Disabled button getting focus

Question

My problem is that a disabled button are getting focus, which is bad when the application are operated without a mouse.
I made this litlte demo to illustrate the problem.
Try pressing button no.1. This will disable button no.1 and button no.2,
but why are button no.2 getting focus afterwards?
* NewJFrame.java
* Created on 29. september 2005, 16:55
import javax.swing.*;
* @author  Peter
public class NewJFrame extends javax.swing.JFrame {
    /** Creates new form NewJFrame */
    public NewJFrame() {
        initComponents();
        printButtonStatus();
    private void printButtonStatus () {
        printFocus (jButton1);
        printFocus (jButton2);
        printFocus (jButton3);
        printFocus (jButton4);
     * Just debug inf.
    private void printFocus (JButton button) {
        System.out.println ("Button=<" + button.getText () + ">, Enabled=<" + button.isEnabled() + ">, Focus=<" + button.isFocusable() + ">");
    /** This method is called from within the constructor to
     * initialize the form.
     * WARNING: Do NOT modify this code. The content of this method is
     * always regenerated by the Form Editor.
    private void initComponents() {
        jPanel1 = new javax.swing.JPanel();
        jButton1 = new javax.swing.JButton();
        jButton2 = new javax.swing.JButton();
        jButton3 = new javax.swing.JButton();
        jPanel2 = new javax.swing.JPanel();
        jButton4 = new javax.swing.JButton();
        setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        jButton1.setText("jButton1");
        jButton1.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
                jButton1ActionPerformed(evt);
        jPanel1.add(jButton1);
        jButton2.setText("jButton2");
        jPanel1.add(jButton2);
        jButton3.setText("jButton3");
        jPanel1.add(jButton3);
        getContentPane().add(jPanel1, java.awt.BorderLayout.NORTH);
        jButton4.setText("jButton1");
        jPanel2.add(jButton4);
        getContentPane().add(jPanel2, java.awt.BorderLayout.CENTER);
        pack();
    private void jButton1ActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
        // TODO add your handling code here:       
        jButton1.setEnabled(false);
        jButton2.setEnabled(false);
        jButton3.setEnabled(false);
        printButtonStatus();
     * @param args the command line arguments
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                new NewJFrame().setVisible(true);
    // Variables declaration - do not modify
    private javax.swing.JButton jButton1;
    private javax.swing.JButton jButton2;
    private javax.swing.JButton jButton3;
    private javax.swing.JButton jButton4;
    private javax.swing.JPanel jPanel1;
    private javax.swing.JPanel jPanel2;
    // End of variables declaration
}

Answer 1

Very courius.
I have made a little change in your code.
1) scenario
Simply changing .setEnabled(false) invokation, the class works fine.
so
jButton2.setEnabled(false);
jButton3.setEnabled(false);
jButton1.setEnabled(false);
2) scenario
the class works fine also using your .setEnabled(false) order invokations and putting after those:
FocusManager.getCurrentManager().focusNextComponent();
I do not know exactly why, I suppose that is there something not properly
syncronized in events dispaching.
In my opinion:
a) setEnabled(false) at last calls for setEnabled(false) of JComponent
that fires a propertyChange event
so:
scenario 1)
buttons 2 and 3 are disabled before of button1 that has the focus in
that moment (given by a the mouse click on itself)
When botton1.setEnabled(false) is performed buttons 2 and 3 are
just disabled, so focus is got by button4 (that is enabled)
scenario 2)
button1 that has the focus (given it by the mouse click) becames
disabled before that button2 becames disabled too.
So, probably, when the event of PropertyChanged is fired and processed, button2.setEnabled(false) invokation has not been
just performed and swings looks for it as a focusable component
So, using FocusManager.getCurrentManager().focusNextComponent(),
we force the transer focus on next focusable component.
This is only a my suppose, looking what happens.
Regards.
import javax.swing.*;
* @author Peter
public class NewJFrame extends javax.swing.JFrame {
/** Creates new form NewJFrame */
public NewJFrame() {
initComponents();
private void printButtonStatus () {
printFocus (jButton1);
printFocus (jButton2);
printFocus (jButton3);
printFocus (jButton4);
System.out.println("--------------------------------");
* Just debug inf.
private void printFocus (JButton button) {
System.out.println ("Button=<" + button.getText () + ">, Enabled=<" + button.isEnabled() + ">, Focus=<" + button.hasFocus() + ">, Focusable=<" + button.isFocusable() + ">");
/** This method is called from within the constructor to
* initialize the form.
* WARNING: Do NOT modify this code. The content of this method is
* always regenerated by the Form Editor.
private void initComponents() {
jPanel1 = new javax.swing.JPanel();
jButton1 = new javax.swing.JButton();
jButton2 = new javax.swing.JButton();
jButton3 = new javax.swing.JButton();
jPanel2 = new javax.swing.JPanel();
jButton4 = new javax.swing.JButton();
setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
jButton1.setText("jButton1");
jButton1.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
jButton1ActionPerformed(evt);
jPanel1.add(jButton1);
jButton2.setText("jButton2");
jPanel1.add(jButton2);
jButton3.setText("jButton3");
jPanel1.add(jButton3);
getContentPane().add(jPanel1, java.awt.BorderLayout.NORTH);
jButton4.setText("jButton1");
jPanel2.add(jButton4);
getContentPane().add(jPanel2, java.awt.BorderLayout.CENTER);
pack();
private void jButton1ActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
// TODO add your handling code here:
// I have simply change the order
jButton2.setEnabled(false);
jButton3.setEnabled(false);
jButton1.setEnabled(false);
// with this sentence the class work with original .setEnabled order
//FocusManager.getCurrentManager().focusNextComponent();
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
public void run()
printButtonStatus();
* @param args the command line arguments
public static void main(String args[]) {
java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
new NewJFrame().setVisible(true);
// Variables declaration - do not modify
private javax.swing.JButton jButton1;
private javax.swing.JButton jButton2;
private javax.swing.JButton jButton3;
private javax.swing.JButton jButton4;
private javax.swing.JPanel jPanel1;
private javax.swing.JPanel jPanel2;
// End of variables declaration
}