printing TABS in strings

[Thomas Whalen]

I am boggled with this, being new to Java and all. Why is it that the following code will not allow me to print TABS in strings? (i.e., tabs="testing\tone\ttwo\tthree"
Here is my code:

  
// this program prints a string with tabs in it
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.Graphics;
public class Tabs extends JApplet
{
String tabs;

public void init()
{
tabs = "three columns:\tONE\tTWO\tTHREE";
}

public void paint(Graphics g)
{
super.paint(g);

g.drawRect(25, 25, 300, 200);

g.drawString(tabs, 50, 50);
}
}

[Thomas Whalen]

I should have added that when I run that code (using Java 1.4.1_01 on the Debian operating system), it just prints out that string with all the words crammed together, inside the box. This is wierd.

[Layne Lund]

It seems like the drawString() method doesn't know how to deal with special characters, such as tab. I would suggest you split the String up and use separate drawString() calls with the appropriate x and y arguments to position them where you want.

[Thomas Whalen]

Thanks
Surely there is some other way to do this? Using separate drawString() methods is rather inefficient, isn't it?
The Deitel & Deitel book just mentioned the "\t" character, but didn't give an example using it. Now I know why, considering that the character was mentioned in Chapter 2, I believe.

[Layne Lund]

Well, if you are doing a text-based program, the \t character can be quite useful. It will print as expected if you do something like

System.println("three columns:\tONE\tTWO\tTHREE");  

[Thomas Whalen]

Correct, but that isn't what I want. I want to do this within an applet. Can it just not be done without sprinkling drawString() methods for every word to be tabbed?

[Dirk Schreckmann]

Perhaps someone over in The Swing / JFC / AWT Forum has an explanation...