I’m currently writing an API document in LaTeX. I have a tabular environment with a list of error codes and descriptions, like so:
\begin{tabular}{|c|l|}
\hline
\textbf{Code} & \textbf{Description} \\ \hline
1 & (description of error 1) \\ \hline
2 & (description of error 2) \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
At various places later in the document, I reference an error’s code and its description together, like so:
Possible error conditions:
\begin{itemize}
\item 1---(description of error 1)
\end{itemize}
I want to automate this process so I don’t have to retype the descriptions every time. I have tried using a counter, labels, and the \savebox command, but it’s pretty cumbersome:
\newcounter{error}
% Inside the tabular environment:
\newsavebox{\ErrorOne}
\savebox{\ErrorOne}{(description of error 1)}
\refstepcounter{error} \label{ErrorOne} \arabic{error} & \usebox{\ErrorOne} \\ \hline
and later, to reference the error,
\ref{ErrorOne}---\usebox{\ErrorOne}
I particularly object to having to use ErrorOne for the labels but \ErrorOne (with the leading backslash) for the saveboxes. I also don’t really want names like ErrorOne, since I might need to change the order at some point. What I want is to be able to define a few commands:
\newerror{errorlabel}{Description} % defines the error (doesn't output anything)
\errorcode{errorlabel} % outputs the error code
\errordesc{errorlabel} % outputs the error description
and then be able to say something like
\newerror{ArgumentError}{Too many arguments}
\newerror{DatabaseError}{Could not connect to database}
% Inside the tabular environment:
\errorcode{ArgumentError} & \errordesc{ArgumentError} \\ \hline
\errorcode{DatabaseError} & \errordesc{DatabaseError} \\ \hline
% Later on:
\errorcode{DatabaseError}---\errordesc{DatabaseError}
with the error codes (1, 2, 3, …) being automatically generated like labels would be.
Any ideas?
The following works for me