How to split a TableView (JavaFX11) in n parts for saving as png

Question

Problem: I want to save a document containing the data of a TableView in n parts. The function should split the table every 10th element and save each ten Elements in clean tables. I already found an example for pagination and tried to make use of the modulo % operator but it behaves strange to me.

private void printDoc() {

createDemoData();   // creates a set of 20 rows

Stage stage = (Stage) tableView.getScene().getWindow();
TableView<Receipt> tempTableView = tableView; // copy tableView to tempTableView

int size = tempTableView.getItems().size();

tableView.getItems().removeAll();
tableView.refresh();

for(int i=1; i<size; i++) 
{ 

    tableView.getItems().set(i,tempTableView.getItems().get(i));
    if (i % 10 == 0)
    { 
               // params: filename, fxml node
        saveAsPng("page" + i, stage.getScene().lookup("#doc"));
        tableView.getItems().removeAll();
        tableView.refresh();
    } 
}

} The saveAsPng() function just uses the snapshot function of javafx.

The output looks like this for both png files:

the output image showing a TableView

Both times there are all 20 elements in the table. But i want to have it splited every 10th element in seperate table files for printing a receipt over more than one page with accurate looking header, footer and in the middle of the document i want to print a table with static/fixed dimensions.

Answer 1

You can try something similar to the code below. The code prints the TableView with ten items. It then clears the TableView and adds ten more items to print. It will continue this process until all of the items are printed.

It opens the print dialog. This will allow you to save the print as a PDF to view it instead of wasting paper.

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collection;
import java.util.List;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
import javafx.geometry.Insets;
import javafx.geometry.Pos;
import javafx.print.PrinterJob;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.control.TableColumn;
import javafx.scene.control.TableView;
import javafx.scene.control.cell.PropertyValueFactory;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.scene.paint.Color;
import javafx.scene.text.Font;
import javafx.scene.text.FontWeight;
import javafx.scene.text.Text;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

public class FxTableViewExample1 extends Application
{

    private TableView<Book> table;
    private ObservableList<Book> data;
    private Text actionStatus;

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {

        Application.launch(args);
    }

    @Override
    public void start(Stage primaryStage)
    {

        primaryStage.setTitle("Table View Example 1");

        // Books label
        Label label = new Label("Books");
        label.setTextFill(Color.DARKBLUE);
        label.setFont(Font.font("Calibri", FontWeight.BOLD, 36));
        HBox hb = new HBox();
        hb.setAlignment(Pos.CENTER);
        hb.getChildren().add(label);

        // Table view, data, columns and properties
        table = new TableView();
        data = getInitialTableData();
        table.setItems(data);

        TableColumn titleCol = new TableColumn("Title");
        titleCol.setCellValueFactory(new PropertyValueFactory("title"));
        TableColumn authorCol = new TableColumn("Author");
        authorCol.setCellValueFactory(new PropertyValueFactory("author"));

        table.getColumns().setAll(titleCol, authorCol);
        table.setPrefWidth(450);
        table.setPrefHeight(300);
        table.setColumnResizePolicy(TableView.CONSTRAINED_RESIZE_POLICY);

        // Status message text
        actionStatus = new Text();
        actionStatus.setFill(Color.FIREBRICK);

        Button button = new Button("Print");

        // Vbox
        VBox vbox = new VBox(20);
        vbox.setPadding(new Insets(25, 25, 25, 25));;
        vbox.getChildren().addAll(hb, table, actionStatus, button);

        // Scene
        Scene scene = new Scene(vbox, 500, 475); // w x h
        primaryStage.setScene(scene);
        primaryStage.show();

        // Select the first row
        table.getSelectionModel().select(0);
        Book book = table.getSelectionModel().getSelectedItem();
        actionStatus.setText(book.toString());

        List<List<Book>> bookLists = partition(data, 10);

        button.setOnAction((event) -> {
            PrinterJob printerJob = PrinterJob.createPrinterJob();
            printerJob.showPrintDialog(primaryStage);
            for (int i = 0; i < bookLists.size(); i++) {
                data.clear();
                data.addAll(bookLists.get(i));
                printerJob.printPage(table);
            }

            printerJob.endJob();

        });

    }

    private ObservableList getInitialTableData()
    {
        List list = new ArrayList();
        list.add(new Book("The Thief", "Fuminori Nakamura"));
        list.add(new Book("Of Human Bondage", "Somerset Maugham"));
        list.add(new Book("The Bluest Eye", "Toni Morrison"));
        list.add(new Book("I Am Ok You Are Ok", "Thomas Harris"));
        list.add(new Book("Magnificent Obsession", "Lloyd C Douglas"));
        list.add(new Book("100 Years of Solitude", "Gabriel Garcia Marquez"));
        list.add(new Book("What the Dog Saw", "Malcolm Gladwell"));
        list.add(new Book("The Fakir", "Ruzbeh Bharucha"));
        list.add(new Book("The Hobbit", "J.R.R. Tolkien"));
        list.add(new Book("Strange Life of Ivan Osokin", "P.D. Ouspensky"));
        list.add(new Book("The Hunt for Red October", "Tom Clancy"));
        list.add(new Book("Coma", "Robin Cook"));

        list.add(new Book("A Catskill Eagle", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("The Children of Men", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("Clouds of Witness", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("A Confederacy of Dunces", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("Consider Phlebas", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("Consider the Lilies", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("Cover Her Face", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("The Cricket on the Hearth", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("The Daffodil Sky", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("Dance Dance Dance", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("A Darkling Plain", "xxx"));

        list.add(new Book("The Thief", "Fuminori Nakamura"));
        list.add(new Book("Of Human Bondage", "Somerset Maugham"));
        list.add(new Book("The Bluest Eye", "Toni Morrison"));
        list.add(new Book("I Am Ok You Are Ok", "Thomas Harris"));
        list.add(new Book("Magnificent Obsession", "Lloyd C Douglas"));
        list.add(new Book("100 Years of Solitude", "Gabriel Garcia Marquez"));
        list.add(new Book("What the Dog Saw", "Malcolm Gladwell"));
        list.add(new Book("The Fakir", "Ruzbeh Bharucha"));
        list.add(new Book("The Hobbit", "J.R.R. Tolkien"));
        list.add(new Book("Strange Life of Ivan Osokin", "P.D. Ouspensky"));
        list.add(new Book("The Hunt for Red October", "Tom Clancy"));
        list.add(new Book("Coma", "Robin Cook"));

        list.add(new Book("A Catskill Eagle", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("The Children of Men", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("Clouds of Witness", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("A Confederacy of Dunces", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("Consider Phlebas", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("Consider the Lilies", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("Cover Her Face", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("The Cricket on the Hearth", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("The Daffodil Sky", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("Dance Dance Dance", "xxx"));
        list.add(new Book("A Darkling Plain", "xxx"));

        return FXCollections.observableList(list);
    }

    private static <T> List<List<T>> partition(Collection<T> members, int maxSize)
    {
        List<List<T>> res = new ArrayList<>();

        List<T> internal = new ArrayList<>();

        for (T member : members) {
            internal.add(member);

            if (internal.size() == maxSize) {
                res.add(internal);
                internal = new ArrayList<>();
            }
        }
        if (internal.isEmpty() == false) {
            res.add(internal);
        }
        return res;
    }
}