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How to create a table with complex borders?

I need to create a table with rounded and rectangular borders.

The table should look like this:

Table with complex borders

Can anyone explain how I would start creating such a table?

Posted on StackOverflow on Jul 9, 2015 by Md. Asaduzzaman

Please take a look at the NestedTableRoundedBorder example. It creates a PDF that looks like this: nested_table_rounded_border.pdf

Table with complex borders

Table with complex borders

This construction consists of nested tables. The outer table only has one column, but we use it to create the rounded corners:

class RoundRectangle implements PdfPCellEvent {
    public void cellLayout(PdfPCell cell, Rectangle rect,
            PdfContentByte[] canvas) {
        PdfContentByte cb = canvas[PdfPTable.LINECANVAS];
        cb.roundRectangle(
            rect.getLeft() + 1.5f, rect.getBottom() + 1.5f, rect.getWidth() - 3,
            rect.getHeight() - 3, 4);
        cb.stroke();
    }
}

This cell event is used like this:

cell = new PdfPCell(innertable);
cell.setCellEvent(roundRectangle);
cell.setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
cell.setPadding(8);
outertable.addCell(cell);

The inner tables are used to create cells with or without borders, for instance like this:

// inner table 1
PdfPTable innertable = new PdfPTable(5);
innertable.setWidths(new int[]{8, 12, 1, 4, 12});
// first row
// column 1
cell = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Record Ref:"));
cell.setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
innertable.addCell(cell);
// column 2
cell = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("GN Staff"));
cell.setPaddingLeft(2);
innertable.addCell(cell);
// column 3
cell = new PdfPCell();
cell.setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
innertable.addCell(cell);
// column 4
cell = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Date: "));
cell.setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
innertable.addCell(cell);
// column 5
cell = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("30/4/2015"));
cell.setPaddingLeft(2);
innertable.addCell(cell);
// spacing
cell = new PdfPCell();
cell.setColspan(5);
cell.setFixedHeight(3);
cell.setBorder(Rectangle.NO_BORDER);
innertable.addCell(cell);

If some of the dimensions are quite like you want, it's sufficient to change parameters such as the widths array, the padding, the fixed height, etc.

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