Merged Cells Alignment Strangeness

Mark Jerde · Unread post by **Mark Jerde** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 3:53 pm

I merged the 3 cells in the top row of a table and want to center text in the single merged cell. It isn’t working as expected. Screenshots are here.
http://markjerde.blogspot.com/2010/02/h ... eness.html

Here is the XML Source.

Code: Select all

<topic template="Default" lasteditedby="Mark">
  <title translate="true">Temp</title>
  <body>
    <header>
      <para styleclass="Heading1"><text styleclass="Heading1" translate="true">Temp</text></para>
    </header>
    <para styleclass="Normal"><text styleclass="Normal" translate="true">Enter topic text here.</text></para>
    <para styleclass="Normal"><table rowcount="4" colcount="3" style="width:100%; cell-padding:3px; cell-spacing:0px; page-break-inside:auto; border-width:1px; border-spacing:0px; border-collapse:collapse; cell-border-width:1px; border-color:#000000; border-style:solid; background-color:none; head-row-background-color:#c0c0c0; alt-row-background-color:none;">
      <thead style="vertical-align:top">
        <td colspan="3" style="vertical-align:middle; width:505px; background-color:#c0c0c0;">
          <para style="text-align:right; line-height:1.15;"><text styleclass="Font Style" style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:16pt; font-weight:bold; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; text-transform:none; vertical-align:baseline; color:#000000; background-color:transparent; letter-spacing:normal; letter-scaling:100%;" translate="true">Partial Test Case Testing Values</text></para>
        </td>
      </thead>
      <thead style="vertical-align:top">
        <td style="vertical-align:middle; width:121px; background-color:#c0c0c0;">
          <para style="text-align:center; line-height:1.15;"><text styleclass="Font Style" style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:11pt; font-weight:bold; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; text-transform:none; vertical-align:baseline; color:#000000; background-color:transparent; letter-spacing:normal; letter-scaling:100%;" translate="true">99_PartialTestCase</text></para>
          <para style="text-align:center; line-height:1.15;"><text styleclass="Font Style" style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:11pt; font-weight:bold; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; text-transform:none; vertical-align:baseline; color:#000000; background-color:transparent; letter-spacing:normal; letter-scaling:100%;" translate="true">Value</text></para>
        </td>
        <td style="vertical-align:middle; width:134px; background-color:#c0c0c0;">
          <para style="line-height:1.15;"><text styleclass="Font Style" style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:11pt; font-weight:bold; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; text-transform:none; vertical-align:baseline; color:#000000; background-color:transparent; letter-spacing:normal; letter-scaling:100%;" translate="true">Code</text></para>
        </td>
        <td style="vertical-align:middle; width:371px; background-color:#c0c0c0;">
          <para style="line-height:1.15;"><text styleclass="Font Style" style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:11pt; font-weight:bold; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; text-transform:none; vertical-align:baseline; color:#000000; background-color:transparent; letter-spacing:normal; letter-scaling:100%;" translate="true">Comment</text></para>
        </td>
      </thead>
      <tr style="vertical-align:top">
        <td style="vertical-align:middle; width:121px;">
          <para style="text-align:center; line-height:1.15;"><text styleclass="Font Style" style="font-family:&apos;Times New Roman&apos;; font-size:11pt; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; text-transform:none; vertical-align:baseline; color:#000000; background-color:transparent; letter-spacing:normal; letter-scaling:100%;" translate="true">0</text></para>
        </td>
        <td style="vertical-align:middle; width:134px;">
          <para style="line-height:1.15;"><text styleclass="Font Style" style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:11pt; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; text-transform:none; vertical-align:baseline; color:#000000; background-color:transparent; letter-spacing:normal; letter-scaling:100%;" translate="true">00_Reserved</text></para>
        </td>
        <td style="vertical-align:middle; width:371px;">
          <para style="line-height:1.15;"><text styleclass="Font Style" style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:11pt; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; text-transform:none; vertical-align:baseline; color:#000000; background-color:transparent; letter-spacing:normal; letter-scaling:100%;" translate="true">The value 0x0000 is reserved. No testing is performed.</text></para>
        </td>
      </tr>
      <tr style="vertical-align:top">
        <td style="vertical-align:middle; width:121px;">
          <para style="text-align:center; line-height:1.15;"><text styleclass="Font Style" style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:11pt; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; text-transform:none; vertical-align:baseline; color:#000000; background-color:transparent; letter-spacing:normal; letter-scaling:100%;" translate="true">1</text></para>
        </td>
        <td style="vertical-align:middle; width:134px;">
          <para style="line-height:1.15;"><text styleclass="Font Style" style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:11pt; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; text-transform:none; vertical-align:baseline; color:#000000; background-color:transparent; letter-spacing:normal; letter-scaling:100%;" translate="true">01_XLenSumsOk</text></para>
        </td>
        <td style="vertical-align:middle; width:371px;">
          <para style="line-height:1.15;"><text styleclass="Font Style" style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:11pt; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; text-transform:none; vertical-align:baseline; color:#000000; background-color:transparent; letter-spacing:normal; letter-scaling:100%;" translate="true">Verify the relationship between ExtendedDataBlockLength and contained ExtendedDataAreaLength fields.</text></para>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table></para>
  </body>
</topic>

Unread post by **Tim Green** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 7:00 pm

Hi Mark,

I don't need to look at the code, there are almost always one of two simple causes for this: Check 1) The parapgraph settings in the merged cell and 2) The cell width in the merged cell with Table Properties > Selected Cells. You will find that there are either indents in the paragraph interfering with your formatting or the width of the cell is set to a fixed value and that is interfering with your alignment because it is not possible for the width of the merged cell.

Mark Jerde · Unread post by **Mark Jerde** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 8:40 pm

Ah, the voice of experience!

The merged cell had its Preferred Width set and unchecking it made the output what I expected. I appreciate the help.