Column header splitting and merging - jasper-reports

Question

I'm building a report using iReport and Jasper Reports 4.5.0. Everything it's working fine except that I have a requirement, in the formatting of some tables that I can't resolve yet.
There are some columns which need to have title (grouping two or more columns) and subtitle (for each one), and I can't figure out how to accomplish this.
Here is an example of the final "style" needed:
| POSITION |column 2|column 3|
| x | Y | | |
------------------------------
| 10 | 20 |value|value

Answer 1

I think you are over thinking this. If you are not using Grouping on the data, which based on your example, it does not appear you do, then this is pretty basic.
Column headers are nothing but static text fields. and you can add them where ever you want in the Column Header band. Here is a stubbed out example of the JRXML so you can see what I mean.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<jasperReport xmlns="http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/jasperreports" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/jasperreports http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/xsd/jasperreport.xsd" name="report1" language="groovy" pageWidth="612" pageHeight="792" columnWidth="555" leftMargin="20" rightMargin="20" topMargin="20" bottomMargin="20" uuid="b478862e-b118-4290-8664-eae9b2966b31">
<property name="ireport.zoom" value="1.0"/>
<property name="ireport.x" value="0"/>
<property name="ireport.y" value="0"/>
<parameter name="GROUP_BY" class="java.lang.String">
<defaultValueExpression><![CDATA[]]></defaultValueExpression>
</parameter>
<field name="x" class="java.lang.String"/>
<field name="y" class="java.lang.String"/>
<field name="column1" class="java.lang.String"/>
<field name="column2" class="java.lang.String"/>
<columnHeader>
<band height="40" splitType="Stretch">
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="039d11f3-52eb-4717-9c83-34cbdcb81d6a" x="0" y="20" width="100" height="20"/>
<textElement/>
<text><![CDATA[x]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="f0d66af8-19c2-4d50-9d1a-37b1162a75a8" x="100" y="20" width="100" height="20"/>
<textElement/>
<text><![CDATA[y]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="44e3960a-31f3-444c-ad32-061af30cf82c" x="200" y="0" width="100" height="20"/>
<textElement/>
<text><![CDATA[column1]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="6d468249-5242-4cf6-a4db-7995bdea15ba" x="300" y="1" width="100" height="20"/>
<textElement/>
<text><![CDATA[column2]]></text>
</staticText>
<staticText>
<reportElement uuid="461dc8bb-a938-42ed-86c5-006732fbba4f" x="0" y="0" width="200" height="20"/>
<textElement/>
<text><![CDATA[Position]]></text>
</staticText>
</band>
</columnHeader>
<detail>
<band height="23" splitType="Stretch">
<textField>
<reportElement uuid="e2aff92b-0f47-4f78-9f49-c861c04533be" x="0" y="3" width="100" height="20"/>
<textElement/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{x}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
<textField>
<reportElement uuid="6091fb48-0bb6-422e-8520-b6e2d6e5cce1" x="100" y="3" width="100" height="20"/>
<textElement/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{y}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
<textField>
<reportElement uuid="8b32925f-256c-4026-a3f1-8e435a12ccd0" x="200" y="3" width="100" height="20"/>
<textElement/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{column1}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
<textField>
<reportElement uuid="8b9d0540-da1a-41bf-b7e8-5f2cf9141fb6" x="300" y="3" width="100" height="20"/>
<textElement/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{column2}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
</band>
</detail>
</jasperReport>

