Tables are represented by the PdfTable object creatable via the CreateTable method of the PdfDocument object.

PdfTable is a free-floating entity. It is not tied to a canvas, page or any other object. Creating or changing a PdfTable object has no effect on the appearance of the document until the table, or any portion thereof, is rendered onto a canvas via the Canvas.DrawTable method. The same table can be drawn on multiple pages, or be part of one or more PdfGraphics objects.

7.1.1 Table Creation Parameters

The Doc.CreateTable method requires two parameters: Width and Height (in default user units). The number of columns and rows in the table is specified via Cols and Rows, respectively. These parameters are both 1 by default. When a table is created, all rows and columns are spaced out evenly within the table.

A generic table has an outer border, and several rows of cells. Each cell has a border of its own. Cells are separated from each other and the outer border by a margin. The following diagram illustrates various table parameters:

A table's origin is located in the upper-left corner of the table. The y axis still extends upwards, so all y-coordinates of the cells are negative.

Border is the width of the table's outer border (0 by default.)

CellBorder is the width of all cell borders (1 by default.) CellSpacing is the width of a margin that separates individual cells from each other and the outer border (0 by default).

CellPadding is the width of a margin within a cell that separates text written in that cell from the cell's borders (0 by default.)

The table colors are specified by the following parameters: BorderColor (the color of the outer border, black by default), CellBorderColor (the color of all cell borders, black by default), BgColor (the color of areas between cells, transparent by default), and CellBgColor (the color of areas within cell borders, transparent by default).

The DrawTable method also accepts an optional MaxHeight parameter which limits the vertical space the table can occupy on a canvas. By default, the limit is the bottom of the canvas. If a row does not fully fit in the space provided, it is not rendered, and neither are the rows that follow.

The DrawTable method is capable of rendering only a certain range of rows, or a set of ranges. This is especially handy when you need to render a large table that spans several pages, and you want the header and/or footer rows of the table to be present on each page. The row ranges are specified via the parameters RowFrom - RowTo, RowFrom1 - RowTo1, RowFrom2- RowTo2, etc.

DrawTable returns the index of the last row it managed to render.

The following code sample renders a multi-page report from data residing in a database table. This sample dynamically appends pages to the PDF document as needed to accommodate the table. The data for this code sample is taken from the MS Access file asppdf.mdb residing in the \Samples\Db subdirectory of the installation.

C#

PdfManager objPdf = new PdfManager(); // Create empty param objects to be used across the app PdfParam objParam = objPdf.CreateParam(); PdfParam objTextParam = objPdf.CreateParam(); // Create empty document PdfDocument objDoc = objPdf.CreateDocument(); // Create table with one row (header), and 5 columns PdfTable objTable = objDoc.CreateTable("width=500;height=20;Rows=1;Cols=5;Border=1;CellSpacing=-1;cellpadding=2"); // Set default table font objTable.Font = objDoc.Fonts["Helvetica"]; PdfRow objHeaderRow = objTable.Rows[1]; objParam.Set("alignment=center"); objHeaderRow.BgColor = 0x90F0FE; objHeaderRow[1].AddText( "Category", objParam ); objHeaderRow[2].AddText( "Description", objParam ); objHeaderRow[3].AddText( "Billable", objParam ); objHeaderRow[4].AddText( "Date", objParam ); objHeaderRow[5].AddText( "Amount", objParam ); // Set column widths objHeaderRow[1].Width = 80; objHeaderRow[2].Width = 160; objHeaderRow[3].Width = 50; objHeaderRow[4].Width = 70; objHeaderRow[5].Width = 60; objParam.Set( "expand=true" ); // expand cells vertically // Build OLE DB connection string String strConnect = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" + Server.MapPath("..\\db\\asppdf.mdb"); // If you use SQL Server, the connecton string must look something like this: // strConnect = "Provider=SQLOLEDB;Server=MYSRV;Database=master;UID=sa;PWD=xxx" OleDbConnection myConnection = new OleDbConnection( strConnect ); myConnection.Open(); OleDbDataAdapter myDataAdapter = new OleDbDataAdapter ("select * from report", myConnection); DataSet myDataSet = new DataSet(); myDataAdapter.Fill( myDataSet, "report" ); // Populate table with data DataTable tbl = myDataSet.Tables[0]; int nCount = tbl.Rows.Count; for( int i = 0; i < nCount; i++ ) { PdfRow objRow = objTable.Rows.Add(20); // row height objParam.Add( "alignment=left" ); objRow[1].AddText( tbl.Rows[i]["Category"].ToString(), objParam ); objRow[2].AddText( tbl.Rows[i]["Description"].ToString(), objParam ); objParam.Add( "alignment=center" ); String strBillable; if( tbl.Rows[i]["Billable"].ToString() == "True" ) strBillable = "Yes"; else strBillable = "No"; DateTime dt = new DateTime(); dt = (DateTime)tbl.Rows[i]["ExpenseDate"]; objRow[3].AddText( strBillable, objParam ); objRow[4].AddText(dt.ToString("MMM dd, yyyy"), objParam); float fAmount = Decimal.ToSingle( (Decimal)tbl.Rows[i]["Amount"] ); objParam.Add( "alignment=right" ); objRow[5].AddText( fAmount.ToString("0,0.00"), objParam ); } // Render table on document, add pages as necessary PdfPage objPage = objDoc.Pages.Add(612, 150); objParam.Clear(); objParam["x"] = (objPage.Width - objTable.Width) / 2; // center table on page objParam["y"] = objPage.Height - 20; objParam["MaxHeight"] = 100; int nFirstRow = 2; // use this to print record count on page while( true ) { // Draw table. This method returns last visible row index int nLastRow = objPage.Canvas.DrawTable( objTable, objParam ); // Print record numbers objTextParam["x"] = (objPage.Width - objTable.Width) / 2; objTextParam["y"] = objPage.Height - 5; objTextParam.Add("color=darkgreen"); String strTextStr = "Records " + (nFirstRow - 1) + " to " + (nLastRow - 1) + " of " + (objTable.Rows.Count - 1 ); objPage.Canvas.DrawText( strTextStr, objTextParam, objDoc.Fonts["Courier-Bold"] ); if( nLastRow >= objTable.Rows.Count ) break; // entire table displayed // Display remaining part of table on the next page objPage = objPage.NextPage; objParam.Add( "RowTo=1; RowFrom=1" ); // Row 1 is header - must always be present. objParam["RowFrom1"] = nLastRow + 1; // RowTo1 is omitted and presumed infinite nFirstRow = nLastRow + 1; } // Save document, the Save method returns generated file name String strFilename = objDoc.Save( Server.MapPath("report.pdf"), false );

