The SparseTable mpi plugin allows you to write larger tables in a assignment oriented fashion, thus allowing to leave out some cells. As an example:

   <?plugin SparseTable
      columns="column1, col2, third, 4th"

       column1="_first column here_"
         col2="second"
         third="number 3"
         4th="last"

       column1="row1"
         third="1"
         4th="1"

       column1="another row"
         col2="filled cell"
         4th="0"

       ...
   ?>

So you always assign values to the table cells row-wise by giving a block of assignment to the column names you defined forst with the columns= plugin parameter. The column names are free-form and you should of course use short ones to reduce typing effort. Often the first block of assignments was used to define table headlines (like shown above).