Tabular Expression

[dougie1809]

Hi,

In the toString method which returns all instance fields, I am trying to use the tabular expression '\t' between each of the fields. But when I test under main, it has no spaces? Sample code is below:
Thanks

public String toString()
	{
		return title +"\t"+ genre +"\t"+ year;
	}

[sehudson]

What does your output look like?

[JosAH]

Hi,

In the toString method which returns all instance fields, I am trying to use the tabular expression '\t' between each of the fields. But when I test under main, it has no spaces? Sample code is below:
Thanks

public String toString()
	{
		return title +"\t"+ genre +"\t"+ year;
	}

Maybe that's because a tab character (\u0009) is not a space character (\u0020)?

kind regards,

Jos

[sehudson]

Maybe that's because a tab character (\u0009) is not a space character (\u0020)?

kind regards,

Jos

You're right. I was assuming they meant no spacing at all between the Strings was being seen. A tab is different from a space, but a tab no doubt creates "spacing".

[dougie1809]

Sorry its not under main, the output is on a JList. The output returns three fields with no spaces.

So what expression will I use then?
Thanks

[sehudson]

So the String returned from toString() is one of the items in your JList?

[JosAH]

Sorry its not under main, the output is on a JList. The output returns three fields with no spaces.

So what expression will I use then?
Thanks

A JList is too stupid to display tabs the way you have in mind; think of a JTable instead; it has multiple columns (fields) per row.

kind regards,

Jos

[dougie1809]

Well there are two Strings and an int which are returned from the toString().
Iv'e tried the '\u0020' expression and it is a space. The other expression '\u0009' is nothing?

Well Iv'e used JList because I am using a Stack structure to push and pop items in a list.
I'd like to tab the three fields apart?
Thanks

[dougie1809]

Sorry just in case there's confusion, I want a tab space between the fields, not just a space. '\t' returns no tab spaces.
Thanks

[sehudson]

JosAH might be right, you may not be able to do what you are looking to do. You may have to manually put in the number of spaces comparable to a "\t"

[dougie1809]

Oh right. Thanks guys for your help. Doing things manually isn't so bad :P

[JosAH]

Oh right. Thanks guys for your help. Doing things manually isn't so bad :P

If you're using a monospaced font it might not be too bad, otherwise it's hell. Consider a JTable. btw a JList (or a JTextField) can't display tabs because they don't know where the tab stop positions are ...

kind regards,

Jos