Java String format

Question

I am trying to create an array of Strings to use with JList, I have a array of objects from my Book class which contains the Author name, Tittle etc... But when I use string.format and send it to my JList the text doesn't come out aligned like when I use system.out.format.

Code:

final static String FORMAT = "|%1$-25s|%2$-25s|$%3$-10.2f|%4$-15s|%5$-13s|\n";

static String[] createStringList(Book[] dataBase)
{
    String[] list = new String[dataBase.length];

    for (int i = 0; i < dataBase.length; i++)
    {
        list[i] = String.format(FORMAT, dataBase[i].getTittle(), dataBase[i].getAuthor(),
                                        dataBase[i].getBookPrice(), dataBase[i].getNumberInStock(),
                                        dataBase[i].getISBNNumber());
    }
    return list;
}

static void printout(Book[] dataBase)
{
    System.out.println("         Tittle" + "\t" + "                    Author" + "\t" + "        Price" + "\t" + "Number In Stock" + "\t" + "  ISBN Number");
    System.out.println("_____________________________________________________________________________________________");
    for (int i = 0; i < dataBase.length; i++)
    {
            System.out.format(FORMAT, dataBase[i].getTittle(), dataBase[i].getAuthor(),
                                      dataBase[i].getBookPrice(), dataBase[i].getNumberInStock(),
                                      dataBase[i].getISBNNumber());
    }
}

Result Screenshot:

As you can see, the print method aligns it fine but when I try to send it to my JList it messes up even though I am using the same code. How would I go about aligning it? I have tried playing with the values in String format = "|%1$-25s|%2$-25s|$%3$-10.2f|%4$-15s|%5$-13s|\\n"; but it doesn't seem to help.

Answer 1

The reason for your messed up alignment in the JList is because it uses (hopefully) a proportional font. You could use a monospaced one, but that will be ugly. You need to use columns in the JList (ie a table control).