How to have a column name spanning multiple lines in jasper report generation

Question

I've written jasper specification to generate PDF from a table data source. This is working fine. Now i have to add few more columns and the report is now not looking good. I'm now thinking if I can squeeze in the column names in multiple lines like the one below

Maintenance Date

to

Maintenance

Date

Is it possible to achieve this in Jasper?

Regards, Paul

Answer 1

Are your column names hard-coded? Do you just need to change "Maintenance Date" to "Maintenance\nDate" to have a carriage return?

Note: you cannot add a "\n" character to a Static Text element. You need to use a Text Field. Fortunately, you can just right-click on a Static Text element in iReport and transform it to a Text Field.

I guess that might solve it. If not, then you may need to make the question clearer.

Answer 2

If you are using JasperReports API you can use this sample:

    //Detail
    band = new JRDesignBand();
    band.setHeight(40);

    JRDesignStaticText staticText = new JRDesignStaticText();
    staticText.setX(0);
    staticText.setY(0);
    staticText.setWidth(60);
    staticText.setHeight(20);
    staticText.setMode(ModeEnum.OPAQUE);
    staticText.setHorizontalAlignment(HorizontalAlignEnum.LEFT);
    staticText.setStyle(boldStyle);
    staticText.setText("ID: ");
    staticText.getLineBox().getLeftPen().setLineWidth(1);
    staticText.getLineBox().getTopPen().setLineWidth(1);
    staticText.getLineBox().setLeftPadding(10);
    band.addElement(staticText);

    textField = new JRDesignTextField();
    textField.setX(60);
    textField.setY(0);
    textField.setWidth(200);
    textField.setHeight(20);
    textField.setHorizontalAlignment(HorizontalAlignEnum.LEFT);
    textField.setStyle(normalStyle);
    expression = new JRDesignExpression();
    expression.setValueClass(java.lang.Integer.class);
    expression.setText("$F{Id}");
    textField.setExpression(expression);
    textField.getLineBox().getTopPen().setLineWidth(1);
    textField.getLineBox().getRightPen().setLineWidth(1);
    textField.getLineBox().setLeftPadding(10);
    band.addElement(textField);

    staticText = new JRDesignStaticText();
    staticText.setX(0);
    staticText.setY(20);
    staticText.setWidth(60);
    staticText.setHeight(20);
    staticText.setMode(ModeEnum.OPAQUE);
    staticText.setHorizontalAlignment(HorizontalAlignEnum.LEFT);
    staticText.setStyle(boldStyle);
    staticText.setText("Name: ");
    staticText.getLineBox().getLeftPen().setLineWidth(1);
    staticText.getLineBox().getBottomPen().setLineWidth(1);
    staticText.getLineBox().setLeftPadding(10);
    band.addElement(staticText);


    textField = new JRDesignTextField();
    textField.setStretchWithOverflow(true);
    textField.setX(60);
    textField.setY(20);
    textField.setWidth(200);
    textField.setHeight(20);
    textField.setPositionType(PositionTypeEnum.FLOAT);
    textField.setStyle(normalStyle);
    expression = new JRDesignExpression();
    expression.setValueClass(java.lang.String.class);
    expression.setText("$F{FirstName} + \" \" + $F{LastName}");
    textField.setExpression(expression);
    textField.getLineBox().getRightPen().setLineWidth(1);
    textField.getLineBox().getBottomPen().setLineWidth(1);
    textField.getLineBox().setLeftPadding(10);
    band.addElement(textField);

    ((JRDesignSection) jasperDesign.getDetailSection()).addBand(band);

The result will be:

This is almost identical to this snippet of jrxml file:

<detail>
    <band height="40" splitType="Stretch">
        <staticText>
            <reportElement x="0" y="0" width="60" height="20"/>
            <box leftPadding="10">
                <topPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
                <leftPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
            </box>
            <textElement/>
            <text><![CDATA[ID: ]]></text>
        </staticText>
        <textField>
            <reportElement x="60" y="0" width="200" height="20"/>
            <box leftPadding="10">
                <topPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
                <rightPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
            </box>
            <textElement/>
            <textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{Id}]]></textFieldExpression>
        </textField>
        <staticText>
            <reportElement x="0" y="20" width="60" height="20"/>
            <box leftPadding="10">
                <leftPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
                <bottomPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
            </box>
            <textElement/>
            <text><![CDATA[Name: ]]></text>
        </staticText>
        <textField>
            <reportElement x="60" y="20" width="200" height="20"/>
            <box leftPadding="10">
                <bottomPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
                <rightPen lineWidth="1.0"/>
            </box>
            <textElement/>
            <textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{FirstName} + " " + $F{LastName}]]></textFieldExpression>
        </textField>
    </band>
</detail>