How to achieve nomenclature entries like: symbol, Description, Dimension and unit, etc?

Question

The title is pretty much I want to ask. More detail, the nomenclature entries should be sorted in groups like:

 Nomenclature

   Acronyms
    Symbol  Description     % no Dimensions and Units 
    ...

   Greek Symbols
    Symbol  Description             Dimensions     Units
    ...

   Roman Symbols
    Symbol  Description             Dimensions     Units
    S       Surface area vector     L^2            m^2
    ...
   Superscripts
    Symbol  Description     % no Dimensions and Units 
    ...
   Dimensionless Numbers
    Symbol  Description     Definition
    ...

e.g. expected entries like this:

My current nomenclature settings for grouping [book class]:

%----------------------------------------------------------
%                        Nomenclature
%----------------------------------------------------------
%\renewcommand{\nomname}{List of Symbols and Abbrev.}
\renewcommand\nomgroup[1]{%
  \ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{A}}{%
   \item[\textbf{Acronyms}] }{%                  A - Acronyms
    \ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{R}}{%
     \item[\textbf{Roman Symbols}]}{%            R - Roman
      \ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{G}}{%
        \item[\textbf{•} Symbols }]}{%          G - Greek
          \ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{S}}{%
           \item[\textbf{Superscripts  }]}{{%          S - Superscripts
        \ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{U}}{%
         \item[\textbf{Subscripts }]}{{%                 U - Subscripts
        \ifthenelse{\equal{#1}{X}}{%
         \item[\textbf{Other Symbols }]}%            X - Other Symbols
                    {{}}}}}}}}}}
%\ifpdf
\renewcommand{\nomlabel}[1]{\hspace{1 em}#1}%{\hspace{1.5 em}#1}
\renewcommand*{\nompreamble}{\markboth{\nomname}{\nomname}}

But how to extend it with Dimensions and Units?

Answer 1

The documentation of the nomenclature package includes code to put everything in a longtable environment, but this involves some hacking of the .ist file. A simpler approach that may be sufficient is just to define some helper macros that work within in an ordinary list:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{nomencl,etoolbox,ragged2e,siunitx}

\newcommand{\DimensUnits}[2]{\hfill\makebox[8em]{#1\hfill}%
\makebox[4em]{#2\hfill}\ignorespaces}
\newcommand{\insertnomheaders}{\item[\bfseries Symbol]%
\textbf{Description}\DimensUnits{\textbf{Dimensions}}{\textbf{Units}}}

\renewcommand\nomgroup[1]{%
  \item[\large\bfseries
  \ifstrequal{#1}{A}{Acronyms}{%
  \ifstrequal{#1}{R}{Roman Symbols}{%
  \ifstrequal{#1}{G}{Greek Symbols}{%
  \ifstrequal{#1}{S}{Superscripts}{% 
  \ifstrequal{#1}{U}{Subscripts}{%   
  \ifstrequal{#1}{X}{Other Symbols}{}}}}}}]
  \insertnomheaders
  }

\renewcommand*{\nompreamble}{\markboth{\nomname}{\nomname}}

\newcommand{\nomdescr}[1]{\parbox[t]{4cm}{\RaggedRight #1}}
\newcommand{\nomwithdim}[5]{\nomenclature[#1]{#2}%
{\nomdescr{#3}\DimensUnits{#4}{#5}}}

\makenomenclature

\begin{document}
\mbox{}
\nomwithdim{R}{\(a,b,c\)}{half axes of ellipsoid}{L}{\si{m}}
\nomwithdim{R}{\(C\)}{dimensionless coefficient (e.g.\ for drag model)}{--}{1}
\nomwithdim{G}{\( \varepsilon_0 \)}{vacuum permittivity}{F/L}{\si{F.m^{-1}}}

\printnomenclature[6em]
\end{document}

The optional argument to \printnomenclature sets the space available for the symbols. We then set each line as an \item whose label is the symbol, followed by a paragraph of fixed width containing the description, followed by a box for dimensions and finally a box for units. etoolbox has been loaded to avoid the deprecated ifthen package. sunitx has been loaded for printing the units.

Of course, to compile this you need to run the file through (pdf)latex, then run

makeindex file.nlo -s nomencl.ist -o file.nls

with "file" replaced (both times) by your jobname, i.e. where the main file is file.tex. You then need to run (pdf)latex again.

ADDED in response to comment Here is a version with different styling for different categories. UPDATED again Now with optional arguments to pass to the sorting keys.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{nomencl,etoolbox,ragged2e,siunitx,mathtools}

\DeclarePairedDelimiter{\abs}{\lvert}{\rvert}

\newcommand{\DimensUnits}[2]{\hfill\makebox[8em]{#1\hfill}%
\makebox[4em]{#2\hfill}\ignorespaces}
\newcommand{\DefinitionCol}[1]{\hfill\parbox[t]{12em}{#1}\ignorespaces}

\newcommand{\nomsubtitle}[1]{\item[\large\bfseries #1]}

\renewcommand\nomgroup[1]{\def\nomtemp{\csname nomstart#1\endcsname}\nomtemp}

\newcommand{\nomstartR}{\nomsubtitle{Roman Symbols}%
  \item[\bfseries Symbol]%
  \textbf{Description}\DimensUnits{\textbf{Dimensions}}{\textbf{Units}}}
\newcommand{\nomstartG}{\nomsubtitle{Greek Symbols}%
  \item[\bfseries Symbol]%
  \textbf{Description}\DimensUnits{\textbf{Dimensions}}{\textbf{Units}}}
\newcommand{\nomstartD}{\nomsubtitle{Dimensionless Numbers}%
  \item[\bfseries Symbol]\textbf{Description}\DefinitionCol{\textbf{Definition}}}

\renewcommand*{\nompreamble}{\markboth{\nomname}{\nomname}}

\newcommand{\nomdescr}[1]{\parbox[t]{4cm}{\RaggedRight #1}}
\newcommand{\nomwithdim}[5]{\nomenclature[#1]{#2}%
{\nomdescr{#3}\DimensUnits{#4}{#5}}}
\newcommand{\nomtypeR}[5][]{\nomwithdim{R#1}{#2}{#3}{#4}{#5}}
\newcommand{\nomtypeG}[5][]{\nomwithdim{G#1}{#2}{#3}{#4}{#5}}
\newcommand{\nomtypeD}[4][]{\nomenclature[D#1]{#2}{\nomdescr{#3}\DefinitionCol{#4}}}
\makenomenclature

\begin{document}
\mbox{}
\nomtypeR[abc]{\(a,b,c\)}{half axes of ellipsoid}{L}{\si{m}}
\nomtypeR[C]{\(C\)}{dimensionless coefficient (e.g.\ for drag model)}{--}{1}
\nomtypeG{\( \varepsilon_0 \)}{vacuum permittivity}{F/L}{\si{F.m^{-1}}}
\nomtypeD{\( \mathcal A_r \)}{Archimedes number}{\(\displaystyle
\frac{d^3g\rho_c\abs{\Delta\rho}}{\mu_c^2} = \sqrt{\frac{\mathcal
E_0^3}{\mathcal M_0}} \)}
\nomtypeR[CC]{\(\mathbf{C}\)}{another dimensionless coefficient}{--}{1}
\nomtypeR[A]{\(A\)}{a dimensionless coefficient}{--}{1}
\nomtypeR[Z]{\(Z\)}{a dimensionless coefficient}{--}{1}

\printnomenclature[6em]
\end{document}