Answer 2

I was able to get multi-line column-headers with a multi-page report with the following procedure:
Set the Column Header height for table to 40px
Columns 1 & 2 had a one-line header, so these had text boxes of height=40px
code below contains xml for column 1 "Gathering System" but column 2 left out for readability)
I Grouped columns 3-5
columnGroup width="240"
columnHeader height="40"
textbox1 "Allocated Production": x="0" y="0" width="240" height="20"
textbox2 "Gas MCF": x="0" y="20" width="80" height="20"
textbox3 "Oil": x="80" y="20" width="80" height="20"
textbox3 "Water": x="160" y="20" width="80" height="20"
Column 1
<jr:column width="200" uuid="5255e943-4959-49c4-9f83-0c6567d56684">
<jr:groupFooter groupName="GatheringGroup_dsSixMonths">
<jr:cell style="Alternate_Row" height="20" rowSpan="1">
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.height" value="px"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.layout" value="com.jaspersoft.studio.editor.layout.FreeLayout"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.width" value="px"/>
<textField isStretchWithOverflow="true" pattern="#,##0.00">
<reportElement x="0" y="0" width="200" height="20" uuid="78a4370a-8d3e-4bae-9a58-47b5b947189c"/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{GatheringSystem.GatheringSystemName}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
</jr:cell>
</jr:groupFooter>
<jr:columnHeader height="40" rowSpan="1">
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.height" value="px"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.layout" value="com.jaspersoft.studio.editor.layout.FreeLayout"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.width" value="px"/>
<staticText>
<reportElement style="Crosstab_Header" x="0" y="0" width="200" height="40" uuid="9b4976a1-5deb-4edf-a4a7-39bd4375663d">
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.width" value="pixel"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.height" value="pixel"/>
</reportElement>
<text><![CDATA[Gathering System]]></text>
</staticText>
</jr:columnHeader>
<jr:detailCell height="0">
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.height" value="px"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.layout" value="com.jaspersoft.studio.editor.layout.FreeLayout"/>
</jr:detailCell>
</jr:column>
Cols 3-5 - COLUMN GROUP HAS width="240" pixels
<jr:columnGroup width="240" uuid="dc55dcaa-91d3-4450-9300-3aaea94c789a">
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.components.table.model.column.name" value="Columns [3]"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.height" value="pixel"/>
<jr:columnHeader style="Table 1_CH" height="40">
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.layout" value="com.jaspersoft.studio.editor.layout.FreeLayout"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.height" value="px"/>
First text box "Allocated Production" has height="20"px, width="240"
<staticText>
<reportElement style="Crosstab_Header" x="0" y="0" width="240" height="20" uuid="1308d33c-05c3-4a0b-8fb3-6247693a95b6">
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.height" value="px"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.layout" value="com.jaspersoft.studio.editor.layout.FreeLayout"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.y" value="pixel"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.width" value="pixel"/>
</reportElement>
<text><![CDATA[Allocated Production]]></text>
</staticText>
Second text box "Gas MCF" has height="20"px, width="80", positioned at x=0, y=20
<staticText>
<reportElement style="Crosstab_Header" x="0" y="20" width="80" height="20" uuid="3b3cacbb-232c-4a5c-afd7-e069213d6eac">
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.height" value="px"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.layout" value="com.jaspersoft.studio.editor.layout.FreeLayout"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.y" value="pixel"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.width" value="pixel"/>
</reportElement>
<text><![CDATA[Gas MCF]]></text>
</staticText>
Third text box "Oil" is positioned at x=80, y=20
<staticText>
<reportElement style="Crosstab_Header" x="80" y="20" width="80" height="20" uuid="6fd8d11e-b10c-4530-aaa7-2b2066ddc1de">
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.height" value="px"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.layout" value="com.jaspersoft.studio.editor.layout.FreeLayout"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.y" value="pixel"/>
</reportElement>
<text><![CDATA[Oil]]></text>
</staticText>
Last text box "Water" is positioned at x=160, y=20
<staticText>
<reportElement style="Crosstab_Header" x="160" y="20" width="80" height="20" uuid="4402b753-1d83-4e19-9467-47c6d5d7b173">
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.unit.height" value="px"/>
<property name="com.jaspersoft.studio.layout" value="com.jaspersoft.studio.editor.layout.FreeLayout"/>
</reportElement>
<text><![CDATA[Water]]></text>
</staticText>
</jr:columnHeader>

