Custom JTree TreeCellRenderer with JPanel

Question

I have developed a custom TreeCellRenderer which extends JPanel to allow multple icons to be displayed and changed as the context changes. The JPanel has one or two icons and a JLabel which I control based on display context. The renderer works fine with one exception. If the initial string displayed beside the icons is short (such as 4 characters) when I try to display it with a longer string the JPanel does not resize to allow displaying the entire string. I've tried several variation to get the JPanel to resize. I've exanined the code in operation and it seems as though the size of the JLabel is being change correctly and the setPreferredSize on the JPanel is changing correctly. It just wont display without truncating the longer JLabel.
I've reviews the forum to no avail.
The code follows. Any thoughts are appreciated
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import java.awt.Image;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.tree.TreeCellRenderer;
import javax.swing.JTree;
import com.logixpartners.planlogix.insuranceobject.*;
import com.logixpartners.planlogix.utility.RtnObject;
import java.awt.*;
public class PLIconLabel extends javax.swing.JPanel implements TreeCellRenderer {
ImageIcon a,b;
int fWidth = 0;
int sWidth = 0;
String text = "";
JLabel one, two, three;
InsObject io;
boolean selected;
FontMetrics fontMetrics;
int iconHeightPad = 0;
int fontH, fontLen, iconH = 30+iconHeightPad;
/** Creates a new instance of PLIconLabel */
public PLIconLabel() {
super(null); //null indicates no layour manager
one = new JLabel();
one.setIconTextGap(0);
two = new JLabel();
two.setIconTextGap(0);
three = new JLabel();
three.setIconTextGap(0);
add(one);
add(two);
add(three);
public void setIconOne(ImageIcon i) {
a = i;
fWidth = a.getImage().getWidth(this);
one.setBounds(0,0, fWidth, a.getImage().getHeight(this)+iconHeightPad);
if (b != null) {
two.setBounds(fWidth,0,sWidth,b.getImage().getHeight(this)+iconHeightPad);
three.setBounds(fWidth+sWidth+5,0,fontLen, iconH);
one.setIcon(a);
repaint();
public void removeIconOne() {
a = null;
fWidth = 0;
if (b != null) {
two.setBounds(fWidth,0,sWidth,b.getImage().getHeight(this)+4);
three.setBounds(fWidth+sWidth+5,0, fontLen, iconH);
one.setIcon(a);
repaint();
public void setIconTwo(ImageIcon i) {
b = i;
sWidth = b.getImage().getWidth(this);
two.setBounds(fWidth,0,sWidth,b.getImage().getHeight(this)+iconHeightPad);
three.setBounds(fWidth+sWidth+5,0, fontLen, iconH);
two.setIcon(b);
repaint();
public void removeIconTwo() {
b = null;
sWidth = 0;
two.setIcon(b);
two.setBounds(fWidth,0,0,0);
three.setBounds(fWidth+sWidth+5,0,fontLen, iconH);
repaint();
public void setPLText(String t) {
text = t;
three.setText(t);
fontMetrics = three.getFontMetrics(three.getFont());
fontLen = fontMetrics.stringWidth(t);
fontH = fontMetrics.getHeight();
three.setBounds(fWidth+sWidth+5,0,
fontLen+10,
fontH);
repaint();
public java.awt.Component getTreeCellRendererComponent(JTree tree,
Object value,
boolean sel,
boolean expanded,
boolean leaf,
int row,
boolean hasFocus) {       
try {
io = (InsObject)value;
} catch (java.lang.ClassCastException e) {
e = e;
setPLText(io.getBestName());
if (io.getTypeOf().equals("Ref")){
setPLText(io.getAttribute("Name"));
// Setup colors for node selection
if (sel) {
setBackground(new java.awt.Color(64,128,128));
} else {
setBackground(new java.awt.Color(95,167,152));
// Change text color of node
three.setForeground(sel ? java.awt.Color.white : java.awt.Color.black);
// Get proper Icon for Node
if ((io.getClass().getName()).equals("com.logixpartners.planlogix.insuranceobject.InsObjectRef")){
setIconTwo( (ImageIcon)((RtnObject)PLIcons.getIcon((String)io.getTypeOf())).getReturnValue());
setIconOne((ImageIcon)PLIcons.get("RefPtr") );
} else {
removeIconOne();
if (!expanded && !leaf) {
setIconTwo( (ImageIcon)((RtnObject)PLIcons.getIconX((String)io.getTypeOf())).getReturnValue());
} else {
setIconTwo( (ImageIcon)((RtnObject)PLIcons.getIcon((String)io.getTypeOf())).getReturnValue());
two.setToolTipText((String)io.getTypeOf());
selected = sel;
Dimension dim = new Dimension(three.getWidth()+60+fWidth+sWidth+20,iconH);
setPreferredSize(dim);
setMinimumSize(dim );
setMaximumSize(dim );
setSize(dim);
validate();
return this;
}// end of class

Answer 1

Addition to my original post. I found a forum post noting a similar problem. The suggest fix was to set the JTree row heigth to 0 (zero) and to add a getPreferredSize in the TreeCellRenderer, which gets called when row height is zero, and explicitly set the desired size. This works but with an exception. It seems as though the getPreferredSize is only called once when it is a leaf node being rendered. This seems to be true for expand, collaspe, and select.