Deleting a row from JTable

Question

I am trying to delete a row from a JTable whenever the button on the last column is pressed. I know to do this, I can use the removeRow(int) method of the tableModel. But the odd thing is when I try to get a handle to the TableModel from the JTable to use that function, i.e. table.getModel().removeRow(int) it doesn't work. But if I explicitly pass in the tableModel into my class it does work. Here's the code below:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.util.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.table.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.table.TableCellRenderer;
import javax.swing.table.TableCellEditor;
import javax.swing.AbstractCellEditor;
import javax.swing.table.DefaultTableModel;
public class tester4 extends JFrame
     protected final int BUTTON_COL = 2;
     private TableCellRenderer defaultRenderer;
     private TableCellEditor defaultEditor;
     private JTable workingTable;
     private String[] transactionCols = {"Qty", "Product", "Cancel"};
     private Object[][] data = {{5, "prod1", "Cancel"},
               {6, "prod2", "Cancel"},
               {7, "prod3", "Cancel"}};
    public tester4()
          workingTable = new JTable(tableModel);
          workingTable.setName("Working Table");
          defaultRenderer = workingTable.getDefaultRenderer(JButton.class);
          defaultEditor = workingTable.getDefaultEditor(Object.class);
          StatusTableRenderer testRenderer = new StatusTableRenderer(defaultRenderer, defaultEditor, workingTable, tableModel);
          workingTable.setDefaultRenderer(Object.class, testRenderer);
          workingTable.setDefaultEditor(Object.class, testRenderer);
        JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane( workingTable );
        getContentPane().add( scrollPane );
     private DefaultTableModel tableModel = new DefaultTableModel(data, transactionCols){
          // Only allow button column to be editable, if there is an actual
          // button in that row          
          public boolean isCellEditable(int row, int col){
               return (col == BUTTON_COL && data[row][col] != "") ? true : false;
          // Overriden getColumnClass method that will return the object
          // class type of the first instance of the data type otherwise
          // returns the Object.class
          public Class getColumnClass(int column){
            for (int row = 0; row < getRowCount(); row++){
                Object o = getValueAt(row, column);
                if (o != null){ return o.getClass(); }
            return Object.class;
    public static void main(String[] args)
        tester4 frame = new tester4();
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation( EXIT_ON_CLOSE );
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    public class StatusTableRenderer extends AbstractCellEditor
                                            implements TableCellRenderer,
                                                           TableCellEditor,
                                                           ActionListener{
         private TableCellRenderer defaultRenderer;
         private TableCellEditor defaultEditor;
         private JButton cancelButton;
         private JButton editButton;
         private String text;
         private int buttonColumn;
         private int selectedRow;
         private JTable table;
         private DefaultTableModel tableModel;
         public StatusTableRenderer(TableCellRenderer renderer,
                                       TableCellEditor editor,
                                       JTable table,
                                       DefaultTableModel tableModel){
              defaultRenderer = renderer;
              defaultEditor = editor;
              this.table = table;
              this.tableModel = tableModel;
              buttonColumn = table.getColumnCount() - 1;
            cancelButton = new JButton();
            editButton = new JButton();
            editButton.setFocusPainted(true);
            editButton.addActionListener(this);
         public StatusTableRenderer(TableCellRenderer renderer,
                                            TableCellEditor editor,
                                            JTable table,
                                            DefaultTableModel tableModel,
                                            int _buttonColumn){
              this(renderer, editor, table, tableModel);
              buttonColumn = _buttonColumn;
         public Component getTableCellRendererComponent(JTable table, Object value,
                   boolean isSelected, boolean hasFocus, int row, int column) {
              if (column == buttonColumn){
                   if (hasFocus){
                        cancelButton.setForeground(table.getForeground());
                        cancelButton.setBackground(UIManager.getColor("Button.background"));
                   else if (isSelected){
                        cancelButton.setForeground(table.getSelectionForeground());
                        cancelButton.setBackground(table.getSelectionBackground());
                   else{
                        cancelButton.setForeground(table.getForeground());
                        cancelButton.setBackground(UIManager.getColor("Button.background"));
                   cancelButton.setText( (value == null) ? "" : value.toString() );
                   return cancelButton;
            return defaultRenderer.getTableCellRendererComponent(
                        table, value, isSelected, hasFocus, row, column);
         public Component getTableCellEditorComponent(JTable table, Object value,
                   boolean isSelected, int row, int column){
              if (column == buttonColumn){
                   text = ((value == null) ? "": value.toString());
                   editButton.setText(text);
                   selectedRow = row;
                   return editButton;
              return defaultEditor.getTableCellEditorComponent(
                        table, value, isSelected, row, column);
        public Object getCellEditorValue()
            return text;
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
            fireEditingStopped();
            // This works
            tableModel.removeRow(selectedRow);
           // This does not work
          //  table.getModel().removeRow(selectedRow);
}Take a look at the actionPerfformed method. One way of doing it works, one doesn't. Just trying to understand why me getting a handle to the tableModel through the table doesn't work.
Message was edited by:
deadseasquirrels

Answer 1

It gives me a run-time error Well then your question should be "why do I get this run-time error" and then you would quote the error. Be more descriptive. "It doesn't work" is not descriptive.
table.getModel().removeRow(selectedRow);I don't use JDK1.5 either. But if you are saying that the above line compiles cleanly with JDK1.5 (because of the auto-boxing feature, or whatever its called), then I see no reason why the code wouldn't work since it recognizes the class as a DefaultTableModel.
Presumably you commented out the other line so you don't try to delete the row twice. Otherwise you might be getting a indexing error.