Tables in JTextPane

Question

Hello dear Java Developers,
i have one question about how to visualize an editable Table on a JTextPane. I Know i can input HTML-Code in a JTextPane and it can display all HTMl Components like Images and Tables, but i need generate a table without HTML. My JTextPane has a DefaultStyledDocument in it and i basically know how to actually draw a Table inside the JTextPane.
To insert an Element, which represents the table, into the Document my Code looks like this:
MyTable table = new MyTable(rows, cols); //MyTable is just the logical representation of a table (rowCount, columnCount, etc ...)
try
Style st = target.addStyle("table", null);
((MutableAttributeSet)st).addAttribute(AbstractDocument.ElementNameAttribute, TableElementName); //TableElementName is a static constant
((MutableAttributeSet)st).addAttribute(StyleConstants.NameAttribute, table);
target.insertString(position, " ignored string ", st); //target is an instance of StyledDocument
After i do that my ViewFactory produces the view for this table:
public View create(Element elem)
String kind = elem.getName();
if (kind.equals(TableElementName)) //if its my previously created TableElement
MyTableView tbv = new MyTableView(elem, View.Y_AXIS); //create MyTableView
return tbv;
return super.create(elem);
My TableView is a BoxView and it contains other BoxViews, which represent Rows and Cells. Each CellView draws a border on its boundaries to visualize the table border. The result inside the JTextPane looks like this: http://img571.imageshack.us/i/tablei.png/
Now i can only type text before or after that table, but i want to be able to type inside each cell, and obviously i cant do it if i have one View for all cells. The Document of the JTextPane contains all the text elements and the tableview is just one element, something like a char or so, and i can only place the caret either before or after the table.
My idea now is to realize one simply cell: i want to be able to draw borders around a specific editable textpart and maybe change the background color, just the usual table stuff. But i don't know how to realize that. Are here any experienced developers who can give me a hint or a simple example for my problem?
I know that the HTMLEditorKit has the function
insertHTML(HTMLDocument doc, int offset, String html, int popDepth, int pushDepth, HTML.Tag insertTag)
i tried to use this function and to debug it to see how they realize a tableview but it is based on HTML and also it's way to complicated and it blew up my head.
thanks in advance

Answer 1

Honestly i dont really know if its possible to display tables by inserting HTML-Code inside the JTextPane, but i know that it is possible to display editable tables inside the JTextPane.
The open source projekt http://shef.sourceforge.net/ gives an implementation of a Wysiwyg HTML Editor. Tables with borders work very good there, but it makes use of the HTMLEditorKit (see the function insert( ... ) above). This application uses a JEditorPane, i use a JTextPane (subclass of JEditorPane) so i should be able realize tables.
My application is not related to HTML in any kind and i use my own EditorKit and ViewFactory. All i want to do is display is a simple cell with border and being able to type text inside that cell. Fact is my StyledDocument (DefaultStyledDocument to be correct) has a Tree of Elements, the LeafElements will be displayed. Right now my TableView is a LeafElement and i can't place the carret inside a LeafElement. Somehow i have to tell the Document that the Cell is a branch element abd to draw a border around it, but i don't know how to do that because it is so poorly documented and i don't know where to find example code.