public Color getBackground(Object element) {
	// select the right color
	Color colorToUseForThisRow = DEFAULT_BACKGROUND_NORMAL_COLOR;
	
	if( element == null )
	    return colorToUseForThisRow;
	
	
	// check if this element has a different hash code of the previous one
	if( this.lastElementHashCode != element.hashCode() ){
	    this.lastElementHashCode = element.hashCode();
	    this.rowNumber++;
	}
	

	// decide which color to use for every row
	if( this.rowNumber % 2 == 0 )
	    colorToUseForThisRow = DEFAULT_BACKGROUND_ODD_ROW_COLOR;
	else
	    colorToUseForThisRow = DEFAULT_BACKGROUND_EVEN_ROW_COLOR;
	
	// all done
	return colorToUseForThisRow;
    }

public String getColumnText(Object element, int col){
   switch(col){
     case 0: // first column text
     case 1: //second column of text
    ...
   }
}