How do I post a table as part of a forum question?

Question

How do I post a table as part of a forum question?

Mark Dalley

SSCrazy

Points: 2981
More actions
June 10, 2020 at 2:27 pm

#3761994

I have a question which could benefit a lot from having a 3-column table as part of the content.
However, although BBCode has a

pair, along with the stuff for defining individual rows, this seems not to be implemented on SSC. At least, the example from the BBCode website didn't render properly in preview.
Am I missing something obvious?
Thanks
MarkD

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply

Mark Dalley SSCrazy Points: 2981 More actions · Answer 1

Hah, I think I answered my own question.

The second sentencw that I posted actually read: Although BBCode has a table-in-square-brackets slash-table in square brackets pair, along with the stuff for defining individual rows ...

So there is some hope that the feature actually works - at least, let's try it and see.

Seems a rather clumsy way of finding out though. Is there an FAQ or user guide for the forums anywhere?

Thanks

MarkD

Phil Parkin SSC Guru Points: 246960 More actions · Answer 2

If you are hoping that someone will write some code as a result of seeing this table, you are better off providing the DDL and DML to create and populate the table, so that others can cut and paste into their own SSMS instances.

Alternatibely, if it's just to illustrate a point, you can easily include a screen shot in your post.

The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence
- Martin Rees
The absence of consumable DDL, sample data and desired results is, however, evidence of the absence of my response
- Phil Parkin

Mark Dalley SSCrazy Points: 2981 More actions · Answer 3

Thanks Phil

Hah, semantics! The sort of table I was thinking of was the sort one finds in a word processor.

You know what, I could add a screen shot from an MS Word document, but I think I'll try to use the BBCode tags, just for the learning experience. Glutton for punishment or something.

Just heading over to the Integration Services and data warehousing forum to try it out in anger, as they say. It is a bit of a messy question and needs a nice table to lay things out neatly.

Thanks again

MarkD

Phil Parkin SSC Guru Points: 246960 More actions · Answer 4

Aha, that makes a lot more sense! But of course the default table round here comes loaded with DDL, data and constraints 🙂

The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence
- Martin Rees
The absence of consumable DDL, sample data and desired results is, however, evidence of the absence of my response
- Phil Parkin

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736173 More actions · Answer 5

We haven't supported tables directly. I was surprised myself, and it's on a backlog, but I think it's relatively unimportant. Most of the time, having DDL/DML is better for us to understand things, not tables. We'd like to see the results as a series of inserts, which helps with testing.

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004324 More actions · Answer 6

Mark Dalley wrote:

I have a question which could benefit a lot from having a 3-column table as part of the content.

If you really want help with such a thing, see the first link in my signature line below for how to post data in a manner that will help us help you the best. Pictures and "Word" tables don't help much because, instead of wasting a lot of time going back on forth on nuances, the data itself speaks volumes and also allows us to provide you with real live working code.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004324 More actions · Answer 7

Steve Jones - SSC Editor wrote:

We haven't supported tables directly. I was surprised myself, and it's on a backlog, but I think it's relatively unimportant. Most of the time, having DDL/DML is better for us to understand things, not tables. We'd like to see the results as a series of inserts, which helps with testing.

Uhgh! Let's skip that and make the code window work correctly, instead... including older posts that have become quadruple spaced since the most recent "improvements". 🙁

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Mark Dalley SSCrazy Points: 2981 More actions · Answer 8

Yes, SSC does support tables in forum postings - that is, if you prepared to insert the BBCodes manually. It's tedious, and you obviously have to mind the syntax, but the effect isn't bad. See my posting where I use it here.

I do take Jeff's point about using DDL/DML when asking questions about SQL-type tables though.

MarkD