WD_TABLE_DIRECTION.RTL not working

[sinarchy]

Dear friends,

I have been working on creating table using python-docx, however, I needed the table to be in a right-to-left orientation. As per documentation I implemented WD__TABLE_DIRECTION.RTL but it does not work. I mean there are no errors but the table is still lef-to-right. Any ideas?
The code:
my_table = doc.add_table(rows=1, cols=7) my_table.direction = WD_TABLE_DIRECTION.RTL
Regards

[asakinory]

I have the same issue.
One work around is to reverse column order and to update table alignment with my_table.alignment = WD_TABLE_ALIGNMENT.RIGHT. Also you might want to check the properties of your table style.

[scanny]

RTL is something that is not well-supported out of the box just yet.

The approach I recommend is this:

1. produce a small example by hand using Word
2. inspect the XML to work out what the XML needs to look like to produce the desired results
3. See what parts of that can be provided by existing python-docx features like WD_TABLE_DIRECTION.RTL.
4. Create workaround function(s) for the rest that manipulate the XML directly.

The answers to step 2 can be a useful contribution for eventual implementation of the feature and are worth posting, as are any functions you create for step 4 as they can enable others.

[abrefael]

I think try to tackle this myself is over my head, but...
I tried to compare two tables: an LTR one and an RTL one.
the major differences are as follows:

• On the RTL one, we get a proprty in the tblPr section, named <w:bidiVisual/>.
• On the RTL one we have a rPr (not sure what the r stands for) section in each column's paragraph <w:pPr>. In this section we have <w:rtl /> declaration.
• On the LTR one, we get a <w:bidi w:val="0"/> declaration for each paragraph section (probably, because my "Normal" style is RTL.