title: General guide for creating publication quality tables using R, Sweave, and LaTeX
body: <p>There are a range of tools available for creating publication quality tables using R, Sweave, and LaTeX.
  In particular, there are helper functions like <code>latex</code> in the <code>Hmisc</code> package, and <code>xtable</code> in the <code>xtable</code> package. I've also often written my own code so that I could have complete control over table formatting (e.g., see <a href="http://jeromyanglim.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/sweave-tutorial-2-individual.html">this example</a>).</p>
  
  <p>However, when preparing publication quality tables a range of issues often arise:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>how and when to apply numeric formatting</li>
  <li>how to precisely control alignment of columns and cells</li>
  <li>how to precisely control cell borders </li>
  <li>how to convert variable labels to variable names</li>
  <li>and so on</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Beyond the high level issues of specifying the desired table format, there are issues of implementation. </p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>When should a helper function such as <code>xtable</code> be used? </li>
  <li>Which helper function should be used in a given situation?</li>
  <li>How can the default output of helper functions be customised to particular requirements?</li>
  </ul>
  
  <h3>Question</h3>
  
  <p>It seems to me that the above issues are deserving of a detailed textbook-style introduction.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Are there any online or offline resources that provide a detailed overview of how to produce publication quality tables using R, Sweave, and LaTeX, and that address the issues discussed above?</strong></p>