Is it possible to have space between cells in iTextPdf?

Question

Does iTextPdf allow to set spacing between cells in table?

I have a table with 2 columns and I am trying to draw a border-bottom on cell. I want space between each border same as cell padding.

I am using below code:

    PdfPTable table = new PdfPTable(2);
    table.setTotalWidth(95f);
    table.setWidths(new float[]{0.5f,0.5f});
    table.setHorizontalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_CENTER);

    Font fontNormal10 = new Font(FontFamily.TIMES_ROMAN, 10, Font.NORMAL);
    PdfPCell cell = new PdfPCell(new Phrase("Performance", fontNormal10));
    cell.setVerticalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_MIDDLE);
    cell.setHorizontalAlignment(Element.ALIGN_LEFT);
    cell.setBorder(Rectangle.BOTTOM);
    cell.setPaddingLeft(10f);
    cell.setPaddingRight(10f);

    table.addCell(cell);
    table.addCell(cell);
    table.addCell(cell);
    table.addCell(cell);

    document.add(table);

How do I do this?

Answer 1

You probably want this effect:

That is explained in my book, more specifically in the PressPreviews example.

You need to remove the borders first:

cell.setBorder(PdfPCell.NO_BORDER);

And you need to draw the border yourself in a cell event:

public class MyBorder implements PdfPCellEvent {
    public void cellLayout(PdfPCell cell, Rectangle position,
        PdfContentByte[] canvases) {
        float x1 = position.getLeft() + 2;
        float x2 = position.getRight() - 2;
        float y1 = position.getTop() - 2;
        float y2 = position.getBottom() + 2;
        PdfContentByte canvas = canvases[PdfPTable.LINECANVAS];
        canvas.rectangle(x1, y1, x2 - x1, y2 - y1);
        canvas.stroke();
    }
}

You declare the cell event to the cell like this:

cell.setCellEvent(new MyBorder());

In my example, I add or subtract 2 user units from the cell's dimensions. In your case, you could define a padding p and then add or subtract p / 2 from the cell dimensions in your PdfPCellEvent implementation.