Custom renderer (almost works)

Question

I'm creating a custom JComboBox renderer. What I want it to do is display text next to a colored box. Everything works except for the default value were its not showing the text. Anyone see the problem? Or is there a better way of doing this? I’ve included the code below:
(Renderer Code: ComboBoxRenderer.java)
import java.awt.*;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import javax.swing.*;
class ComboBoxRenderer extends JLabel implements ListCellRenderer
    String[] _textLabels = {"Red", "Green", "Blue", "Orange", "Yellow", "Cyan"};
    private ArrayList _colors = null;
    private JPanel _coloredBox = null;
    private JPanel _container = null;
    private JLabel _label = null;
    public ComboBoxRenderer()
        setOpaque(true);
        setHorizontalAlignment(CENTER);
        setVerticalAlignment(CENTER);
        // Text container (can't get text to show without it being contained inside another jpanel. Why is this?)
        _container = new JPanel();
        Dimension holderSize = new Dimension(80, 20);
        _container.setLocation(22, 0);
        _container.setSize(holderSize);
        _container.setOpaque(false);
        _container.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        this.add(_container, BorderLayout.WEST);
        // Text
        _label = new JLabel("Disabled");
        Dimension textSize = new Dimension(80, 20);
        _label.setForeground(Color.black);
        _label.setPreferredSize(textSize);
        _label.setHorizontalAlignment(JTextField.LEFT);
        _container.add(_label, BorderLayout.WEST);
        // Colored box
        _coloredBox = new JPanel();
        Dimension preferredSize = new Dimension(16, 16);
        _coloredBox.setLocation(2, 2);
        _coloredBox.setSize(preferredSize);
        _coloredBox.setOpaque(true);
        this.add(_coloredBox, BorderLayout.WEST);
        // Initialize color list
        _colors = new ArrayList();
        _colors.add(new Color(255, 0, 0));
        _colors.add(new Color(0, 255, 0));
        _colors.add(new Color(0, 0, 255));
        _colors.add(new Color(255, 215, 0));
        _colors.add(new Color(255, 255, 0));
        _colors.add(new Color(0, 255, 255));
    public Component getListCellRendererComponent(JList list, Object value, int index, boolean isSelected, boolean cellHasFocus)
        // Get the selected index.
        int selectedIndex = ((Integer)value).intValue();
        // Set the background color for each element
        if (isSelected) {
            setBackground(list.getSelectionBackground());
            setForeground(list.getSelectionForeground());
        } else {
            setBackground(list.getBackground());
            setForeground(list.getForeground());
        // Set text
        String text = _textLabels[selectedIndex];
        _label.setText(text);
        _label.setFont(list.getFont());
        // Set box
        Color current = (Color) _colors.get(selectedIndex);
        _coloredBox.setBackground(current);
        return this;
}(Main: CustomComboBoxDemo.java)
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class CustomComboBoxDemo extends JPanel
    public CustomComboBoxDemo()
        super(new BorderLayout());
        // Combo list
        Integer[] intArray = new Integer[6];
        for (int i = 0; i < 6; i++) intArray[i] = new Integer(i);
        // Create the combo box.
        JComboBox colorList = new JComboBox(intArray);
        ComboBoxRenderer renderer= new ComboBoxRenderer();
        renderer.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(120, 20));
        colorList.setRenderer(renderer);
        colorList.setMaximumRowCount(5);
        colorList.setSelectedIndex(2);
        // Lay out the demo.
        add(colorList, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);
        setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(20,20,20,20));
    private static void CreateAndShowGUI()
        // Create and set up the window.
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("CustomComboBoxDemo");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        // Create and set up the content pane
        JComponent newContentPane = new CustomComboBoxDemo();
        newContentPane.setOpaque(true);
        frame.setContentPane(newContentPane);
        // Display the window.
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    public static void main(String[] args)
        //Schedule a job for the event-dispatching thread:
        //creating and showing this application's GUI.
        javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                CreateAndShowGUI();
}Edited by: geforce2000 on Dec 13, 2009 3:37 AM
Edited by: geforce2000 on Dec 13, 2009 3:38 AM

Answer 1

BeForthrightWhenCrossPostingToOtherSites
Here's one: [custom-renderer-almost-works|http://www.java-forums.org/awt-swing/23831-custom-renderer-almost-works.html]
Any others?
Next issue: TellTheDetails
You may understand fully just what is not working here, but we don't since you tell us that it doesn't work, but never really tell us how.