Creating a JTable with resizeable columns and Horizontal Scrollbar

Question

Hi,
I would like to create a JTable with about 24 columns in it. The problem is, my ViewPort in my JScrollPane is about 3-400pixels wide, and the JTable tries to cram itself into the ViewPort. This makes the columns too tiny to read. I'd like it to do something a little more sensible, like use the PreferredSize of the columns. Can anyone point me in the right direction to keep JTable from creating scrunched up little columns, so that it creates columns that are at least partially readable? Thanks.
BTW, I suppose I could set NO_AUTO_RESIZE but I would rather not do that. I like being able to resize columns. Basically what I want to do is control the JTable's width and not worry about the ViewPort's width.

Answer 1

This made it impossible to resize columns. Works fine for me:
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.table.*;
public class TableHorizontal extends JFrame
    public TableHorizontal()
        JTable table = new JTable(5, 10);
        table.setAutoResizeMode( JTable.AUTO_RESIZE_OFF );
        JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane( table );
        getContentPane().add( scrollPane );
        table.getColumnModel().getColumn(0).setPreferredWidth(10);
        table.getColumnModel().getColumn(1).setPreferredWidth(20);
        table.getColumnModel().getColumn(2).setPreferredWidth(30);
        table.getColumnModel().getColumn(3).setPreferredWidth(40);
        table.getColumnModel().getColumn(4).setPreferredWidth(50);
    public static void main(String[] args)
        TableHorizontal frame = new TableHorizontal();
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation( EXIT_ON_CLOSE );
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
}