iText: Different table rows with different cell/column widths

Question

How to create with Java a table with three rows as follows:

First row has one cell 100% entire table width
Second row has first from the left cell width 50mm, and second 20mm and third 30mm which in total is 100% of table width
Third row has first from the left cell width 30mm, and second 50mm and third 10mm which in total is 90% of table width

How would the code from the iText look like?

I have not found any example or code that can solve this task with iText. That is why I have raised this question. — mCs
It seems to me that now iText can only have one column size for all rows within a table. Is it true? If not please show me the method/class that can help to solve the issue of multiple rows with different cell widths. — mCs
Fair enough. I'm on smartphone now, so I can't give you a full answer, but these examples on colspan and rowspan may be able to get you started: developers.itextpdf.com/examples/tables/colspan-and-rowspan — Amedee Van Gasse
Because one picture says more than one thousand words: could you draw a simple image of your table to show what you mean? Just to be sure that your question is well understood. — Amedee Van Gasse

Bruno Lowagie Bruno Lowagie · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-31T06:59:42

So you want to use iText to create a table that looks like this:

The PDF in the screen shot was created using the TableMeasurements example. The resulting PDF can also be downloaded for inspection: table_measurements.pdf

The first thing that jumps to the eye when looking at this screen shot is the fact that the table doesn't look "complete". This means that we will have to complete the table the way I already explained on SO yesterday (and many times before that): Why the 2nd row of table won't be written? (which was actually a duplicate of How to generate pdf if our column less than the declared table column and ItextSharp, number of Cells not dividable by the length of the row and Odd Numbered Cell Not Added To Pdf and PdfTable: last cell is not visible and ...)

In the comment section, I was asked:

How can I complete row with cells with no border?

I answered:

Use table.getDefaultCell().setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);

Note that PdfPCell.NO_BORDER also works as PdfPCell extends the Rectangle class.

In your case, we'd have something like this:

public void createPdf(String dest) throws IOException, DocumentException {
    Document document = new Document();
    PdfWriter.getInstance(document, new FileOutputStream(dest));
    document.open();
    PdfPTable table = new PdfPTable(10);
    table.setTotalWidth(Utilities.millimetersToPoints(100));
    table.setLockedWidth(true);
    table.getDefaultCell().setBorder(PdfPCell.NO_BORDER);
    table.addCell(getCell(10));
    table.addCell(getCell(5));
    table.addCell(getCell(3));
    table.addCell(getCell(2));
    table.addCell(getCell(3));
    table.addCell(getCell(5));
    table.addCell(getCell(1));
    table.completeRow();
    document.add(table);
    document.close();
}

To make the example more realistic, I created a table with an exact width of 100 mm. For the width to be acknowledged, I lock the width. As already explained, I make sure that default cells have no border. After adding all the cells with the different widths (10 cm, 5 cm, 3 cm, 2 cm, 3 cm, 5 cm, 1 cm), I complete the row.

What does the getCell() method look like, you might wonder. This was already answered by Amedee in the comments (which for some reason you ignored):

private PdfPCell getCell(int cm) {
    PdfPCell cell = new PdfPCell();
    cell.setColspan(cm);
    cell.setUseAscender(true);
    cell.setUseDescender(true);
    Paragraph p = new Paragraph(
            String.format("%smm", 10 * cm),
            new Font(Font.FontFamily.HELVETICA, 8));
    p.setAlignment(Element.ALIGN_CENTER);
    cell.addElement(p);
    return cell;
}

We create a PdfPCell and we set the colspan to reflect the width in cm. I added some more fancy stuff. I didn't use any functionality in this example that isn't explained on the official web site or on StackOverflow.

For more rowspan and colspan examples, please take a look at the Colspan and rowspan section in the official documentation.

iText: Different table rows with different cell/column widths

1 Answers