How to center Column names in table

I use the uiStyle to make all my table entries to whichever type allignment I desire but the column names always seem to be left justified only. I thouight for e.g. when I specify "horizontalalignment" to "center" everything will be centered. Am I missing something?

Answer 1

[Adam Danz]

As far as I know,center-justification of uitable column names is not possible (as for r2021a).

A recent comment by MathWorks staff (Aug 2020) suggests a workaround that involves creating a second uitable placed above the main table, containing the header names and using uistyle to center the names. It wouldn't be too much work to put that together but it may require reworking existing code that assigns data to the UITable.

Update

An alternative would be to convert your table to a cell array and move the header names to the first row the array. A cell array is needed if your data are not all strings, otherwise you could use a string array.

Then you can format the table to make it look like it contains a true header row.

The table on the left is the standard UITable with a header-row (aka "ColumnNames").

The table on the right shows the results of moving the header row into the data array and formatting the table to appear as unchanged.

Note that this changes how the table will be indexed since data starts are row #2.

% T: your initial data stored in a table
T = array2table(rand(5,3),'VariableNames',["Lancaster","Cincinnati","Sofia"]);

% 1. Convert table to cell, move header names into row 1.
C = [T.Properties.VariableNames; table2cell(T)];

% Create two uitables for comparison
uifig = uifigure(); 
uifig.Position(3:4) = [ 679   420]; 
uitTable = uitable(uifig,'data',T,'Units','Normalize','Position',[.05 .05 .4 .8]);
uitCell = uitable(uifig,'data',C,'ColumnName',{},'RowName',{},'Units','Normalize','Position',[.55 .05 .4 .8]);
% Switch order of shaded rows
uitCell.BackgroundColor = flipud(uitCell.BackgroundColor);

% Center all cells of the table & bolden the first row
uisCenter = uistyle('HorizontalAlignment', 'center'); 
uisBold = uistyle('FontWeight','bold'); 
addStyle(uitTable, uisCenter)
addStyle(uitCell, uisCenter)
addStyle(uitCell, uisBold, 'row',1)

[Pappu Murthy]

I understood. That workaround is a bit painful but I get it. Thanks.

[Pappu Murthy]

Thanks for the prompt answer.

[Adam Danz]

Painful indeed. I thought of an alternative and updated my answer. It's not pain-less but it might be less painful than working with two uitables.

[Pappu Murthy]

Again thanks a lot. You are obviously very experienced in these sort of things. I will try to use your method now.

Thanks.

Pappu Murthy

[Pappu Murthy]

I tried your method. Really not that painful at all and it worked like charm. Thanks so much.

Pappu Murthy

[Adam Danz]

Great, thanks for the feedback!

[Martin Soltes]

it works, the downside is your column names will be hidden if you use scroll bar..