How to put the list of figures into a table

Question

How can I get a “list of figures” of the following type?

List of figures

Exactly, this list of figures is set as a table. I know this cannot be obtained by the command \listoffigures directly, but our thesis needs this format. I can get this type by making a real table and using cross referencing, but I prefer getting it with \listoffigures or other simple commands.

Answer 1

You can try this one; the important code is between \makeatletter and \makeatother

\documentclass{book}
\makeatletter

\renewcommand\listoffigures{%
    \chapter*{\listfigurename}%
      \@mkboth{\MakeUppercase\listfigurename}%
              {\MakeUppercase\listfigurename}%
    \begingroup\let\addvspace\@gobble
    \raggedbottom\offinterlineskip\def\l@figure{\xiao@figure}\parindent\z@
    \hrule
    \vrule\vrule width \z@ height 1.2\ht\strutbox depth 1.2\dp\strutbox
    \makebox[\dimexpr3cm-0.8pt\relax][c]{\bfseries Number}\vrule
    \parbox{\dimexpr\textwidth-6cm}{\normalbaselines\centering {\large\strut}\bfseries Caption{\large\strut}}\vrule
    \makebox[\dimexpr3cm-0.8pt\relax][c]{\bfseries Page}\vrule
    \hrule
    \@starttoc{lof}%
    \endgroup
    }
\def\xiao@figure#1#2{\xiao@figurei#1{#2}}
\long\def\xiao@figurei\numberline#1#2#3{%
  \vrule\vrule width \z@ height 1.2\ht\strutbox depth 1.2\dp\strutbox
  \makebox[\dimexpr3cm-0.8pt\relax][c]{Fig.\ #1}\vrule
  \parbox{\dimexpr\textwidth-6cm}{\normalbaselines\centering {\large\strut}#2{\large\strut}}\vrule
  \makebox[\dimexpr3cm-0.8pt\relax][c]{#3}\vrule
  \hrule
  \hskip-.4pt
  \hrule
  \nobreak
}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\frontmatter
\listoffigures
\mainmatter
\chapter{A}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption which is very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
long}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption which is very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
long}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\clearpage
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption which is very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
long}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption which is very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
long}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption which is very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
long}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption which is very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
long}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\clearpage
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption which is very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
long}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption which is very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
long}
\end{figure}
\clearpage
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption which is very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
very very very very very very very very
long}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\caption{Caption}
\end{figure}
\end{document}

The compiled example shows also a page break. Here I show only a small part.

---

Some comments about \xiao@figure and \xiao@figurei.

The entry in the .lof file for the first figure is

\contentsline {figure}{\numberline {1.1}{\ignorespaces Caption}}{1}

and \contentsline{figure} is first translated into \l@figure, according to the definition of \contentsline. Then, becauso of our redefinition of \listoffigures, LaTeX transforms \l@figure into \xiao@figure, so the main input becomes

\xiao@figure{\numberline {1.1}{\ignorespaces Caption}}{1}

The first argument to \xiao@figure is now

\numberline {1.1}{\ignorespaces Caption}

and the second one is 1 (after stripping braces around arguments). Thus the next replacement is

\xiao@figurei\numberline {1.1}{\ignorespaces Caption}{1}

and next the definition of \xiao@figurei is looked at: it has to be followed by \numberline (which is removed) and has three arguments

1.1
\ignorespaces Caption
1

and now the main part of the work can be done, because we have correctly identified the contents of the three table cells.

---

With hyperref the \contentsline macro has a different definition. Supporting links seems to be quite difficult, unfortunately.

