Print jTable with a header and footer panel

Question

Hi Folks,
I'm currently at a sticking point in a project I'm playing around with. I have a data set of around 300 objects that i'd like printed out in a table. Now, I've gotten the display part down without a hitch but printing the data as well as a header panel and footer panel has been eluding me. I'd basically like something like this...
Name: some name Order date: some date
Address: some address Shipped To: some address
somewhere Some city, some state, etc
in some city
Date | Title | Etc | Etc | Etc
date1 title1 5 $3.00 $15.00
date1 title1 5 $3.00 $15.00
date2 title1 5 $3.00 $15.00
date2 title1 5 $3.00 $15.00
Total purchases: $60.00
Total Items: 20
# of Orders: 2
Am I barking up the wrong tree by making the first and third sections panels and the second section a table? If not, how the heck do I accomplish this? Most of the time the table has been multiple pages as well - I only need section one on the first page and section three on the last page, but whatever is easiest really.
My current approach has been basically to make a custom printables, print the first section, figure out how high it was, print the second section and hope for the best, but the third would never show up because it'd never go over two pages.
Any help would be very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Stephen
Edited by: stephenliberty on May 7, 2009 9:11 AM - more specific subject

Answer 1

I suppose as a quick update, this is as far as I've gotten and will likely get-
public class PrintForm extends JFrame implements Printable{
    JComponent headerPanelForPrint;
    JComponent footerPanelForPrint;
    JTable dataTableForPrint;
    public void setPieces(JComponent header, JTable table, JComponent footer){
        this.headerPanelForPrint = header;
        this.footerPanelForPrint = footer;
        this.dataTableForPrint = table;
    public int print(Graphics graphics, PageFormat pageFormat, int pageIndex) throws PrinterException {
        graphics.translate((int)pageFormat.getImageableX(), (int)pageFormat.getImageableY());
        TableFormat tableFormat;
        if(pageIndex>0){
            tableFormat = new TableFormat(0, footerPanelForPrint.getHeight());
        } else {
            headerPanelForPrint.printAll(graphics);
            tableFormat = new TableFormat(headerPanelForPrint.getHeight(), footerPanelForPrint.getHeight());
        MessageFormat footer = new MessageFormat("Page - {0}");
        Printable table = dataTableForPrint.getPrintable(PrintMode.FIT_WIDTH, null, footer);
        int printme = table.print(graphics, tableFormat, pageIndex);
        if(printme == table.NO_SUCH_PAGE){ return table.NO_SUCH_PAGE; }
        return Printable.PAGE_EXISTS;
class TableFormat extends PageFormat {
    double footerHeight;
    double headerHeight;
    public TableFormat(double headerHeight, double footerHeight){
        this.headerHeight = headerHeight;
        this.footerHeight = footerHeight;
    @Override
    public double getImageableHeight() {
        return super.getImageableHeight() - ( this.footerHeight + this.headerHeight );
    @Override
    public double getHeight() {
        return super.getImageableHeight() - ( this.footerHeight + this.headerHeight);
    @Override
    public double getImageableX() {
        return 0;
    @Override
    public double getImageableY() {
        return this.headerHeight;
}It works very well with just a header and the table, but I still have not been able to get a footer to show up in the appropriate spot or (preferably) on the last page.
Edited by: stephenliberty on May 8, 2009 12:29 PM