Formatting Output

[Rahim2312]

I want to display my output in a tabular format...I need the formatting to read like this:
Name Grade Age
Richard 10 17
Sally 11 18

And so on and so forth...
I have tried using:

JOptionPane.showMessageDialog("Name" + " \t " + "Grade" + " \t " + "Age" + " \t" );

but that formatting doesn't exactly fit what I am wanting. Is there a way to set the tab to be a certain distance? I could probably enter two tabs between each of those, but I feel like that is just creating more coding than needed?

[KevinWorkman]

I'm not very clear on what you're looking for. Why exactly doesn't the approach using single tabs work? You say it doesn't exactly fit what you want, but what DOES fit what you want, exactly?

[Rahim2312]

I just realized that for some reason the forum formatted my 1st post. Let me try it like this
Name..........................Grade............... .............Age


Well the forum keeps removing my tabs so I added "." I basically want there to be two tabs between the output./

[KevinWorkman]

I just realized that for some reason the forum formatted my 1st post. Let me try it like this
Name..........................Grade............... .............Age


Well the forum keeps removing my tabs so I added "." I basically want there to be two tabs between the output./

To preserve formatting, use the code tags.

But if you want two tabs, just use two tabs. Otherwise use a gui with a layout, or custom painting.

[Rahim2312]

How would I use two tabs?

[KevinWorkman]

How would I use two tabs?

What have you tried? Part of coding is experimentation.

You do it the same way you use two of anything. If I want to print out one dot, I do this:

System.out.prinltn(".");

Then if I want to print out two dots, I do this:

System.out.println("..");

Same thing applies to tabs, newlines, whatever.

[Rahim2312]

I tried this:

JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frame, "Name" + " \t " + "\t" + "Grade" + " \t " + "\t" + "Age" );

But that isn't allowing the data that pulls in below it to line up correctly based on the lenghts of each

[KevinWorkman]

I tried this:

JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frame, "Name" + " \t " + "\t" + "Grade" + " \t " + "\t" + "Age" );

But that isn't allowing the data that pulls in below it to line up correctly based on the lenghts of each

Note that "\t\t" is the same as "\t" + "\t".

So you're saying that the lengths of the data throw off the formatting? So why not format the lengths of the data? But if you want to get more complicated than this, your best bet is to use a layout, or a JTable.

[Tolls]

If you really need this to be aligned then, presuming you are only going to view this in a monospaced font, you might have to look at some sort of String.format() thing.
There are ways in that of defining padding (at least there were in the old C stdlib versions on which this is based). It won't be tabs, but spaces.

[Rahim2312]

If you really need this to be aligned then, presuming you are only going to view this in a monospaced font, you might have to look at some sort of String.format() thing.
There are ways in that of defining padding (at least there were in the old C stdlib versions on which this is based). It won't be tabs, but spaces.

It's only going to be viewed in the JOptionPane. How could I use the String.Format() to accommodate that?

[KevinWorkman]

It's only going to be viewed in the JOptionPane. How could I use the String.Format() to accommodate that?

What have you tried?

[Rahim2312]

I tried this:

String string = "first: %s, second: %s";
String formatted = String.format(string, "one", "two");
System.out.println(formatted); // first: one, second: two

But I don't think that really fit the scenario. Is there an easy way to put Java into a "Tabular Output"

[Rahim2312]

Note that "\t\t" is the same as "\t" + "\t".

BTW Thank you for that tip! I did not know that :)

[Tolls]

I tried this:

String string = "first: %s, second: %s";
String formatted = String.format(string, "one", "two");
System.out.println(formatted); // first: one, second: two

But I don't think that really fit the scenario.

It would if you had read the docs on formatting (which are linked from the API for the format() method).
Give the second %s a width, which will pad spaces to the left (eg %20s).

Is there an easy way to put Java into a "Tabular Output"

Yes, use a JTable.

[Rahim2312]

Now I am on the right track...i will have to toy with this code and see if I can get this to work exactly as I need. Thank you for the help (I may be back :) )

[Rahim2312]

It would if you had read the docs on formatting (which are linked from the API for the format() method).
Give the second %s a width, which will pad spaces to the left (eg %20s).

Is there a way to combine two variables to display as the "first"

[Tolls]

Assuming you mean you want two variables together then pad them, you'd probably need to concatenate them first then apply them to the final format.
So something like:

String concat = String.format("%s %s", someVar, someOtherVar);
String final = String.format("%s%20s%20s", concat, third, fourth);

[Rahim2312]

Assuming you mean you want two variables together then pad them, you'd probably need to concatenate them first then apply them to the final format.
So something like:

String concat = String.format("%s %s", someVar, someOtherVar);
String final = String.format("%s%20s%20s", concat, third, fourth);

In your above code, I am assuming using concat is saying to concatenate the two variables listed above, is that correct?

		String concat = String.format("%s %s", input1, input2);
		String final = String.format("%s%20s%20s", concat, total);
		System.out.prtinln(final);

I tried using that, and it produced numerous javac errors.

[Tolls]

Sorry, my fault.
'final' is a keyword...:)