Set table background hatched and shaded using tikz

Question

I am looking for a convenient way to set the background of tabular cells. I'd like to do two things: (1) Set the background shaded in a color (2) Set the background hatched

I learned that the TikZ package provides means to do this but I am unable to come up with a solution that does not use matrices (such as here: http://www.texample.net/tikz/examples/timetable/) but instead uses the tabular package.

Here's what I'd like to do:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|l|}
\hline
  1 & \setBGGray 2 & 3 \\\hline
  4 & 5 & 6 \\\hline
  7 & \setBGHatched 8 & 9 \\\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

The output should look like this:

Can someone please help me achieving this using tabular (or tabularx) and TikZ?

Answer 1

My answer to Gradient color in one cell of a table produces shaded cells and can easily be adapted to produce hatched patterns. This solution works with tabular, tabularx (tabulary will also be OK I imagine, although I didn't test it) and with \multicolumn:

\documentclass[10pt]{article}
\usepackage[margin=2cm]{geometry} % just for the example 
\usepackage{fourier} 
\usepackage[table]{xcolor} 
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usetikzlibrary{calc,shadings,patterns}

% Andrew Stacey's code from
% https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/50054/3954
\makeatletter
\tikzset{%
  remember picture with id/.style={%
    remember picture,
    overlay,
    save picture id=#1,
  },
  save picture id/.code={%
    \edef\pgf@temp{#1}%
    \immediate\write\pgfutil@auxout{%
      \noexpand\savepointas{\pgf@temp}{\pgfpictureid}}%
  },
  if picture id/.code args={#1#2#3}{%
    \@ifundefined{save@pt@#1}{%
      \pgfkeysalso{#3}%
    }{
      \pgfkeysalso{#2}%
    }
  }
}

\def\savepointas#1#2{%
  \expandafter\gdef\csname save@pt@#1\endcsname{#2}%
}

\def\tmk@labeldef#1,#2\@nil{%
  \def\tmk@label{#1}%
  \def\tmk@def{#2}%
}

\tikzdeclarecoordinatesystem{pic}{%
  \pgfutil@in@,{#1}%
  \ifpgfutil@in@%
    \tmk@labeldef#1\@nil
  \else
    \tmk@labeldef#1,(0pt,0pt)\@nil
  \fi
  \@ifundefined{save@pt@\tmk@label}{%
    \tikz@scan@one@point\pgfutil@firstofone\tmk@def
  }{%
  \pgfsys@getposition{\csname save@pt@\tmk@label\endcsname}\save@orig@pic%
  \pgfsys@getposition{\pgfpictureid}\save@this@pic%
  \pgf@process{\pgfpointorigin\save@this@pic}%
  \pgf@xa=\pgf@x
  \pgf@ya=\pgf@y
  \pgf@process{\pgfpointorigin\save@orig@pic}%
  \advance\pgf@x by -\pgf@xa
  \advance\pgf@y by -\pgf@ya
  }%
}
\newcommand\tikzmark[2][]{%
\tikz[remember picture with id=#2] {#1;}}
\makeatother
% end of Andrew's code

\newcommand\ShadeCell[4][0pt]{%
  \begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,remember picture]%
    \shade[#4] ( $ (pic cs:#2) + (0pt,1.9ex) $ ) rectangle ( $ (pic cs:#3) + (0pt,-#1*\baselineskip-.8ex) $ );
  \end{tikzpicture}%
}%

\newcommand\HatchedCell[4][0pt]{%
  \begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,remember picture]%
    \fill[#4] ( $ (pic cs:#2) + (0,1.9ex) $ ) rectangle ( $ (pic cs:#3) + (0pt,-#1*\baselineskip-.8ex) $ );
  \end{tikzpicture}%
}%

\newcommand\Text{Quisque ullamcorper placerat ipsum. Cras nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.}

\begin{document}

\ShadeCell{start1}{end1}{%
  top color=gray!60,bottom color=gray!20}
\ShadeCell{start2}{end2}{%
  left color=gray!50,right color=gray!20}
\HatchedCell{start3}{end3}{%
  pattern color=black!70,pattern=north east lines}

\noindent\begin{tabular}{| c | c | c |}
\hline
1 & \multicolumn{1}{!{\hspace*{-0.4pt}\vrule\tikzmark{start1}}c!{\vrule\tikzmark{end1}}}{2} & 3 \\
\hline
\multicolumn{1}{!{\vrule\tikzmark{start2}}c!{\vrule\tikzmark{end2}}}{4} & 5 & 6 \\
\hline
7 & 8 & \multicolumn{1}{!{\hspace*{-0.4pt}\vrule\tikzmark{start3}}c!{\vrule\tikzmark{end3}}}{9} \\
\hline
\end{tabular}

