Split up strings into RTF table cells and max total width - vb.net

Question

VB2010. May be a bit hard to understand but I have a list of classes and one field is a string message. I'm outputting these messages to an RTF document but want to maximize use of horizontal space so am trying to dynamically create a table and fit as many messages in one row as possible and then another row. This while I maintain a max width possible for a row.
Public Class TripInfo
Public SysId As String = ""
Public CreateDate As DateTime
Public OutMessage As String = ""
Public OutMessageWidth As Integer = 0 'the width of the message in char count up to first LF
End Class
Dim myTrips1 as New List(Of TripInfo)
Dim myTrips2 as New List(Of TripInfo)
So as I iterate through the lists I want to create rows that are themselves no longer than 45 characters. Something like:
---------------------------------------------
|"Message1 |"Message2 |"Much longer message |
| Trip1 "| Trip2" | with two lines" |
---------------------------------------------
|"message is even longer than the others" |
---------------------------------------------
|"trip is ok |"trip was cancelled due to CW |
| enroute" | must log to system" |
---------------------------------------------
|"Message3 |"Message4 |"Message5 |"Message6"|
| Trip3 "| Error" | Stop" | |
---------------------------------------------
*Note that the message itself can span more than 1 line with LFs to display a multi-line message
I have scratch code to write the RTF code for the tables and have substituted fake messages with multiple embedded LFs and the output looks good.
Dim sbTable As New StringBuilder
sbTable.Append("\pard \trowd\trql\trgaph108\trleft36\cellx1636\cellx3236\cellx4836\intbl R1C1\cell R1C2\cell R1C3\cell\row \pard")
sbTable.Append("\pard \trowd\trql\trgaph108\trleft36\cellx4642\intbl R1C1\cell\row \pard")
sbTable.Append("\pard \trowd\trql\trgaph0\trleft36\cellx4642\cellx5500\intbl R1C1\cell R1C2\cell\row \pard")
However I just cant seem to get my head around how to even start this to do it dynamically. It seems like I may need to do two iterations. One to break up the messages into rows and then another to actually write the RTF code.
I have so far pseudo code but need some help with my logic.
dim v as integer = 0 'total width of current row
For each t as TripInfo in myTrips1 and myTrips2
if (t.OutMessageWidth added to v) > 45 then
start new row and append
else
append to current row
endif
Next t

Answer 1

Without knowing the properties of your TripInfo class, I'm going to have to make some assumptions. If any property I assume doesn't exist, you can either create it or modify the code to get the same effect.
Dim t As TripInfo, AllTrips As New List(Of TripInfo)
For Each t In myTrips1
AllTrips.Add(t)
Next
For Each t In myTrips2
AllTrips.Add(t)
Next
If AllTrips.Count > 0 Then
For Each t In AllTrips
Dim NewRow() As String = t.Lines
Dim w As Integer = t.OutMessageWidth
Dim h As Integer = t.Lines.Count
For ItemHeight As Integer = h To 1 Step -1
For Each CompareTrip As TripInfo In AllTrips
If AllTrips.IndexOf(t) <> AllTrips.IndexOf(CompareTrip) _
And CompareTrip.Lines.Count = ItemHeight _
And w + CompareTrip.OutMessageWidth <= 45 Then
w += CompareTrip.OutMessageWidth
For l As Integer = 0 To h -1
NewRow(l) = NewRow(l).PadRight(w) & CompareTrip.Lines(l)
Next
AllTrips.Remove(CompareTrip)
End If
Next
Next
AllTrips.Remove(t)
'Write lines of NewRow to your RTF
Next
End If