ US \$
& \euro\ \vline\ US \$ \\ \hline
Investment & \hspace{2.5cm}& \hspace{2.5cm}& \hspace{2.5cm} \\
Costs & & & \\ \hline
Operating & & & \\
Costs & & & \\ \hline
Industrial& & & \\
Contracts & & & \\ \hline
\multicolumn{4}{|l|}{\rule[-1.0cm]{0mm}{1.3cm}Signature
\hspace{5cm}\vline˜Authorization} \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
The first three lines are only indirectly related to the table construc-
tion. They arrange for three empty boxes to be drawn when the
command \usebox{\kkk} is given (see Section 4.7.1).
Except for the command \hspace{2.5cm} to set the column widths
of the last three columns and the command \vline to draw a vertical line
within a column, this example contains nothing new that was not in the
previous examples. It is only necessary to give a brief explanation of the
last row in the table:
The command \multicolumn{4}{|l|} merges all four table columns
into one, in which the text is set flush with the left margin. This text
consists first of a strut \rule[-12mm]{0mm}{15mm} that says the height
of the last row begins 12 mm below the baseline and is a total of 15 mm
high. Then, beginning at the left margin, comes the word Signature,
followed 5 cm later by \vline, a vertical line. The word Authorization
is separated from the vertical line by a blank space (˜).
The above examples clearly illustrate how the column widths and row
heights are automatically determined for tables. These sizes, however,
may be influenced by struts and \hspace commands. In addition, the
commands described in Section 4.8.2 permit the intercolumn and interrow
spacings as well as line thickness to be altered. For example,
\setlength{\tabcolsep}{5mm}
inserts 5 mm of spacing before and after every column; that is, it produces
an intercolumn spacing of 10 mm. Section 4.8.2 gives more information
about the use of these table style parameters.
4.8.4 Extension packages for tables
As powerful as the tabular environment is, it does have limitations. For
this reason, there are a number of tools packages (Section B.5.4) that add
additional features for constructing tables.