[docutils:patches] #214 Give better messages on malformed tables

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I looked at the patch and found a number of issues:

* Message "details" misleading if the right border is not misaligned but missing.

* system exit with corrupt bottom border:
   The compulsory "details" and "offset" arguments for `malformed_table()` lead to a system exit with traceback - for document authors this is worse than a generic error message. It is also an incompatible change in the Docutils library  (some 3rd party extension may use the function...).

       +-----------------------+
       | A table with one cell |
       | & corrupt bottom.     |
       +---------------------- +

* Indicated line for simple table with non-matching bottom border is wrong, if the table does not start on line 1 of the document!

* If there is no bottom border for a simple table, the complete remaining document may be scanned. Therefore it is both, simpler and more helpful to indicate the start line of a simple table with missing bottom border.

* The error "No bottom table border found or no blank line after table bottom." is raised because the markup is ambiguous:

        ==============  ======
        content or      header
        ==============  ======
        this could be   cell content
        or text after   the table

* According to the coding policy, lines should be < 80 characters.

The attached patch adresses these points and solves some more issues with the original code.


Attachments:

- [table-errors2.diff](https://sourceforge.net/p/docutils/patches/_discuss/thread/ecf1ca00d3/f025/attachment/table-errors2.diff) (7.6 kB; text/x-patch)


---

**[patches:#214] Give better messages on malformed tables**

**Status:** open
**Group:** None
**Created:** Sun Jun 08, 2025 05:58 PM UTC by Jynn Nelson
**Last Updated:** Sun Jul 20, 2025 09:57 PM UTC
**Owner:** nobody
**Attachments:**

- [tables.diff](https://sourceforge.net/p/docutils/patches/214/attachment/tables.diff) (5.2 kB; application/octet-stream)


This does several things:
- Specifies `Misaligned right border` for that error, instead of just "malformed table".
- Shows the line where each error happened, not the line where the table starts.
  - This had a complication that line numbers appear to be wrong when `include` directives are present (they include the lines in the source document, instead of being relative to the included document). Just disabled the new smarter logic in that case.
- Changes `malformed_table` to require both detail and an offset, so poor errors like this can't happen in the future.

Fixes https://sourceforge.net/p/docutils/bugs/504/.


---

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<div class="markdown_content"><p>I looked at the patch and found a number of issues:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Message "details" misleading if the right border is not misaligned but missing.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>system exit with corrupt bottom border:<br/>
   The compulsory "details" and "offset" arguments for <code>malformed_table()</code> lead to a system exit with traceback - for document authors this is worse than a generic error message. It is also an incompatible change in the Docutils library  (some 3rd party extension may use the function...).</p>
<p>+-----------------------+<br/>
   | A table with one cell |<br/>
   | &amp; corrupt bottom.     |<br/>
   +---------------------- +</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Indicated line for simple table with non-matching bottom border is wrong, if the table does not start on line 1 of the document!</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>If there is no bottom border for a simple table, the complete remaining document may be scanned. Therefore it is both, simpler and more helpful to indicate the start line of a simple table with missing bottom border.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The error "No bottom table border found or no blank line after table bottom." is raised because the markup is ambiguous:</p>
<div class="codehilite"><pre><span></span><code>==============  ======
content or      header
==============  ======
this could be   cell content
or text after   the table
</code></pre></div>

</li>
<li>
<p>According to the coding policy, lines should be &lt; 80 characters.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>The attached patch adresses these points and solves some more issues with the original code.</p>
<p>Attachments:</p>
<ul>
<li><a class="" href="https://sourceforge.net/p/docutils/patches/_discuss/thread/ecf1ca00d3/f025/attachment/table-errors2.diff">table-errors2.diff</a> (7.6 kB; text/x-patch)</li>
</ul>
<hr/>
<p><strong><a class="alink" href="https://sourceforge.net/p/docutils/patches/214/">[patches:#214]</a> Give better messages on malformed tables</strong></p>
<p><strong>Status:</strong> open<br/>
<strong>Group:</strong> None<br/>
<strong>Created:</strong> Sun Jun 08, 2025 05:58 PM UTC by Jynn Nelson<br/>
<strong>Last Updated:</strong> Sun Jul 20, 2025 09:57 PM UTC<br/>
<strong>Owner:</strong> nobody<br/>
<strong>Attachments:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a class="" href="https://sourceforge.net/p/docutils/patches/214/attachment/tables.diff">tables.diff</a> (5.2 kB; application/octet-stream)</li>
</ul>
<p>This does several things:<br/>
- Specifies <code>Misaligned right border</code> for that error, instead of just "malformed table".<br/>
- Shows the line where each error happened, not the line where the table starts.<br/>
  - This had a complication that line numbers appear to be wrong when <code>include</code> directives are present (they include the lines in the source document, instead of being relative to the included document). Just disabled the new smarter logic in that case.<br/>
- Changes <code>malformed_table</code> to require both detail and an offset, so poor errors like this can't happen in the future.</p>
<p>Fixes <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/docutils/bugs/504/.">https://sourceforge.net/p/docutils/bugs/504/.</a></p>
<hr/>
<p>Sent from sourceforge.net because [email protected] is subscribed to <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/docutils/patches/">https://sourceforge.net/p/docutils/patches/</a></p>
<p>To unsubscribe from further messages, a project admin can change settings at <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/docutils/admin/patches/options.">https://sourceforge.net/p/docutils/admin/patches/options.</a>  Or, if this is a mailing list, you can unsubscribe from the mailing list.</p></div>
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