How to create columns within an itemize environment?

Question

I want to generate a list of the following syntax for a resume.

* <Description of Activity> <empty space> <right aligned date>

Currently I have been using a form such as

\begin{itemize}
\item First Activity \hfill Date 1
\item Second Activity \hfill Date 2
\end{itemize}

This approach works so long as each activity is not very long. If the activity description happens to be too long, the date will wrap poorly. I would like to wrap the activity into a column of its own so that it can wrap to the next line without affecting the date essentially yielding the following

* This is a really long activity that    Date
  spans multiple lines without
  messing up the dates.

I tried nesting a tabular environment, but it didn't work.

Answer 1

You can use minipages as in this MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}

\begin{itemize}
\item First Activity  ~~ \dotfill ~~ Date 1
\item Second Activity  ~~ \dotfill ~~ Date 2
\item
 \begin{minipage}[t]{8cm}
    This is a really long activity
    that  spans multiple lines without
    messing up the dates.
 \end{minipage} 
                   ~~ \dotfill ~~ Date 3

\item 
 \begin{minipage}[t]{8cm}
    This is a another long activity 
    that spans in more tha one line.
 \end{minipage} 
                    ~~ \dotfill ~~ Date 4

\end{itemize}   
\end{document}

Answer 2

You can place the contents in a tabularx:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabularx}% http://ctan.org/pkg/tabularx
\usepackage{lipsum}% http://ctan.org/pkg/lipsum
\begin{document}
\noindent
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{@{\textbullet\quad}X@{\quad}r@{}}
  First activity & Date 1 \\
  Second activity & Date 2 \\
  \lipsum*[2] & Date 3 \\
  Fourth activity & Date 4
\end{tabularx}
\end{document}

For extending this across page breaks, you could consider ltxtable. This will only break on complete cells.

Answer 3

I would set this as a list with the date being set as part of the item label, just offset to the right. Unlike solutions using tables or minipages, using lists allows page breaks mid-item (which is either a feature or not, depending what you want).

\documentclass{article}
\makeatletter
\newenvironment{dateitemize}{%
  \ifnum \@itemdepth >\thr@@\@toodeep\else
    \advance\@itemdepth\@ne
    \edef\@itemitem{labelitem\romannumeral\the\@itemdepth}%
    \expandafter
    \list
      \csname\@itemitem\endcsname
      {%
      \advance\rightmargin3cm
      \def\makelabel##1{\hss\llap{\textbullet}\rlap{\hbox to \dimexpr\linewidth+\rightmargin+\itemsep\relax{\hss##1}}}}%
  \fi}{%
 \enditemize}

\makeatother
\begin{document}

\noindent X\dotfill X

\noindent X\dotfill X

\begin{dateitemize}
\item[Date 1] First Activity 
\item[Date 2] Second Activity 
\item[Date 3--Date 4]
    This is a really long activity
    that  spans multiple lines without
    messing up the dates.
\item[Date 4]
    This is a another long activity 
    that spans in more tha one line.

\end{dateitemize}   
\end{document}