VB.NET

Dim objPdf As PdfManager = New PdfManager() ' Create empty param objects to be used across the app Dim objParam As PdfParam = objPdf.CreateParam() Dim objTextParam As PdfParam = objPdf.CreateParam() ' Create empty document Dim objDoc As PdfDocument = objPdf.CreateDocument() ' Create table with one row (header), and 5 columns Dim objTable As PdfTable = _ objDoc.CreateTable("width=500;height=20;Rows=1;Cols=5;Border=1;CellSpacing=-1;cellpadding=2") ' Set default table font objTable.Font = objDoc.Fonts("Helvetica") Dim objHeaderRow As PdfRow = objTable.Rows(1) objParam.Set("alignment=center") objHeaderRow.BgColor = &H90F0FE objHeaderRow(1).AddText("Category", objParam) objHeaderRow(2).AddText("Description", objParam) objHeaderRow(3).AddText("Billable", objParam) objHeaderRow(4).AddText("Date", objParam) objHeaderRow(5).AddText("Amount", objParam) ' Set column widths objHeaderRow(1).Width = 80 objHeaderRow(2).Width = 160 objHeaderRow(3).Width = 50 objHeaderRow(4).Width = 70 objHeaderRow(5).Width = 60 objParam.Set("expand=true") ' expand cells vertically ' Build OLE DB connection string Dim strConnect As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" + _ Server.MapPath("..\db\asppdf.mdb") ' If you use SQL Server, the connecton string must look something like this: ' strConnect = "Provider=SQLOLEDB;Server=MYSRV;Database=master;UID=sa;PWD=xxx" Dim myConnection As OleDbConnection = New OleDbConnection(strConnect) myConnection.Open() Dim myDataAdapter As OleDbDataAdapter = New OleDbDataAdapter("select * from report", myConnection) Dim myDataSet As DataSet = New DataSet() myDataAdapter.Fill(myDataSet, "report") ' Populate table with data Dim tbl As DataTable = myDataSet.Tables(0) Dim nCount As Integer = tbl.Rows.Count For i As Integer = 0 To nCount - 1 Dim objRow As PdfRow = objTable.Rows.Add(20) ' row height objParam.Add("alignment=left") objRow(1).AddText(tbl.Rows(i)("Category").ToString(), objParam) objRow(2).AddText(tbl.Rows(i)("Description").ToString(), objParam) objParam.Add("alignment=center") Dim strBillable As String If tbl.Rows(i)("Billable").ToString() = "True" Then strBillable = "Yes" Else strBillable = "No" End If Dim dt As DateTime = New DateTime() dt = CType(tbl.Rows(i)("ExpenseDate"), DateTime) objRow(3).AddText(strBillable, objParam) objRow(4).AddText(dt.ToString("MMM dd, yyyy"), objParam) Dim fAmount As Single = Decimal.ToSingle(CType(tbl.Rows(i)("Amount"), Decimal)) objParam.Add("alignment=right") objRow.Cells(5).AddText(fAmount.ToString("0,0.00"), objParam) Next ' Render table on document, add pages as necessary Dim objPage As PdfPage = objDoc.Pages.Add(612, 150) objParam.Clear() objParam("x") = (objPage.Width - objTable.Width) / 2 ' center table on page objParam("y") = objPage.Height - 20 objParam("MaxHeight") = 100 Dim nFirstRow As Integer = 2 ' use this to print record count on page While True ' Draw table. This method returns last visible row index Dim nLastRow As Integer = objPage.Canvas.DrawTable(objTable, objParam) ' Print record numbers objTextParam("x") = (objPage.Width - objTable.Width) / 2 objTextParam("y") = objPage.Height - 5 objTextParam.Add("color=darkgreen") Dim strTextStr As String = "Records " + (nFirstRow - 1).ToString() + _ " to " + (nLastRow - 1).ToString() + _ " of " + (objTable.Rows.Count - 1).ToString() objPage.Canvas.DrawText(strTextStr, objTextParam, objDoc.Fonts("Courier-Bold")) If nLastRow >= objTable.Rows.Count Then Exit While ' entire table displayed ' Display remaining part of table on the next page objPage = objPage.NextPage objParam.Add("RowTo=1; RowFrom=1") ' Row 1 is header - must always be present. objParam("RowFrom1") = nLastRow + 1 ' RowTo1 is omitted and presumed infinite nFirstRow = nLastRow + 1 End While ' Save document, the Save method returns generated file name Dim strFilename As String = objDoc.Save(Server.MapPath("report.pdf"), False)

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