Changing the color and size of JScrollBar

Question

Hi everyone,
I have a JTextArea in a JScrollPane. I want to change the default size and color of the JScrollBar that appears. Basically, I want to customize my JScrollBar.
Is there any method to do it or do I have to write my own JScrollPane that would show the JScrollBar I want ???
Please , help me out.
Many thanks in advance.
Ramesh

Answer 1

The following code shows how to change several aspects of scrollbars.
Note the loop that prints out all the values that can be modified with simply puts to the UIDefaults table for scrollbars. The String "ScrollBars " can be changed to many other swing component names (minus the 'J') to examine their key/value pairs
For a more complete Look and Feel reference see - http://www.spindoczine.com/sbe/files/uts2/Chapter21html/Chapter21.htmimport java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.util.Enumeration;
import javax.swing.plaf.ColorUIResource;
public class UISniffer extends JFrame
   UISniffer()
      setSize(400,300);
      setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
      UIDefaults uid = UIManager.getLookAndFeelDefaults();
      for (Enumeration e = uid.keys() ; e.hasMoreElements() ;)
         String s = (String)e.nextElement();
         if(s.indexOf("ScrollBar") != -1)
            System.out.println(s + ", "+ uid.get(s).toString());
      UIManager.put("ScrollBar.foreground",
            new ColorUIResource(new Color(255,0,0)));
      UIManager.put("ScrollBar.background",
            new ColorUIResource(Color.pink));
      UIManager.put("ScrollBar.thumb",
            new ColorUIResource(Color.red));
      UIManager.put("ScrollBar.thumbDarkShadow",  
            new ColorUIResource(new Color(128,0,0)));
      UIManager.put("ScrollBar.thumbShadow",  
            new ColorUIResource(new Color(190,0,0)));
      UIManager.put("ScrollBar.thumbHighlight",
            new ColorUIResource(new Color(255,128,128)));
      UIManager.put("ScrollBar.track",
            new ColorUIResource(new Color(190,0,190)));     
      UIManager.put("ScrollBar.width", new Integer(50));
      JTextArea t = new JTextArea(text);
      JScrollPane pane = new JScrollPane(t);
      //pane.setHorizontalScrollBarPolicy(JScrollPane.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);
      //pane.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);
      setContentPane(pane);
   public static void main(String[] args)
      new UISniffer().setVisible(true);
   String text ="  The poor King look puzzled and unhappy, and struggled with the\n"+
"pencil for some time without saying anything; but Alice was too\n"+
"strong for him, and at last he panted out, `My dear! I really\n"+
"MUST get a thinner pencil.  I can\'t manage this one a bit; it\n"+
"writes all manner of things that I don\'t intend--\'\n\n"+
"   What manner of things?' said the Queen, looking over the book\n"+
"(in which Alice had put `THE WHITE KNIGHT IS SLIDING DOWN THE\n"+
"POKER.  HE BALANCES VERY BADLY')  `That's not a memorandum of\n"+
"YOUR feelings!\n\n"+
"   There was a book lying near Alice on the table, and while she\n"+
"sat watching the White King (for she was still a little anxious\n"+
"about him, and had the ink all ready to throw over him, in case\n"+
"he fainted again), she turned over the leaves, to find some part\n"+
"that she could read, `--for it's all in some language I don't\n"+
"know,' she said to herself.\n\n"+
"   It was like this.\n\n\n"+
"                            YKCOWREBBAJ\n\n"+
"            sevot yhtils eht dna ,gillirb sawT`\n"+
"              ebaw eht ni elbmig dna eryg diD\n"+
"                  ,sevogorob eht erew ysmim llA\n"+
"                 .ebargtuo shtar emom eht dnA\n\n\n"+
"  She puzzled over this for some time, but at last a bright\n"+
"thought struck her. `Why, it's a Looking-glass book, of course!\n"+
"And if I hold it up to a glass, the words will all go the right\n"+
"way again.'\n\n"+
"  This was the poem that Alice read.\n\n\n"+
"                           JABBERWOCKY\n\n"+
"            'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves\n"+
"              Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;\n"+
"            All mimsy were the borogoves,\n"+
"              And the mome raths outgrabe.\n\n"+
"            `Beware the Jabberwock, my son!\n"+
"              The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!\n"+
"            Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun\n"+
"              The frumious Bandersnatch!'\n\n"+
"            He took his vorpal sword in hand:\n"+
"              Long time the manxome foe he sought--\n"+
"            So rested he by the Tumtum tree,\n"+
"              And stood awhile in thought.\n\n"+
"            And as in uffish thought he stood,\n"+
"              The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,\n"+
"            Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,\n"+
"              And burbled as it came!\n\n"+
"            One, two!  One, two!  And through and through\n"+
"              The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!\n"+
"            He left it dead, and with its head\n"+
"              He went galumphing back.\n\n"+
"            `And has thou slain the Jabberwock?\n"+
"              Come to my arms, my beamish boy!\n"+
"            O frabjous day!  Callooh!  Callay!'\n"+
"              He chortled in his joy.\n\n"+
"            \'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves\n"+
"              Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;\n"+
"            All mimsy were the borogoves,\n"+
"              And the mome raths outgrabe.\n\n\n"+
"  `It seems very pretty,\' she said when she had finished it, `but\n"+
"it\'s RATHER hard to understand!\'  (You see she didn't like to\n"+
"confess, ever to herself, that she couldn\'t make it out at all.)\n"+
"`Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas--only I don\'t\n"+
"exactly know what they are!  However, SOMEBODY killed SOMETHING:\n"+
"that\'s clear, at any rate--\'";
}