Can you prevent a Highlight from growing?

Question

I want the highlight to remain a fixed size but it will still grow when you add a character after the highlight.
a) click the "Show Highlights" button to see the current highlights
b) position the caret after the "8" and enter a character
c) click the "Show Highlights" button again and the last position value will have changed.
Is there a way to prevent this?
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.text.*;
public class HighlightQuestion extends JFrame
     private JTextComponent component;
     private Highlighter highlighter;
     private Highlighter.HighlightPainter painter;
     public HighlightQuestion()
          component = new JTextField(20);
          component.setText("01234567890");
          getContentPane().add(component, BorderLayout.NORTH);
          JButton show = new JButton("Show Highlights");
          show.addActionListener( new ActionListener()
               public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
                    Highlighter.Highlight[] highlights = component.getHighlighter().getHighlights();
                    System.out.println("Show:");
                    for (int i = 0; i < highlights.length; i++)
                         Highlighter.Highlight h = highlights;
                         System.out.println("\t" + h.getStartOffset() + " : " + h.getEndOffset());
          getContentPane().add(show, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
          highlighter = component.getHighlighter();
          painter = new DefaultHighlighter.DefaultHighlightPainter( Color.YELLOW );
          try
               highlighter.addHighlight(2, 4, painter);
               highlighter.addHighlight(7, 9, painter);
          catch(BadLocationException ble)
               System.out.println(ble);
     public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception
          JFrame frame = new HighlightQuestion();
          frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
          frame.pack();
          frame.setLocationRelativeTo( null );
          frame.setVisible(true);

Answer 1

Hi
I found a solution, but I am not sure if it is the best...
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.CaretEvent;
import javax.swing.event.CaretListener;
import javax.swing.text.*;
public class HighlightQuestion extends JFrame
    private JTextComponent component;
    private Highlighter highlighter;
    private Highlighter.HighlightPainter painter;
    public HighlightQuestion()
        component = new JTextField(20);       
        component.setText("01234567890");
        component.addCaretListener(new CaretListener()
            public void caretUpdate(CaretEvent e)
                removeHighlights(component);
                setHighLights();
        getContentPane().add(component, BorderLayout.NORTH);
        JButton show = new JButton("Show Highlights");
        show.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
                Highlighter.Highlight[] highlights = component.getHighlighter().getHighlights();
                System.out.println("Show:");
                for (int i = 0; i < highlights.length; i++)
                    Highlighter.Highlight h = highlights;
System.out.println("\t" + h.getStartOffset() + " : " + h.getEndOffset());
getContentPane().add(show, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
this.setHighLights();
public void removeHighlights(JTextComponent textComp)
Highlighter hilite = textComp.getHighlighter();
Highlighter.Highlight[] hilites = hilite.getHighlights();
for (int i=0; i<hilites.length; i++)
hilite.removeHighlight(hilites[i]);
public void setHighLights()
highlighter = component.getHighlighter();
painter = new DefaultHighlighter.DefaultHighlightPainter(Color.YELLOW);
try
highlighter.addHighlight(2, 4, painter);
highlighter.addHighlight(7, 9, painter);
catch (BadLocationException ble)
System.out.println(ble);
public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception
JFrame frame = new HighlightQuestion();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);