Help:Semantic table format

The semantic table format produces a table. By default, this is the format in which inline queries will display if the editor specifies no format and no parameters. (If you specify the sep parameter, the default format is a simple list.) The header row of the table will list the properties, in the order that the editor has specified them. The other rows of the table list the values.

Very commonly, the first column of the table will display articles; if so, those articles will have internal links.

A broad table (format=broadtable) is a table that displays as wide as the article. This is the equivalent of bilaterally justified margins.

Semantic tables have a number of key differences from the fixed tables that editors still can create using traditional table markup:


 * 1) Semantic tables are interactive. Each column has a control that allows the visitor to re-sort the rows in the table using that column as a key and in either ascending or descending order. (However, a visitor cannot specify more than one key.) When an editor creates a fixed table, he sorts the rows in an order of his choosing, and that order cannot change unless the editor chooses to change it.
 * 2) Semantic tables can produce only columns containing annotated data. They cannot (yet) produced derived data, and even formatting is somewhat limited. Fixed tables can contain virtually any kind of cell content.
 * 3) Semantic tables require server resources to build, and client resources (specifically JavaScript) to interact. Fixed tables require a minimum amount of resources to load and no further resources to display.
 * 4) Semantic tables can update themselves automatically if another editor has added an article whose annotations meet the search criteria. Fixed tables cannot do this.
 * 5) New to SMW 1.0: Results in semantic tables now display according to their tooltip-oriented display, if applicable. That is, the text now displays exactly as it did in the original article where the annotation took place. This result is unobtainable in a fixed table.

Note, however, that the presence of semantic tables suppresses the operation of the tag of the Cite extension. To work around this, place your tables at the bottom of the article, after the tag. Both query and references should then display as intended.