Creating Custom Layout Tables with RadPdfProcessing
Environment
| Version | Product | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 2024.3.806 | RadPdfProcessing | Desislava Yordanova |
Description
Creating tables with customized layouts, including varying column spans, is a common requirement for document processing. This article demonstrates how to achieve a table with multiple rows, each having a different column layout, using the RadPdfProcessing library.
Here is demonstrated a sample design for such a custom layout:
Solution
Before starting with the solution, let's divide the table columns with red lines for better understanding how to build the layout:
To create a table with varying column layouts, follow the steps below:
- Define a
Tableand set itsLayoutTypetoAutoFit. Customize theDefaultCellPropertiesto set padding and borders for the cells. - Add table rows using
table.Rows.AddTableRow(). - For each row, add cells using
row.Cells.AddTableCell(). Customize each cell's content by adding blocks of text with specific styles (e.g., font family, font style, font weight). - To change the column layout, set the
ColumnSpanproperty of the cells accordingly. - To adjust the row height, insert content with the desired height in each cell or use the
Paddingproperty for minor adjustments.
Here's an example code snippet demonstrating the setup:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
RadFixedDocument fixedDocument = new RadFixedDocument();
RadFixedPage page = new RadFixedPage();
page.Size = new Size(1200, 800);
fixedDocument.Pages.Add(page);
FixedContentEditor editor = new FixedContentEditor(page);
editor.Position.Translate(Unit.CmToDip(2), Unit.CmToDip(2));
editor.DrawTable(GenerateCustomTable());
string outputFilePath = "sample.pdf";
File.Delete(outputFilePath);
PdfFormatProvider provider = new PdfFormatProvider();
using (Stream output = File.OpenWrite(outputFilePath))
{
provider.Export(fixedDocument, output);
}
Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo() { FileName = outputFilePath, UseShellExecute = true });
}
private static Table GenerateCustomTable()
{
Border blackBorder = new Border(1, new RgbColor(0, 0, 0));
Table table = new Table
{
LayoutType = TableLayoutType.AutoFit,
DefaultCellProperties =
{
Padding = new Thickness(5, 5, 5, 5),
Borders = new TableCellBorders(blackBorder, blackBorder, blackBorder, blackBorder)
}
};
TableRow row = table.Rows.AddTableRow();
TableCell cell = row.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Truck-Reference");
cell.ColumnSpan = 5;
TableCell cell2 = row.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell2.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Date:");
cell2.ColumnSpan = 2;
TableRow row2 = table.Rows.AddTableRow();
TableCell cell3 = row2.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell3.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Appointment:");
cell3.ColumnSpan = 7;
TableRow row3 = table.Rows.AddTableRow();
TableCell cell4 = row3.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell4.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "CtrNr.:");
cell4.ColumnSpan = 2;
TableCell cell5 = row3.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell5.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Type:");
cell5.ColumnSpan = 2;
TableCell cell6 = row3.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell6.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Tara(kg):");
cell6.ColumnSpan = 2;
TableCell cell7 = row3.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell7.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Net(kg):");
cell7.ColumnSpan = 1;
TableRow row4 = table.Rows.AddTableRow();
TableCell cell8 = row4.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell8.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Content:");
cell8.ColumnSpan = 7;
TableRow row5 = table.Rows.AddTableRow();
TableCell cell9 = row5.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell9.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "License Truck:");
cell9.ColumnSpan = 3;
TableCell cell10 = row5.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell10.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Trailer:");
cell10.ColumnSpan = 4;
TableRow row6 = table.Rows.AddTableRow();
TableCell cell11 = row6.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell11.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Full Cont.:");
cell11.ColumnSpan = 7;
TableRow row7 = table.Rows.AddTableRow();
TableCell cell12 = row7.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell12.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Depot:");
cell12.ColumnSpan = 3;
TableCell cell13 = row7.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell13.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Available:");
cell13.ColumnSpan = 4;
TableRow row8 = table.Rows.AddTableRow();
TableCell cell14 = row8.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell14.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Loadingplace:");
cell14.ColumnSpan = 7;
TableRow row9 = table.Rows.AddTableRow();
TableCell cell15 = row9.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell15.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Reference:");
cell15.ColumnSpan = 3;
TableCell cell16 = row9.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell16.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Origin:");
cell16.ColumnSpan = 4;
TableRow row10 = table.Rows.AddTableRow();
TableCell cell17 = row10.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell17.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Info Driver:");
cell17.ColumnSpan = 7;
TableRow row11 = table.Rows.AddTableRow();
TableCell cell18 = row11.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell18.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Remarks:");
cell18.ColumnSpan = 7;
TableRow row12 = table.Rows.AddTableRow();
TableCell cell19 = row12.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell19.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Customs:");
cell19.ColumnSpan = 1;
TableCell cell20 = row12.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell20.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Procedure:");
cell20.ColumnSpan = 4;
TableCell cell21 = row12.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell21.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Info:");
cell21.ColumnSpan = 2;
TableRow row13 = table.Rows.AddTableRow();
TableCell cell22 = row13.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell22.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Arrical/Date/Time:");
cell22.ColumnSpan = 1;
TableCell cell23 = row13.Cells.AddTableCell();
cell23.Blocks.AddBlock().InsertText(new FontFamily("Helvetica"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Normal, "Date/Stamp/Signature:");
cell23.ColumnSpan = 6;
return table;
}
The code snippet achieves the below result:
When dealing the ColumnSpan functionality, pay attention to two important things:
The rows which contain cells with ColumnSpan should contain less text blocks, e.g. if ColumnSpan=4, you need to insert 4 text blocks less for this row. Hence, skip adding the text block for the cells participating in the ColumnSpan functionality.
For a column to exist and have a calculated width, it must contain at least one cell with content among the rows within the table.