A Markdown Table Generator for Zim

Zim's interface for table creation requires tables to be built up row by row.  If you know how many rows you need in a table, Zim's 'Custom Tools' feature can be used to simplify the process of creating a table.  Following is a Python script that can be used to create an empty Markdown table, with the desired number of rows and columns, at the bottom of a Zim wiki page.  A custom tool should be created in Zim that calls this script with the "%f" parameter as the sole command-line argument.  After this script is run you will see the table in the page as Markdown text; type Ctrl-R to reload the page, and Zim will format it like a table created with Zim's own table-creation tool.

#!/usr/bin/python
# zimtable.py
#
# PURPOSE
# Add an empty Markdown-formatted table to the end of a Zim
# page.
#
# NOTES
# 1. The name of the temporary Zim page file must be passed
#  as the (only) command-line argument.
# 2. This program will prompt for the number of rows and columns,
#  and the column width in tabs, and insert a pipe table
#  with those dimensions, plus one row for headers.
# 3. The separator line between headers and table cells
#  assumes 6 characters per tab.
#
# AUTHOR
# Dreas Nielsen (RDN)
#
# COPYRIGHT and LICENSE
# Copyright (c) 2015, Dreas Nielsen
# License: GPL3
#
# HISTORY
#  Date   Remarks
# ---------- -----------------------------------------------------
# 2015-05-13 Created without GUI to prompt for table size. RDN.
# 2015-05-15 Added GUI.  RDN.
# =====================================================================

_vdate = "2013-05-15"
_version = "1.0"

import sys
import os
import Tkinter as tk
import ttk


if len(sys.argv) != 2:
 sys.stderr.write("You must provide the temporary Zim page file name as a command-line argument.")
 sys.exit(1)
zimpage = sys.argv[1]
if not os.path.exists(zimpage):
 sys.stderr.write("The file %s does not exist." % zimpage)
 sys.exit(1)

def add_pipe_table(fn, rows, cols, colwidth=3):
 f = open(fn, "a")
 tabs = '\t' * colwidth
 sep = '-' * (6 * colwidth - 1)
 datarow = "|" + (cols) * ("%s%s" % (tabs, "|")) + '\n'
 seprow = "|" + (cols) * ("%s%s" % (sep, "|")) + '\n'
 f.write('\n')
 f.write(datarow)
 f.write(seprow)
 for r in range(rows):
  f.write(datarow)
 f.close()

def cancel_table(*args):
 ui.destroy()

def make_table(*args):
 add_pipe_table(zimpage, int(row_val.get()), int(col_val.get()), int(width_val.get()))
 ui.destroy()


ui = tk.Tk()
ui.title("Create Markdown Table in Zim")
# Frames
optframe = ttk.Frame(master=ui, padding="4 4 4 4")
btnframe = ttk.Frame(master=ui, padding="4 4 4 4")
optframe.grid(column=0, row=1, sticky=tk.EW)
btnframe.grid(column=0, row=2, sticky=tk.EW)
# Input frame contents
row_label = ttk.Label(master=optframe, text="Rows:")
row_val = tk.StringVar(optframe, value=10)
row_inp = tk.Spinbox(optframe, from_=1, to=50, textvariable=row_val)
col_label = ttk.Label(master=optframe, text="Columns:")
col_val = tk.StringVar(optframe, value=4)
col_inp = tk.Spinbox(optframe, from_=1, to=20, textvariable=col_val)
width_label = ttk.Label(master=optframe, text="Column width in tabs:")
width_val = tk.StringVar(optframe, value=3)
width_inp = tk.Spinbox(optframe, from_=1, to=5, textvariable=width_val)
row_label.grid(column=0, row=0, sticky=tk.E)
row_inp.grid(column=1, row=0, sticky=tk.W)
col_label.grid(column=0, row=1, sticky=tk.E)
col_inp.grid(column=1, row=1, sticky=tk.W)
width_label.grid(column=0, row=2, sticky=tk.E)
width_inp.grid(column=1, row=2, sticky=tk.W)
# Button frame contents
cancel_button = ttk.Button(btnframe, text="Cancel", command=cancel_table)
cancel_button.grid(column=0, row=0, sticky=tk.E, padx=3)
maketable_button = ttk.Button(btnframe, text="Make Table", command=make_table)
maketable_button.grid(column=1, row=0, sticky=tk.E, padx=3)

ui.bind("", cancel_table)
ui.bind("", make_table)

ui.eval('tk::PlaceWindow %s center' % ui.winfo_pathname(ui.winfo_id()))

ui.mainloop()