Answer 3

I was having the same trouble but was using a Table Component and needed that the first column didn't showed up if there aren't any rows (with the Column Header approach didn't work as I wanted)
So I solved this problem using columnGroup to wrap all the columns I needed (in your example, POSITION columns) setting to 0 the height of the rows I didn't want to show (in the example JRXML portion below you'll see it between the columnGroup tags for tableFooter, columnHeader and columnFooter)
The example below is a table component that results in something like this
+-------------------+
| POSITION |
+-------------------+---------------+---------------+
| x | y | Column1 | Column2 |
+---------+---------+---------------+---------------+
| $F{x} | $F{Y} | $F{column1} | $F{column2} |
+-------------------+---------------+---------------+
JRXML code:
<componentElement>
<reportElement x="0" y="0" width="555" height="100" uuid="b3ffd7ef-3e0f-48be-8405-545f6c9cd313"/>
<jr:table xmlns:jr="http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/jasperreports/components" xsi:schemaLocation="http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/jasperreports/components http://jasperreports.sourceforge.net/xsd/components.xsd">
<datasetRun subDataset="YOURTABLEDATASET" uuid="5f5f5dc3-96fa-40a7-b9ce-0741bf321af6">
<connectionExpression>YOURCONNECTIONORDATASOURCE</connectionExpression>
</datasetRun>
<jr:columnGroup width="340" uuid="10695d6d-0223-4bf7-93e0-82d8ff720988">
<property name="local_mesure_unitheight" value="pixel"/>
<jr:tableHeader height="40">
<staticText>
<reportElement x="0" y="0" width="340" height="40" uuid="708fab06-2d51-4e70-b17a-4c3b30ebf188"/>
<textElement verticalAlignment="Bottom"/>
<text><![CDATA[POSITION]]></text>
</staticText>
</jr:tableHeader>
<jr:tableFooter height="0"/>
<jr:columnHeader height="0"/>
<jr:columnFooter height="0"/>
<jr:column width="170" uuid="80cd4d4e-f92d-4144-8f03-1fdf8662d52f">
<jr:columnHeader height="30">
<staticText>
<reportElement x="0" y="0" width="170" height="30" uuid="ae24719f-dd68-41d8-9e1f-fffb458309d0"/>
<text><![CDATA[x]]></text>
</staticText>
</jr:columnHeader>
<jr:detailCell height="30">
<textField>
<reportElement x="0" y="0" width="170" height="30" uuid="53731196-ea6f-4378-b99a-22ee9f9ea4ba"/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{x}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
</jr:detailCell>
</jr:column>
<jr:column width="170" uuid="ae1bfc2b-69c6-422e-8db0-150ec8d66973">
<jr:columnHeader height="30">
<staticText>
<reportElement x="0" y="0" width="170" height="30" uuid="93c5f52e-67d6-40c9-afd8-1e867104d9b0"/>
<text><![CDATA[y]]></text>
</staticText>
</jr:columnHeader>
<jr:detailCell height="30">
<textField>
<reportElement x="0" y="0" width="170" height="30" uuid="60320299-d2fa-46d6-87c0-25dbe7b14d92"/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{y}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
</jr:detailCell>
</jr:column>
</jr:columnGroup>
<jr:column width="100" uuid="a2eed3c8-5862-4026-b5b3-dd516f850b44">
<jr:columnHeader height="30">
<staticText>
<reportElement x="0" y="0" width="100" height="30" uuid="9b694559-1a3d-4e68-abfe-7cd95ad447de"/>
<text><![CDATA[column1]]></text>
</staticText>
</jr:columnHeader>
<jr:detailCell height="30">
<textField>
<reportElement x="0" y="0" width="100" height="30" uuid="6c22c7d4-dde9-42f7-8564-a229e235a186"/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{column1}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
</jr:detailCell>
</jr:column>
<jr:column width="100" uuid="d57153ea-a883-4b2e-b351-b0950f4aae0d">
<property name="local_mesure_unitwidth" value="pixel"/>
<jr:columnHeader height="30">
<staticText>
<reportElement x="0" y="0" width="100" height="30" uuid="e64920ab-19de-4108-a63b-fea1484b5ba3"/>
<text><![CDATA[column2]]></text>
</staticText>
</jr:columnHeader>
<jr:detailCell height="30">
<textField>
<reportElement x="0" y="0" width="100" height="30" uuid="bfafd138-ed50-4fb4-91f4-61df26ab66fa"/>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$F{column2}]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
</jr:detailCell>
</jr:column>
</jr:table>