How to make indent of multiline text

[RangerMak]

I need to make paragraphs and lists (bulleted and numbered). How to make indentation of multiline text with prefix (bullet symbol or another text)?

[phax]

That is a very good question - I haven't done this myself yet.... If you are willing to brainstorm with me, we could use this thread.

[RangerMak]

For simple indent i'm use function

private PLHBox makeIndentedPLHBox(String prefix, EHorzAlignment prefixHorizAlignment,
                                    String text, EHorzAlignment textHorizAlignment,
                                    FontSpec fontSpec, float indentSize) {

    EHorzAlignment prefHAl = prefixHorizAlignment;
    if (prefHAl == null) {
      prefHAl = EHorzAlignment.DEFAULT;
    }

    EHorzAlignment txtHAL = textHorizAlignment;
    if (txtHAL == null) {
      txtHAL = EHorzAlignment.DEFAULT;
    }

    PLHBox plhBox = new PLHBox();
    plhBox.addColumn(new PLBox(new PLText(prefix, fontSpec)).setHorzAlign(prefHAl), WidthSpec.abs(indentSize));
    plhBox.addColumn(new PLText(text, fontSpec).setHorzAlign(txtHAL), WidthSpec.auto());

    return plhBox;
  }

With it i can make lists.

But i still have problem with text flows around indent box.

[phax]

Okay that looks like a reasonable start. As I have done quite some work on tables (cell splitting, repeating headers etc.) I suggest to use that as the basis. Could we do an API like this:

interface IBulletPointCreator {
  String getBulletPointText (int nIndex);
}

class PLBulletPointList implements IPLElement {
  setLeftWidth (WidthSpec IndentWidth);
  setBulletPointCreator (IBulletPointCreator  bpc);
  void addListItem (IPLElement<?> aElement);
}

That would:

• Add arbitrary elements (with arbitrary styling) as bullet point items
• Allow nested bullet point lists
• Allow for arbitrary "bullet points" (like dots, numbers, letters, etc.)
• Render as a big table with 2 columns

What do you think?

[RangerMak]

I have some doubt about rendering as table. How this elements will copy/paste from result PDF to another editors?

[phax]

That is a very good question I cannot answer. Basically the table also "just" aligned text. There is no such construct in PDF. When copy pasting I think it is important that the "baseline" of the stuff is the same. And if the text is "en-block" inside the PDF it will also help I guess... But we basically need to try it

[phax]

A first version based on a table works. Using the Symbol font with vertical alignment was a bit tricky, but the output look okay to me. Everything should be customizable enough.

[phax]

Part of 5.1.0 release