Tricky problem in JTable

Question

Hi there,
I am trying to make a JTable display the keyText of all the keys pressed, meaning if I write an "A" I want it to be shown as " shift + a ". Now I'm not quite sure about the way to handle the focus and how to trigger of the action that makes the editing textField receive the focus. Currently, when the table is called for the first time or when I switch between the fields, no modifier or actionKey can be displayed until the first keyTypedEvent. E.g when I press the a-key I get to be shown an "a". After having done This I get "Aa" or, having pressed the shift-key, "shift" and then "AA". The keyListener is added to the textField and as new instance to the table as well. Can anybody tell me, how to modify myKeyListener to directly focus the textField or give me any idea for a different approach of this problem?
Thanks in advance, Bjorn
package com.brain.keymap;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class MyKeyListener implements KeyListener{
    public MyKeyListener() {
        super();
    public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e) {
    public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) {
        boolean focus = false;
        Component c, editor;
        int keyCode = e.getKeyCode();
        c = (Component) e.getSource();
        if (c instanceof InputTable) {
            InputTable tbl = (InputTable) c;
            editor = tbl.getEditorComponent();
            if (editor instanceof JTextField) {
                ((JTextField) editor).setText(KeyEvent.getKeyText(keyCode));
                e.consume();
        }else {
            if( c instanceof JTextField){
                ((JTextField) c).setText(KeyEvent.getKeyText(keyCode));
                e.consume();
    public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e) {
}

Answer 1

Hey scheide,
thanks, it was the tip about consuming the consuming the keyStroke that solved it. I simply had to consume the keyTypedEvent. Now It all works fine. Just in case you might want to have a look at it, here's the code.
public class MyKeyListener implements KeyListener{
    String input = "", temp;
    public MyKeyListener() {
        super();
    public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e) {
        e.consume();
    public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) {
        createInput(e);
    public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e) {
    public void createInput(KeyEvent e){
        Component c, editor = null;
        int keyCode = e.getKeyCode();
        //disable focusTraversal except for tab and enter
        if (!(keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_ENTER || keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_TAB)){
            try{
                editor.setFocusTraversalKeysEnabled(false);
            }catch(NullPointerException ex){}
        c = (Component) e.getSource();
        if (c instanceof InputTable) {
            InputTable tbl = (InputTable) c;
            editor = tbl.getEditorComponent();
            //focussing the table in field [0/0] at first call of table
            if (editor == null) {
                try{
                    int row = tbl.getSelectedRow();
                    int column = tbl.getSelectedColumn();
                    if( row == -1 )
                        row = 0;
                    if( column == -1)
                        column = 0;
                    tbl.editCellAt(row , column );
                    editor = tbl.getEditorComponent();
                }catch(Exception ex){}
            if( editor instanceof JTextField && !(keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_TAB || keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_ENTER )){
                if (input == ""){
                    input = (KeyEvent.getKeyText(keyCode));
                    ((JTextField) editor).setText(input);
                    temp = input;
                }else{
                    input = input.concat(" + ").concat(KeyEvent.getKeyText(keyCode));
                    ((JTextField) editor).setText(input);
                    temp = input;
            //when editing the input call of method editFieldValue
        }else if( c instanceof JTextField){
            ((JTextField) c).setText(editFieldValue(temp, e));
        //clear the inputString in case of tab or enter
        if(keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_TAB || keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_ENTER ){
            input = "";
    public String editFieldValue(String val, KeyEvent event){
        int code;
        String value = val;
        code = event.getKeyCode();
        StringTokenizer tokenizer;
        switch(code){
            case KeyEvent.VK_BACK_SPACE:
                int count = 0;
                tokenizer = new StringTokenizer(value,"+");
                value = "";
                while ( count < tokenizer.countTokens()){
                    value = value.concat("+").concat(tokenizer.nextToken());
                    count++;
                break;
        return value;
}Now I am trying to design a way to edit the input when the JTextfield has the focus. I don't really think I am trying in the right spot, since both the JTable and the TextField get different instances of the KeyListener.
I guess, I'll try and make a different Listener for the Textfield.
One more time thanks a lot for your help, Bjorn