Dragging only a portion of data from a cell?

Question

I'm working on a scheduling program (using Java/Swing) that simply has several tables that I drag and drop information pulled from a database. In one table I have it set up so that the user can drag multiple data (people�s names) into a single cell (just concatenate the new name with the existing names). However, I now need the ability to drag a specific name outside the table (to delete it). Since I treat the contents of the whole cell as one big string, I'm stumped as what to do next. I'm new to Java, but have been reading about custom renderers and was wondering if it would be possible to write one that would work in my situation. I'm also open to any other ways that would make specific selection possible. So far this is what has been suggested:
- find a method of detecting which name is underneath the mouse when a cell is clicked on. You'd need a custom table model such that every cell returns some collection of custom objects representing each name.
- write a cell renderer so that you can highlight specific names in a cell when the mouse is clicked on one
- add your drag and drop code using the above two features
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I'm working on a scheduling program (using
Java/Swing) that simply has several tables that I
drag and drop information pulled from a database. In
one table I have it set up so that the user can drag
multiple data (people�s names) into a single cell
(just concatenate the new name with the existing
names). However, I now need the ability to drag a
specific name outside the table (to delete it). Since
I treat the contents of the whole cell as one big
string, I'm stumped as what to do next. I'm new to
Java, but have been reading about custom renderers
and was wondering if it would be possible to write
one that would work in my situation. I'm also open to
any other ways that would make specific selection
possible. So far this is what has been suggested:
- find a method of detecting which name is underneath
the mouse when a cell is clicked on. You'd need a
custom table model such that every cell returns some
collection of custom objects representing each name.
- write a cell renderer so that you can highlight
specific names in a cell when the mouse is clicked on
one
- add your drag and drop code using the above two
features
Any help would be greatly appreciated.I made a cell renderer that is a JPanel subclass that stores JLabels (each representing a name) and the labels will be laid out using a FlowLayout in the panel - that way the names "wrap" in the table cell. Now I need to create a method in my JPanel subclass to return which component is at (x,y), and highlight that component in my renderer getCellRenderComponent() method.
Any ideas how to implement this method?