Prevent table from wrapping - html

Question

How do I prevent a table from wrapping when it is inside of an outer table cell?
Have a look at the simplified example at the bottom of my question.
My aspx-tablerow:
<tr runat="server" id="trButtons">
<td align="left" colspan="9" valign="top" style="white-space:nowrap"><br />
<asp:Button ID="btnImeiLookup" OnClick="btnImeiLookupClick" runat="server" ValidationGroup="VG_RMA_LOOKUP" CausesValidation="true" Text="lookup IMEI" ToolTip="lookup IMEI and check if RMA-Number can be generated" Width="120px" />
<asp:Button ID="BtnEdit" CommandName="Edit" CommandArgument='<%# Eval("idRMA")%>' ValidationGroup="VG_RMA_SAVE" runat="server" CausesValidation="false" Text="Edit" ToolTip="edit" Width="120px" />
<asp:Button ID="BtnAdd" runat="server" CommandName="Add" CausesValidation="false" Text="Add new" Width="130px" ToolTip="add new" />
<asp:Button ID="BtnDelete" runat="server" CommandName="Delete" CommandArgument='<%# Eval("idRMA")%>' CausesValidation="true" Text="Delete" Width="120px" ToolTip="delete" OnClientClick="return confirm('do you really want to delete this RMA?')" />
<uc4:RmaPrinterView ID="RmaPrinterView1" Visible="true" runat="server" />
</td>
</tr>
RmaPrinterView1 is an ASP.Net Usercontrol:
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td>
<input type="button" style="width:120px; white-space:nowrap" onclick="javascript:$('#TblPrinterView').jqprint();" value="Print" title="Print" />
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<table id="TblPrinterView" style="display:none">
<tr>
<td style="width:100px;white-space:nowrap">
<asp:Label ID="LblRmaNumberDesc" runat="server" Text="RMA-Number:"></asp:Label>
</td>
<td>
<asp:Label ID="LblRmaNumber" runat="server" Text="xxxxxxxxxxxxxx"></asp:Label>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<asp:Label ID="LblImeiDesc" runat="server" Text="IMEI:"></asp:Label>
</td>
<td>
<asp:Label ID="LblImei" runat="server" Text="xxxxxxxxxxxxxx"></asp:Label>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<asp:Label ID="LblModelDesc" runat="server" Text="Model:"></asp:Label>
</td>
<td>
<asp:Label ID="LblModel" runat="server" Text="xxxxxxxxxxxxxx"></asp:Label>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<asp:Label ID="LblSiDpyDesc" runat="server" Text="SI/DPY:"></asp:Label>
</td>
<td>
<asp:Label ID="LblSiDpy" runat="server" Text="xxxxxxxxxxxxxx"></asp:Label>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<asp:Label ID="LblSymptomCodesDesc" runat="server" Text="Symptoms:"></asp:Label>
</td>
<td>
<asp:Label ID="LblSymptomCodes" runat="server" Text="xxxxxxxxxxxxxx"></asp:Label>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
As you can see, the Usercontrol with the inner table is wrapped:
I know that I should avoid table layout, but I needed a fast working solution ;-)
EDIT: a simplified sample that is also wrapping:
<table>
<tr>
<td style="white-space:nowrap">
<input type="button" value="b1" />
<input type="button" value="b2" />
<input type="button" value="b3" />
<table>
<tr>
<td style="white-space:nowrap"><input type="button" value="in table" /></td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
UPDATE:
The solution - as Jeroen mentioned - was to make the table an inline element with style="display: inline". The next problem was that I used an ASP.Net UpdatePanel inside the UserControl which is normally rendered as a Div. So the next block-element that causes my table to wrap. I only needed to set the UpdatePanel's RenderMode to Inline what causes it to be rendered as Span.

Answer 1

If the css white-space does not work, you can try to add nowrap="nowrap" to your td, just like you added valign="top".
Very ugly, but it should work.
Edit: Ah, now I see: A table is a block-level element so it will always go to a new line unless you make it an inline-element or float it.

Answer 2

table tr td {
white-space: nowrap;
}

Answer 3

You've put the table at odds with itself. It is set to finite pixel count and yet you don't want to wrap once that's exceeded. You might attempt:
white-space: nowrap;
overflow: hidden;