\vspace{10pt}

\ShadeCell[3]{start4}{end4}{%
  top color=gray!40}
\HatchedCell[3]{start5}{end5}{%
  pattern color=gray!40,pattern=vertical lines}
\HatchedCell[3]{start6}{end6}{%
  pattern color=gray!50,pattern=north east lines}

\noindent\begin{tabularx}{.6\textwidth}{| X | X | X |}
\hline
\Text & \multicolumn{1}{!{\hspace*{-0.4pt}\vrule\tikzmark{start4}}X!{\vrule\tikzmark{end4}}}{\Text} & \Text \\
\hline
\multicolumn{1}{!{\vrule\tikzmark{start5}}X!{\vrule\tikzmark{end5}}}{\Text} & \Text & \Text \\
\hline
\Text & \multicolumn{2}{!{\hspace*{-0.4pt}\vrule\tikzmark{start6}}>{\hsize=2\hsize}X!{\vrule\tikzmark{end6}}}{\Text} \\
\hline
\end{tabularx}

\end{document}

And the numeric matrix zoomed in:

If you need to repeatedly use the same hatching in multiple cells, the above approach is a little clumsy. But you can define a counter and a single command that does all the neccessary stuff (I removed the vertical lines as there were some glitches I could not fix easily, but you should not use vertical lines in tables anyway ;-):

\newcounter{hatchNumber}
\setcounter{hatchNumber}{1}
\newcommand\myHatch[2]{
    \multicolumn{1}{
        !{\HatchedCell{startMyHatch\arabic{hatchNumber}}{endMyHatch\arabic{hatchNumber}}{%
                pattern color=black!70,pattern=north east lines}
            \tikzmark{startMyHatch\arabic{hatchNumber}}}
            #1
        !{\tikzmark{endMyHatch\arabic{hatchNumber}}}}
        {#2} 
      \addtocounter{hatchNumber}{1}
}


% Using the simplified command myHatch

\noindent\begin{tabular}{ c  c  c }
\hline
1 & \myHatch{c}{2} & 3 \\
\myHatch{c}{4} & 5 & \myHatch{c}{6} 

Answer 2

My solution is based on Highlight elements in the matrix. Indeed, one possibility here is to exploit matrices.

The code:

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
\usepackage{xparse}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc,matrix,patterns,shadings,backgrounds}
\pgfdeclarelayer{myback}
\pgfsetlayers{myback,background,main}

\tikzset{myfillcolor/.style = {draw,fill=#1}}%

\NewDocumentCommand{\highlight}{O{blue!40} m m}{%
\draw[myfillcolor=#1] (#2.north west)rectangle (#3.south east);
}

\NewDocumentCommand{\vshade}{O{blue!40} O{white} m m}{%
\draw[bottom color =#1,top color=#2] (#3.north west)rectangle (#4.south east);
}

\NewDocumentCommand{\oshade}{O{blue!40} O{white} m m}{%
\draw[right color =#1,left color=#2] (#3.north west)rectangle (#4.south east);
}

\NewDocumentCommand{\inshade}{O{blue!40} O{white} m m}{%
\draw[inner color =#1,outer color=#2] (#3.north west)rectangle (#4.south east);
}

\NewDocumentCommand{\fillpattern}{O{north west lines} O{blue!50} m m}{%
\draw[pattern=#1, pattern color=#2] (#3.north west)rectangle (#4.south east);
}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\matrix (m)[matrix of nodes, style={nodes={rectangle,draw,minimum width=3em}}, minimum height=3em, row sep=-\pgflinewidth, column sep=-\pgflinewidth,ampersand replacement =\&]
{
1 \& 2 \& 3 \\
4 \& 5 \& 6 \\
7 \& 8 \& 9 \\
};

\begin{pgfonlayer}{myback}
\highlight{m-1-1}{m-1-1}
\vshade{m-2-2}{m-2-2}
\vshade[white][red]{m-2-3}{m-2-3}
\oshade{m-1-3}{m-1-3}
\oshade[white][orange]{m-1-2}{m-1-2}
\inshade[orange][white]{m-2-1}{m-2-1}
\fillpattern{m-3-2}{m-3-2}
\fillpattern[dots][green!50!black]{m-3-1}{m-3-1}
\fillpattern[sixpointed stars][violet!50]{m-3-3}{m-3-3}
\end{pgfonlayer}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

The result is (please forgive my bad colors :)):

Some explanations

The basic idea here, as it is said before, is to exploit matrices, thus the first thing to do is to draw the grid around numbers. This has been achieved by the options style={nodes={rectangle,draw,minimum width=3em}}, minimum height=3em, row sep=-\pgflinewidth, column sep=-\pgflinewidth.

