This topic describes how to create a simple table and a table with three columns and rows, add text to cells in the table, add images to specific cells in the table, add text below the table in your document, create borders around rows and columns in the table, and create a background color for specific cells in the table.

Making a Simple Table:

Tables provide one of the most useful features in documents. They can be used for both tabular presentation of data, and for layout of other elements of a document. C1PrintDocument provides full-featured tables. In this section you will learn how to start using tables. We will use the "Hello, World!" sample application created in the C1PrintDocument Quick Start topic as our base, and add a table to it.

1. Open the HelloWorld application created in the C1PrintDocument Quick Start topic (alternatively, you can create a new application as described in the previous section).
2. Switch to code view and in the Form_Load event handler (create it if necessary) add the following code before the call to Generate method:

   To write code in Visual Basic

   Visual Basic	Copy Code
   Dim rt As New RenderTable() Me.C1PrintDocument1.Body.Children.Add(rt) Dim row As Integer = 0 Do While (row < 10) Dim col As Integer = 0 Do While (col < 6) rt.Cells.Item(row, col).Text = String.Format("Cell ({0},{1})", row, col) col += 1 Loop row += 1 Loop

   To write code in C#

   C#	Copy Code
   RenderTable rt = new RenderTable(); this.c1PrintDocument1.Body.Children.Add(rt); for (int row = 0; row < 10; ++ row) { for (int col = 0; col < 6; ++ col) { rt.Cells[row, col].Text = string.Format("Cell ({0},{1})", row, col); } }

3. Do not forget to call the Generate method on the document.

   To write code in Visual Basic

   Visual Basic	Copy Code
   Me.C1PrintDocument1.Generate()

   To write code in C#

   C#	Copy Code
   this.c1PrintDocument1.Generate();

Run the program and observe:

The preview will show the document similar to the one in the following picture:

This simple example shows several important aspects of using tables in C1PrintDocument:

• Tables are represented by the RenderTable class, which inherits from RenderObject.
• Tables follow the model used in Microsoft Excel: their size is unlimited initially; the real size of the table when it is rendered is determined by the cell with the largest row and column numbers whose content was set. In our example, the table is 10 rows high and 6 columns wide, because the cell with the largest row and column indices that was set was the cell at position (9,5) (indices are zero-based). If you modify the code to set for example the text of the cell at position (10,7), the table will grow to 11 rows and 8 columns:

  To write code in Visual Basic

  Visual Basic	Copy Code
  rt.Cells(10, 7).Text = "text at row 10, column 7"

  To write code in C#

  C#	Copy Code
  rt.Cells[10, 7].Text = "text at row 10, column 7";

• By default, tables do not have visible grid lines (the "grid lines" term is used in Reports for WinForms for lines used to draw tables, as opposed to borders which can be drawn around any render object). To add grid lines (drawn with a black 0.5pt pen), add the following line of code to the Form Load event handler:

  To write code in Visual Basic

  Visual Basic	Copy Code
  rt.Style.GridLines.All = LineDef.Default

  To write code in C#

  C#	Copy Code
  rt.Style.GridLines.All = LineDef.Default;

  By default, a table is as wide as its parent's client area (in this case, the whole page), with equally-sized columns. Rows' heights are automatic, though. So, if you add a line setting the text of an arbitrary cell in a table to a long text, you will see that the row containing that cell will grow vertically to accommodate all text. For example, adding this code to our example will produce a table looking like this (this table includes both changes described above):

  To write code in Visual Basic

  Visual Basic	Copy Code
  rt.Cells(3, 4).Text = "A long line of text showing that table rows stretch " + "to accommodate all content."

  To write code in C#

  C#	Copy Code
  rt.Cells[3, 4].Text = "A long line of text showing that table rows stretch " + "to accommodate all content.";

  

For your reference, here is the complete text of the form load event handler that produced the above document:

To write code in Visual Basic

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load    
    Me.C1PrintDocument1.Body.Children.Add(New RenderText("Hello, World!"))    
    Dim rt As New RenderTable()    
    Me.C1PrintDocument1.Body.Children.Add(rt)

Dim row As Integer = 0    
Do While (row < 10)   
    Dim col As Integer = 0   
    Do While (col < 6)   
        rt.Cells.Item(row, col).Text = String.Format("Cell ({0},{1})", row, col)   
        col += 1   
    Loop   
    row += 1   
Loop   
    rt.Cells(3, 4).Text = "A long line of text showing that table rows " + "stretch to accommodate all content."    
    rt.Cells(10, 7).Text = "text at row 10, column 7"    
    rt.Style.GridLines.All = LineDef.Default   
    Me.C1PrintDocument1.Generate()   
End Sub

To write code in C#

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)    
{   
    this.c1PrintDocument1.Body.Children.Add(new RenderText("Hello, World!"));    
    RenderTable rt = new RenderTable();    
    this.c1PrintDocument1.Body.Children.Add(rt);   
    for (int row = 0; row < 10; ++row)   
    {    
        for (int col = 0; col < 6; ++col)   
        {   
            rt.Cells[row, col].Text = string.Format("Cell ({0},{1})", row, col);    
        }   
    }   
    rt.Cells[3, 4].Text = "A long line of text showing that table rows " + "stretch to accommodate all content.";    
    rt.Cells[10, 7].Text = "text at row 10, column 7";   
    rt.Style.GridLines.All = LineDef.Default;   
    this.c1PrintDocument1.Generate();    
}