Extend VTextField to dynamically underline font

Question

Rather than use the Hyperlink bean (because it's pretty slow to load), I have taken the concepts in the ModCursor demo and built a simple class that extends VTextField, providing for the traditional webpage look of a hyperlink: the hand cursor, rollover bolding, etc...
I have left the font coloring and underlining to the text item properties; set when the developer builds the form.
Problem with leaving the underlining in the text item properties is that if the item is part of a multi-record block and the records don't fill the space allocated for them (the block can show up to 10, but perhaps only 5 records are loaded), then the "empty" records have little tiny dots where the underline of the empty text fields are.
I thought it would be simple to just add the underline in the implementation class, but it's not proving to be so simple. I've tried adding a TextAttribute whenever the font is set, but that doesn't "take".
Here's my code, anyone have any ideas on how to add the underline in the PJC?
I ripped out all the comments to reduce the size; I can comment about any part of it as necessary.
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.font.*;
import java.text.*;
import java.util.*;
import oracle.forms.ui.VTextField;
import oracle.forms.properties.ID;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.Cursor;
public class Hotlink
extends VTextField
private Cursor stdCursor;
private int stdStyle;
public Hotlink()
super();
try
jbInit();
catch (Exception e)
e.printStackTrace();
private void jbInit() throws Exception
stdCursor = this.getCursor();
this.addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter()
public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent me)
if(getTextLength() > 0)
stdStyle = getFont().getStyle();
setFont(getFont().deriveFont(Font.BOLD));
setCursor(new Cursor(Cursor.HAND_CURSOR));
public void mouseExited(MouseEvent me)
if(getTextLength() > 0)
setFont(getFont().deriveFont(stdStyle));
setCursor(stdCursor);
public void setFont(Font font)
if(this.getTextLength() > 0)
Map attrs = font.getAttributes();
attrs.put(TextAttribute.UNDERLINE, TextAttribute.UNDERLINE_ON);
font = new Font(attrs);
super.setFont(font);
}

Answer 1

Alright, no replies, but I figured out one way to do it.
It's kinda cheesy, but it works alright.
I saw that the Hyperlink bean actually drew a line to underline the text, so that's what I did.
I overloaded the paint method, and only draw a line if there is text in the item.
Actually, I only apply the moseover effects if there's text, too.
Anyway, for those seeking the same answers as I was, here's my code, stripped of comments because of size considerations:
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.FontMetrics;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.FontMetrics;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.FontMetrics;
import oracle.forms.ui.VTextField;
import oracle.forms.properties.ID;
import oracle.forms.handler.IHandler;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.Cursor;
public class BoldLink
extends VTextField
private Cursor stdCursor;
private Font stdFont;
public BoldLink()
super();
public void init(IHandler h)
super.init(h);
stdCursor = this.getCursor();
this.addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter()
public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent me)
if(getTextLength() > 0)
setFont(stdFont.deriveFont(Font.BOLD));
setCursor(new Cursor(Cursor.HAND_CURSOR));
public void mouseExited(MouseEvent me)
if(getTextLength() > 0)
setFont(stdFont);
setCursor(stdCursor);
public void paint(Graphics g)
super.paint(g);
if (this.getTextLength() > 0)
FontMetrics metrics = getFontMetrics(getFont());
int strWidth = metrics.stringWidth(getText());
int yoffset = (int)(metrics.getHeight() * 0.95);
g.drawLine(0, yoffset, strWidth, yoffset);
public boolean setProperty(ID pid, Object value)
if(pid.getName().equals("FONT")) this.stdFont = (Font)value;
return super.setProperty(pid, value);
}