Each element is colored in background by means of the background library such that the coloring does not affect too much the number visibility (beware of the patterns that are a bit problematic).

On the bases of the result you want to achieve, you should use a different command:

1. \highlight is the most simple command and it colors the whole part;
2. \vshade allows to insert a vertical shading;
3. \oshade is the equivalent for the horizontal shading;
4. \inshade allows to achieve a radial shading;
5. \fillpattern inserts a pattern.

By means of TikZ matrices you can highlight an element by using the syntax name_matrix-row-colum: in our case an element could be m-1-1. All commands are designed to fill an area corresponding to (element.north west)rectangle (element.south east) and allow you to customize the coloring. Actually, it is even possible to select a bigger area, for instance two or more numbers; an example of this selection type could be:

\vshade{m-1-1}{m-2-2}

to color the correspondin areas of 1, 2, 4, 5.

For what concern the \fillpattern, you can even select which pattern style use (first optional argument) and its color (second optional argument).

The same result could be achieved by means of the fit library:

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc,matrix,patterns,shadings,backgrounds,fit}
\pgfdeclarelayer{myback}
\pgfsetlayers{myback,background,main}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\matrix (m)[matrix of nodes, style={nodes={rectangle,draw,minimum width=3em}}, minimum height=3em, row sep=-\pgflinewidth, column sep=-\pgflinewidth,ampersand replacement =\&]
{
1 \& 2 \& 3 \\
4 \& 5 \& 6 \\
7 \& 8 \& 9 \\
};

\begin{pgfonlayer}{myback}
\node[fit=(m-1-1),fill=blue!40,inner sep=0cm]{};
\node[fit=(m-2-2),bottom color=blue!40,top color= white,inner sep=0cm]{};
\node[fit=(m-2-3),bottom color=white,top color= red,inner sep=0cm]{};
\node[fit=(m-1-3),right color=blue!40,left color= white,inner sep=0cm]{};
\node[fit=(m-1-2),right color=white,left color= orange,inner sep=0cm]{};
\node[fit=(m-2-1),outer color=white,inner color= orange,inner sep=0cm]{};
\node[fit=(m-3-2),pattern=north west lines, pattern color=blue!50,inner sep=0cm]{};
\node[fit=(m-3-1),pattern=dots, pattern color=green!50!black,inner sep=0cm]{};
\node[fit=(m-3-3),pattern=sixpointed stars, pattern color=violet!50,inner sep=0cm]{};
\end{pgfonlayer}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Answer 3

The package nicematrix provides an environment {NiceTabular} similar to the classical {tabular} of array but which constructs PGF/Tikz nodes under the cells, rows and columns of the array. All the classical tools available in {tabular} are available in {NiceTabular} but we can also use that nodes with Tikz do fill a cell with what you want.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{nicematrix}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{patterns,shadings}
\begin{document}
\begin{NiceTabular}{cccc}[hvlines,cell-space-limits=3pt]
\CodeBefore
  \begin{tikzpicture}
     \path [pattern = grid, pattern color=gray] (1-|1) rectangle (2-|2) ;
     \path [pattern = north west lines,pattern color=red] (1-|3) rectangle (2-|5) ;
     \path [top color=red!50] (2-|1) rectangle (3-|2) ;
     \path [pattern=fivepointed stars,pattern color=lightgray] (2-|2) rectangle (4-|4) ;
     \path [fill=blue!15] (4-|1) rectangle (5-|3) ;
     \path [left color=red!50] (4-|4) rectangle (5-|5) ;
  \end{tikzpicture}
\Body
  zero                    & one               & \Block{1-2}{two} &       \
  \Block{}{\rotate three} & \Block{2-2}{four} &                  & five  \
  \rotate six             &                   &                  & seven \
  \Block{1-2}{eight}      &                   & nine             & ten   \
\end{NiceTabular}
\end{document}

You need several compilations.

In fact, with the latest version of nicematrix (v 5.19 of 2021-07-23), it's also possible to give a key tikz to the command \Block (which merges cells) in order to specify directly how to fill that block.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{nicematrix}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{patterns,shadings}
\begin{document}
\begin{NiceTabular}{cccc}[hvlines,cell-space-limits=3pt]
\Block[tikz={pattern = grid, pattern color=gray}]{}{zero} & one
& \Block[tikz={pattern = north west lines,pattern color=red}]{1-2}{two} \
\Block[tikz={top color=red!50}]{}{\rotate three} & \Block[tikz={pattern=fivepointed stars,pattern color=lightgray}]{2-2}{four} && five \
\rotate six & & & seven \
\Block[fill=blue!15]{1-2}{eight} && nine & \Block[tikz={left color=red!50}]{}{ten}
\end{NiceTabular}
\end{document}

The output is the same.