17.1.3.5 Formatting a Table of a Sequence of Items

The example4 function shows how you can use formatting-item-list to format a table of a sequence of items when the exact arrangement of the items and the table is not important. Note that you use formatting-cell inside the body of formatting-item-list to output each item. You do not use formatting-column or formatting-row , because CLIM figures out the number of columns and rows automatically (or obeys a constraint given in a keyword argument).

(defun example4 (&optional (items *alphabet*) 

                           &key (stream *standard-output*) n-columns n-rows

                           y-spacing x-spacing 

                           max-width max-height) 

  (clim:formatting-item-list 

   (stream :y-spacing y-spacing 

           :x-spacing x-spacing 

           :n-columns n-columns :n-rows n-rows 

           :max-width max-width :max-height max-height) 

   (do () 

       ((null items)) 

     (clim:formatting-cell (stream)

                           (format stream "~A" (pop items)))))) 

Evaluating (example4 :stream *my-window*) shows this table:

     A B C D

     E F G H

     I J K L

     M N O P

     Q R S T

     U V W X

     Y Z

     A B C D E F G H

     I J K L M N O P

     Q R S T U V W X

     Y Z