A Java based report generator for creating advanced graphics and text documents in Rich Text Format (RTF) is disclosed. An application program may generate a RTF document in one or multiple files using the present invention to produce displays and reports that are more complex than can be produced using standard Java. The provided class definitions allows a combination of text or graphics to be generated with flexible controls for general formatting and positioning of the application data and header information. The documents can be seen from several operating systems. The report generator models the application data in a tree structure and accepts a wide variety of formatting controls to produce drawings, text boxes, application data, paragraph format controls, etc.