Java Setting tab size in table cell renderer

Question

I have a class which extends DefaultTableCellRenderer, which renders strings in a monospace font, with a particular color. By default, it appears that tabs are not rendered at all (0 spaces). How can I set the tab size and/or cause them to be rendered?

edits: By "tabs" i mean tab characters, which I would just like to be rendered as some number of spaces. rewriting the string is an option, but I figured there was a better way.

Answer 1

Half baked answer: replace them with space characters, the quantity you need (need some computing if used beyond just indentation of lines).

Answer 2

DefaultTableCellRenderer is a JLabel and does what a JLabel will do. I suggest you make yourself a custom TableCellRenderer and return a JPanel with two or more JLabels laid out appropriately. Alternatively a JComponent that override paintComponent to draw as you wish.

Note: attempting to use HTML in renderers is a really bad idea performance wise.