Java – Create and Edit Tables in PowerPoint

Tables can be used to organize content and present it in an organized way. By using tables, your audience can see how the content in one cell relates to that in another cell. In this article, I am going introduce how to programmatically create a table in a PowerPoint presentation, and how to merge or split table cells by using Spire.Presentation for Java. 

If you use Maven, you can easily import the Spire.Presentation.jar in your application using the following configurations. For non-Maven projects, please download the jar file from this link and add it as a dependency in your program.

<repositories>
    <repository>
        <id>com.e-iceblue</id>
        <name>e-iceblue</name>
        <url>https://repo.e-iceblue.com/nexus/content/groups/public/</url>
    </repository>
</repositories>
<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId> e-iceblue </groupId>
        <artifactId>spire.presentation</artifactId>
        <version>4.10.1</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

import com.spire.presentation.*;

public class AddTable {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {

        //Create a Presentation instance
        Presentation presentation = new Presentation();
        presentation.getSlideSize().setType(SlideSizeType.SCREEN_16_X_9);

        //Define column widths and row heights
        Double[] widths = new Double[]{100d, 100d, 100d, 150d, 100d, 100d};
        Double[] heights = new Double[]{15d, 15d, 15d, 15d, 15d};

        //Add a table
        ITable table = presentation.getSlides().get(0).getShapes().appendTable(20, 70, widths, heights);

        //Define table data
        String[][] data = new String[][]{

                {"Emp#", "Name", "Job", "HiringD", "Salary", "Dept#"},
                {"7369", "Andrews", "Engineer", "05/12/2006", "1600.00", "20"},
                {"7499", "Nero", "Technician", "03/23/2006", "1800.00", "30"},
                {"7521", "Adams", "Technician", "11/03/2007", "2400.00", "30"},
                {"7566", "Martin", "Manager", "12/21/2007", "2600.00", "10"},
        };

        //Loop through the row and column of the table
        for (int i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
            for (int j = 0; j < data[i].length; j++) {

                //Fill the table with data
                table.get(j, i).getTextFrame().setText(data[i][j]);

                //Align text in each cell to center
                table.get(j, i).getTextFrame().getParagraphs().get(0).setAlignment(TextAlignmentType.CENTER);
            }
        }

        //Apply a built-in style to table
        table.setStylePreset(TableStylePreset.LIGHT_STYLE_1_ACCENT_1);

        //Save the document
        presentation.saveToFile("output/AddTable.pptx", FileFormat.PPTX_2013);
    }
}

import com.spire.presentation.*;

public class SplitOrMergeCell {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {

        //Create a Presentation instance
        Presentation presentation = new Presentation();
        presentation.getSlideSize().setType(SlideSizeType.SCREEN_16_X_9);

        //Define column widths and row heights
        Double[] widths = new Double[]{130d, 130d, 130d, 130d, 130d};
        Double[] heights = new Double[]{30d, 30d, 30d, 30d, 30d};

        //Add a table
        ITable table = presentation.getSlides().get(0).getShapes().appendTable(20, 70, widths, heights);
        table.setStylePreset(TableStylePreset.NO_STYLE_TABLE_GRID);

        //Insert text to cells
        table.get(0,0).getTextFrame().setText("First Name");
        table.get(2,0).getTextFrame().setText("Last Name");
        table.get(4,0).getTextFrame().setText("Photo");
        table.get(0,1).getTextFrame().setText("Birth Date");
        table.get(2,1).getTextFrame().setText("Email Address");
        table.get(0,2).getTextFrame().setText("Mobile");
        table.get(2,2).getTextFrame().setText("Home");
        table.get(0,3).getTextFrame().setText("Address");
        table.get(0,4).getTextFrame().setText("Additional Info");

        //Merge the neighbor cells
        table.mergeCells(table.get(4,0),table.get(4,4),false );
        table.mergeCells(table.get(1,3),table.get(3,3),false);
        table.mergeCells(table.get(1,4),table.get(3,4),false);

        //Split a cell into 3 columns
        table.get(1,1).split(1,3);
       
        //Save the document to file
        presentation.saveToFile("output/SplitAndMergeCells.pptx", FileFormat.PPTX_2013);
    }
}

·         Access an existing table

Presentation presentation = new Presentation();
presentation.loadFromFile("Table.pptx");
ITable table = null;
for (Object shape: presentation.getSlides().get(0).getShapes()
) {
    if (shape instanceof ITable){
        table = (ITable)shape;
    }
}

·         Add a row or a column

//add a row by duplicating the last row
table.getTableRows().append(table.getTableRows().get(table.getTableRows().getCount()-1));
//obtain the new 
TableRow lastRow = table.getTableRows().get(table.getTableRows().getCount()-1);
//add a column by duplicating the last column
table.getColumnsList().add(table.getColumnsList().get(table.getColumnsList().getCount()-1));
//obtain the new column added
TableColumn lastColumn = table.getColumnsList().get(table.getColumnsList().getCount()-1);

·         Insert a specific row or column to the specified position

table.getTableRows().insert(0, table.getTableRows().get(0));
table.getColumnsList().insert(0, table.getColumnsList().get(0));

·         Set the row height or column width

table.getTableRows().get(0).setHeight(50);
table.getColumnsList().get(0).setWidth(100);

·         Delete a row or a column

table.getTableRows().removeAt(0, false);
table.getColumnsList().removeAt(0, false);

·         Fill a cell with picture

table.get(0,0).getFillFormat().setFillType(FillFormatType.PICTURE);
table.get(0,0).getFillFormat().getPictureFill().getPicture().setUrl((new java.io.File("bkg.jpg")).getAbsolutePath());

·         Fill a cell with solid color

table.get(0,1).getFillFormat().setFillType(FillFormatType.SOLID);
table.get(0,1).getFillFormat().getSolidColor().setColor(Color.blue);

·         Set border color

table.setTableBorder(TableBorderType.All, 1, Color.black);

·         Set the text alignment within a cell

table.get(0,0).getTextFrame().getParagraphs().get(0).setAlignment(TextAlignmentType.CENTER);

·         Set the font name and font size of text in a cell

table.get(0,0).getTextFrame().getParagraphs().get(0).getTextRanges().get(0).setLatinFont(new TextFont("Calibri"));
table.get(0,0).getTextFrame().getParagraphs().get(0).getTextRanges().get(0).setFontHeight(20f);

·         Set the text color

table.get(0,0).getTextFrame().getParagraphs().get(0).getTextRanges().get(0).getFill().setFillType(FillFormatType.SOLID);
table.get(0,0).getTextFrame().getParagraphs().get(0).getTextRanges().get(0).getFill().getSolidColor().setColor(color.red);