jasper reports - How to draw a border around both the column header, footer and detail sections?

Question

I have a requirement to have a border that will encapsulate all the details + the column header in a report made in JasperReports + iReport. But if I try to draw a rect or a frame that goes in both the columns header, the details and column footer, I get an error saying that the element position is invalid.

I guess one option would be to use images (just like the good old HTML times without CSS...) but it would be a PITA since if a field overflow or if someone change the height or the width of a section, the image will have to change...

Any other alternatives?

Thanks.

Answer 1

To do this you can put frames into each of the bands, setting their size to fill the band completely. Then set the borders on the frames to replicate a border around all three bands, so the header has a border at the top, left and right; the footer has bottom, left and right; and the detail band has a border only on the left and right. See the example code below.

<columnHeader>
    <band height="61" splitType="Stretch">
        <frame>
            <reportElement x="0" y="0" width="555" height="61"/>
            <box>
                <topPen lineWidth="2.0" lineStyle="Solid"/>
                <leftPen lineWidth="2.0" lineStyle="Solid"/>
                <rightPen lineWidth="2.0" lineStyle="Solid"/>
            </box>
        </frame>
    </band>
</columnHeader>
<detail>
    <band height="125" splitType="Stretch">
        <frame>
            <reportElement x="0" y="0" width="555" height="125"/>
            <box>
                <leftPen lineWidth="2.0" lineStyle="Solid"/>
                <rightPen lineWidth="2.0" lineStyle="Solid"/>
            </box>
        </frame>
    </band>
</detail>
<columnFooter>
    <band height="45" splitType="Stretch">
        <frame>
            <reportElement x="0" y="0" width="555" height="45"/>
            <box>
                <leftPen lineWidth="2.0" lineStyle="Solid"/>
                <bottomPen lineWidth="2.0" lineStyle="Solid"/>
                <rightPen lineWidth="2.0" lineStyle="Solid"/>
            </box>
        </frame>
    </band>
</columnFooter>

The result should look like this: