How to setup a longtable with booktabs and a colored (head) row

Question

I'd like to make a longtable with the first (head) row colored in grey.

Since booktabs inserts white space below the \toprule and above the \midrule, i need to insert a colored rule:

\newcommand*{\belowrulesepcolor}[1]{%
  \noalign{%
    \kern-\belowrulesep
    \begingroup
      \color{#1}%
      \hrule height\belowrulesep
    \endgroup
  }%
}
\newcommand*{\aboverulesepcolor}[1]{%
  \noalign{%
    \begingroup
      \color{#1}%
      \hrule height\aboverulesep
    \endgroup
    \kern-\aboverulesep
  }%
}

This works well within the tabular environment. But if I use the longtable environment, the \hrule is getting too long.

Here is my MWE with a picture of the output:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

\usepackage{geometry}                           
\geometry{paperwidth=5cm,paperheight=5cm}       % small page
\pagestyle{empty}

\usepackage{booktabs, longtable}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}

\newcommand*{\belowrulesepcolor}[1]{%   fills the white space with a colored rule
  \noalign{%
    \kern-\belowrulesep
    \begingroup
      \color{#1}%
      \hrule height\belowrulesep
    \endgroup
  }%
}
\newcommand*{\aboverulesepcolor}[1]{%
  \noalign{%
    \begingroup
      \color{#1}%
      \hrule height\aboverulesep
    \endgroup
    \kern-\aboverulesep
  }%
}

\definecolor{headcolor}{gray}{0.8}


\begin{document}

\centering

\begin{longtable}{lll}

\toprule \belowrulesepcolor {headcolor}                         
\rowcolor{headcolor}
Col1 & Col2 \\ \aboverulesepcolor{headcolor} \midrule \endfirsthead
\toprule \belowrulesepcolor {headcolor}                         
\rowcolor{headcolor}
Col1 & Col2 \\ \aboverulesepcolor{headcolor} \midrule \endhead
\bottomrule
\endfoot
\bottomrule
\endlastfoot


A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\


\end{longtable}

\end{document}

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 19 '16 at 13:13

I'm confused by the other answers. What is wrong with something much simpler? No extra packages needed

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{geometry}                           
\geometry{paperwidth=5cm,paperheight=5cm}       % small page
\pagestyle{empty}

\usepackage{booktabs, longtable}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}


\colorlet{tableheadcolor}{gray!35} % Table header colour = 25% gray
\newcommand{\topline}{\arrayrulecolor{black}\specialrule{\heavyrulewidth}{\abovetopsep}{0pt}%
            \arrayrulecolor{tableheadcolor}\specialrule{\belowrulesep}{0pt}{0pt}%
            \arrayrulecolor{black}}
\newcommand{\midline}{\arrayrulecolor{tableheadcolor}\specialrule{\aboverulesep}{0pt}{0pt}%
            \arrayrulecolor{black}\specialrule{\lightrulewidth}{0pt}{0pt}%
            \arrayrulecolor{white}\specialrule{\belowrulesep}{0pt}{0pt}%
            \arrayrulecolor{black}}


\begin{document}

\centering

\begin{longtable}{ll}

\topline
\rowcolor{tableheadcolor}
Col1 & Col2 \\ \midline
\endfirsthead
\topline
\rowcolor{tableheadcolor}
Col1 & Col2 \\ 
\midline
\endhead
\bottomrule
\endfoot
\bottomrule
\endlastfoot


A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\


\end{longtable}

\end{document}

I normally try to avoid to put together a background from more then one piece: Depending on the viewer/zoom one often see small white lines between the pieces. If you look closely at your screenshots you can see them. — Ulrike Fischer, Feb 19 '16 at 12:00
Indeed. But these sorts of screen display artefacts are common at very low magnification, and will not appear in prints - but your point is taken. — Aubrey Blumsohn, Feb 19 '16 at 12:12
This is probably the most simple way. And as I'm writing my thesis right now, I don't have the time to learn much about TikZ ;) Like Aubrey said: The white lines don't appear in the document. Thank you all!
One last thing: The default width of \toprule and \bottomrule in booktabs is \heavyrulewidth. Hence i've edited the 0.1em to \heavyrulewidth. — Dorian, Feb 19 '16 at 12:35

