Changing the Color of Default Tab window - of JTabbed APIany ideas?

Question

hi all
as you know using JTabbedPane the selected tab is grey by default.
How can i make all selected tabs a color instead of grey ?
Stev

Answer 1

thanks for sharing with me the solution.
however I don't understand how to implement what you shared.
I have a few quick questions.
1. What does LAF stand for ?
2. How do I (or can I) specify either Windows versus Metal ? (i'll show some code of what i have below)
3. After I put the color in the hashtable how do I use it ?
Here's what I have -- i got it from the web .
public class MnemonicTabbedPaneExample extends JPanel {
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.getContentPane().add(new MnemonicTabbedPaneExample());
frame.setSize(700,400);
frame.setBackground(new Color(255, 215, 0));
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.addWindowListener( new WindowAdapter() {
public void windowClosing( WindowEvent e ) {
System.exit(0);
} //end main
//the constructor
public MnemonicTabbedPaneExample() {
setLayout (new BorderLayout());
MnemonicTabbedPane tabbedPane = new MnemonicTabbedPane();
String[] tabs = {"tab1", "tab2", "tab3", "tab4", "tab5"};
for (int i=0;i<tabs.length;i++) {
tabbedPane.addTab(tabs, createPane(tabs[i],GOLD ) );
tabbedPane.setBackgroundAt(i, GOLD );
tabbedPane.setSelectedIndex(0);
add(tabbedPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
}//ends constructor
JPanel createPane(final String string, Color color) {
JButton abcButton = new JButton("Abc");
abcButton.setMnemonic('A');
JButton xyzButton = new JButton("Xyz");
xyzButton.setMnemonic('X');
//here is the main panel
JPanel p = new JPanel();
p.setBackground(color);
p.add(new JLabel(string));
p.add(abcButton);
p.add(xyzButton);
return p;
private Color GOLD = new Color(255, 215, 0);
/// here is my JTabbedPane class
public class MnemonicTabbedPane extends JTabbedPane {
Hashtable mnemonics = null;
int condition;
public MnemonicTabbedPane() {
setUI(new MnemonicTabbedPaneUI());
mnemonics = new Hashtable();
setMnemonicCondition(WHEN_IN_FOCUSED_WINDOW);
class MnemonicTabbedPaneUI extends MetalTabbedPaneUI {
protected void paintText(Graphics g, int tabPlacement,
Font font, FontMetrics metrics, int tabIndex,
String title, Rectangle textRect,
boolean isSelected) {
g.setFont(font);
     UIManager.put("TabbedPane.selected", Color.red );
MnemonicTabbedPane mtabPane = (MnemonicTabbedPane)tabPane;
if (tabPane.isEnabled() && tabPane.isEnabledAt(tabIndex)) {
g.setColor(tabPane.getForegroundAt(tabIndex));
     BasicGraphicsUtils.drawString(g,title, mtabPane.getMnemonicAt(tabIndex),
               textRect.x,
               textRect.y + metrics.getAscent());
} else {
g.setColor(tabPane.getBackgroundAt(tabIndex).brighter());
     BasicGraphicsUtils.drawString(g,title, mtabPane.getMnemonicAt(tabIndex),
               textRect.x,
               textRect.y + metrics.getAscent());
g.setColor(tabPane.getBackgroundAt(tabIndex).darker());
     BasicGraphicsUtils.drawString(g,title, mtabPane.getMnemonicAt(tabIndex),
               textRect.x - 1,
               textRect.y + metrics.getAscent() - 1);
}//end if
}//end method
}//end class
any idea on how i would make the selected Tab Red ?
Thanks in advance . putting it in the UIManager hashtable - is interesting but i'm not sure what to do after that. compilling and running doesn't let it work.
stev