New environment in latex using other environments, compiler doesn't find the \end - latex

Question

I'm setting up a new environment for my latex document for consistent tables. It looks like this:
\newenvironment{defaultTable}[2] {
\begin{table}[h]
\noindent
\tabularx{\textwidth}{#1}
\specialrule{0.5pt}{10pt}{0pt} \rowcolor[gray]{.9}
} {
\bottomrule
\endtabularx
\caption{#2}
\end{table}
}
It doesn't seem to find the \end{table} though:
! LaTeX Error: \begin{table} on input line 23 ended by \end{document}.
Is there a way to avoid this?

Answer 1

Replace \begin{table} with \#float{table} and replace \end{table} with \end#float.
The \#float and \end#float are LaTeX's internal commands for starting and ending the float environment.
You'll also want to follow Alexey's advice on the #2 parameter. Store it in the first part of your environment (\gdef\mycaption{#2}) and then recall it later \caption{\mycaption} in the second part. Put \def\mycaption{\relax} just before the \begin{defaultTable} line.
Also, since \#float and \end#float have # signs in them, if this code is in the preamble of your document file (instead of say, a .sty file), you'll need to put \makeatletter before your \begin{defaultTable} and also \makeatother after \end{defaultTable}.

Answer 2

You can use #2 in the end if you use the xparse mechanism:
\usepackage{xparse}
\NewDocumentEnvironment{defaultTable}{+m+m}{%
\begin{table}[h]
\noindent
\tabularx{\textwidth}{#1}
\specialrule{0.5pt}{10pt}{0pt} \rowcolor[gray]{.9}
} {%
\bottomrule
\endtabularx
\caption{#2}
\end{table}
}

Answer 3

You can not use #2 in the last argument of the \newenvironment macros. You should use #1..#9 in the second argument only.
Save your #2 to \tempa (or any macros). And use \tempa in the caption.
\newenvironment{defaultTable}[2]{
\begin{table}[h]
\def\tempa{#2}
\noindent
\tabularx{\textwidth}{#1} \specialrule{0.5pt}{10pt}{0pt} \rowcolor[gray]{.9}
}{
\bottomrule
\endtabularx
\caption{\tempa}
\end{table}
}

Answer 4

I've has the same problem, and it is because of the "\end{tabularx}". The solution is:
\newenvironment{defaultTable}[3] {
\begin{table}[h]
\caption{#2}
\noindent
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{#1}
\specialrule{0.5pt}{10pt}{0pt} \rowcolor[gray]{.9}
#3
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx} } {
\end{table} }
So you define the rows as a parameter.
Regards,
Eric

Answer 5

You could also just use a \newcommand similar to Eric's solution.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabularx}
% The table design.
\newcommand{\defaultTable}[2]{
\begin{table}[h]
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{cc}
Column A & Column B \\
#2
\end{tabularx}
\caption{#1}
\end{table}
}
\newcommand{\defaultTableRow}[2]{#1 & #2 \\}
\begin{document}
% The creation of a table.
\defaultTable{Example}{
\defaultTableRow{bla}{0815}
\defaultTableRow{blup}{0815}
}
\end{document}
This will avoid both your problems (the missing \end{table} and the error when referencing arguments in the environments closing code) without much hassle.
In fact I also like the idea of separating the table design from the table data. Especially if you create multiple tables that need to look equal.