In order to get a successful compilation (without links), you can do as follows:

\documentclass{book}

\let\latexcontentsline\contentsline
\usepackage{hyperref}

\makeatletter

\renewcommand\listoffigures{%
    \chapter*{\listfigurename}%
      \@mkboth{\MakeUppercase\listfigurename}%
              {\MakeUppercase\listfigurename}%
    \begingroup\let\addvspace\@gobble
    \raggedbottom\offinterlineskip\def\l@figure{\xiao@figure}\parindent\z@
    \let\contentsline\latexcontentsline
    \hrule
    \vrule\vrule width \z@ height 1.2\ht\strutbox depth 1.2\dp\strutbox
    \makebox[\dimexpr3cm-0.8pt\relax][c]{\bfseries Number}\vrule
    \parbox{\dimexpr\textwidth-6cm}{\normalbaselines\centering {\large\strut}\bfseries Caption{\large\strut}}\vrule
    \makebox[\dimexpr3cm-0.8pt\relax][c]{\bfseries Page}\vrule
    \hrule
    \@starttoc{lof}%
    \endgroup
    }
\def\xiao@figure#1{\xiao@figurei#1}
\long\def\xiao@figurei\numberline#1#2#3#4{%
  \vrule\vrule width \z@ height 1.2\ht\strutbox depth 1.2\dp\strutbox
  \makebox[\dimexpr3cm-0.8pt\relax][c]{Fig.\ #1}\vrule
  \parbox{\dimexpr\textwidth-6cm}{\normalbaselines\centering {\large\strut}#2{\large\strut}}\vrule
  \makebox[\dimexpr3cm-0.8pt\relax][c]{#3}\vrule
  \hrule
  \hskip-.4pt
  \hrule
  \nobreak
}
\makeatother

Answer 2

I want to provide an other approach. Therefor I am using the advantages of the core language expl3. The output will be created with longtable. So you can define your header and it allows page breaks.

First of all I want to give thanks to Joseph Wright for his improvements.

\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{array,longtable}
\usepackage{xparse}

\ExplSyntaxOn
\tl_new:N \g_listoffigures_storelines_tl
\DeclareDocumentCommand \mynumberline { m m }
    {
     \tl_set:Nn \l_tmpa_tl {Figure~#1}
     \tl_set:Nn \l_tmpb_tl {#2}
    }  
\DeclareDocumentCommand \mylatfigure { m m }
 {
     #1
  \tl_gput_right:Nx \g_listoffigures_storelines_tl
   {
     \exp_not:V \l_tmpa_tl \exp_not:N &
     \exp_not:V \l_tmpb_tl \exp_not:N &
     \exp_not:n { #2 \\ \hline }
   }
  }
\DeclareDocumentCommand \UseEntries {}
{
      \tl_use:N  \g_listoffigures_storelines_tl  
}
\ExplSyntaxOff

\makeatletter    
\newcolumntype{C}[1]{>{\centering\arraybackslash}p{\dimexpr #1 \relax}}
\renewcommand\listoffigures{%
    \if@twocolumn
      \@restonecoltrue\onecolumn
    \else
      \@restonecolfalse
    \fi
    \chapter*{\listfigurename}%
      \@mkboth{\MakeUppercase\listfigurename}%
              {\MakeUppercase\listfigurename}%
    \begingroup
    \let\l@figure\mylatfigure
    \let\numberline\mynumberline
    \let\addvspace\@gobble
    \@starttoc{lof}%
    \begin{longtable}{@{}|C{2.5cm}|C{\linewidth-5cm}|C{2.5cm-6\tabcolsep-4\arrayrulewidth}|@{}}\hline
     \textbf{Number} & \textbf{Caption} & \textbf{Page} \\\hline\endhead
     \UseEntries
   \end{longtable}%  
   \endgroup
   \if@restonecol\twocolumn\fi
    }
\makeatother



\begin{document}
\listoffigures

\listoftables
\chapter{foo}
Text
\begin{figure}[!ht]
\caption{caption}
\end{figure}
\begin{table}[!ht]
\caption{caption}
\end{table}
\clearpage
\addtocounter{page}{24}
\chapter{foo}
Text
\begin{figure}[!ht]
\caption{The logo of \TeX}
\end{figure}
\clearpage

\chapter{foo}
Text
\begin{figure}[!ht]
\caption{Some figures of \LaTeX}
\end{figure}
\end{document}

Of course you can combine the expl3 part with the redefinition of \listoftables However I don't want to mix expl3 with LaTeX2e-macros.