Implementing a planner using dataTable

Question

Hi,
I'm trying to implement a planner, where x-axis (columns) represents days, and y-axis (rows) doesn't have any meaning. So events on this planner "spans" generally multiple days. Let's say there are 5 events on a given interval, the longest event comes to the center row (in this case row 3), then the others find their places recursively trying to place them selves near to the center row, if not +1/-1 and so on.
Well, I've managed to mark these events on a [eventsCount, dayInterval] matrix. Let's say there are events from A to E. The matrix is something like this on a 7 days planner:
----1   2   3   4   5   6   7
--|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
--|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2 | A | A | A |   | C | C |   |
--|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3 | B | B | B | B | B | B |   |
--|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 |   |   | D |   |   | E |   |
--|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
5 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | Now I need to transform this data to a html table. The problem is I need to use col spans for events. Richfaces DataTable have colspan's but it's for a predefined structure, all or nothing case. So,
1) I guess there is no way to manipulate single rows in a JSF DataTable?
2) Do I need to generate the table by hand? If so, Is there a way where jsf can help me create child components (actually not components but tags). I think of adding children to a HtmlPanelGroup by a backing bean but I don't know how? Well in fact I know (...getChildren().add(...)) but this adds UIComponents, but in my case, I guess I'll need something like:
Totally rubbish code :
plannerGroup = new HtmlPanelGroup();
Child plannerTable = new Child("table");
plannerGroup.addChild(plannerTable);
for ( i = 0 ; i < days ; i ++ ) {
   Child plannerRow = new Child("tr");
   plannerGroup.addChild(plannerRow);
   for ( i = 0 ; i < days ; i ++ ) {
      //generate columns...
      //add to plannerRow
}I don't know how to accomplish something like this, and will be very happy if someone can help me out.
Thanks

Answer 1

Thank you,
I've read your articles on your blog a couple of days ago, and they really helped me a lot. And now re-reading "Customized Tables" opens new perspectives. I will certainly try. But sooner or later, I feel I'll need to manually create some table and I'm really curious about how to add <tr>'s and <td>'s to a table manually?