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 19 '16 at 09:39

I would use tikz to draw the background. Something like this (I didn't test thoroughly so perhaps some adjusting in your real case are needed):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

\usepackage{geometry}
\geometry{paperwidth=5cm,paperheight=5cm}       % small page
\pagestyle{empty}

\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{tikzmark}


\makeatletter
\newcommand\LastLTentrywidth{1em}
\newlength\longtablewidth
\setlength{\longtablewidth}{1in}
\newcommand\getlongtablewidth{%
 \begingroup
  \ifcsname LT@\roman{LT@tables}\endcsname
  \global\longtablewidth=0pt
  \renewcommand\LT@entry[2]{\global\advance\longtablewidth by ##2\relax\gdef\LastLTentrywidth{##2}}%
  \@nameuse{LT@\roman{LT@tables}}%
  \fi
\endgroup}
\newcommand*{\topheadermark}{%   
  \noalign{\tikzmark{beforeheader\the\c@LT@tables}}}%
\newcommand*{\bottomheadermark}{%
  \noalign{\tikzmark{belowheader\the\c@LT@tables}}}%  
\newcommand\drawheaderbackground{%
 \tikz[overlay,remember picture]
  \fill[headcolor]([xshift=-0.5\longtablewidth,yshift=-\aboverulesep]pic cs:belowheader\the\c@LT@tables)
 rectangle ([yshift=\belowrulesep,xshift=0.5\longtablewidth]pic cs:beforeheader\the\c@LT@tables);}
\makeatother

\definecolor{headcolor}{gray}{0.8}


\begin{document}

\centering

\begin{longtable}{lll}\noalign{\getlongtablewidth}

\toprule \topheadermark
\drawheaderbackground
Col1111 & Col2 \\\bottomheadermark\midrule \endfirsthead
\toprule \topheadermark
\drawheaderbackground
Col1 & Col2 \\\bottomheadermark\midrule  \endhead
\bottomrule
\endfoot
\bottomrule
\endlastfoot


A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\
A&B \\


\end{longtable}

\end{document}

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 19 '16 at 10:30

Here is a solution with the makecell package: it consists in setting the values of \above/belowrulesep to 0pt, replacing them with a \Gape command from makecell which uses the default values of \above/belowrulesep at appropriate places.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

\usepackage{geometry}
\geometry{paperwidth=5cm,paperheight=5cm} % small page
\pagestyle{empty}

\usepackage{booktabs, longtable}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}

\definecolor{headcolor}{gray}{0.8}
\newlength\defaultaboverulesep
\setlength\defaultaboverulesep{\aboverulesep}
\newlength\defaultbelowrulesep
\setlength\defaultbelowrulesep{\belowrulesep}
\setlength\aboverulesep{0pt}
\setlength\belowrulesep{0pt}
\usepackage{makecell}

\begin{document}

\centering

\begin{longtable}{lll}

  \toprule
  \rowcolor{headcolor}
  \Gape[\defaultbelowrulesep][\defaultaboverulesep]{Col1} & Col2 \\
  \midrule
  \addlinespace[\defaultbelowrulesep]
  \endfirsthead
  \toprule
  \rowcolor{headcolor}
  \Gape[\defaultbelowrulesep][\defaultaboverulesep]{Col1} & Col2 \\ %\aboverulesepcolor{headcolor}
  \midrule\addlinespace[\defaultbelowrulesep]
  \endhead
  \addlinespace[\defaultaboverulesep]
  \bottomrule
  \endfoot
  \addlinespace[\defaultaboverulesep]
  \bottomrule
  \endlastfoot

  A & B \\
  A & B \\
  A & B \\
  A & B \\
  A & B \\
  A & B \\
  A & B \\
  A & B \\
  A & B \\
  A & B \\
  A & B \\
  A & B \\


\end{longtable}

\end{document}

How to setup a longtable with booktabs and a colored (head) row

3 Answers3

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