GetSelectedIndex() to return position selected, not first instance?

Question

Hi
I am having trouble getting the correct index from a JComboBox. My program's JComboBox stores duplicated entries.
When the getSelectedIndex() method is used, it returns the index of the FIRST instance of the object that was selected!!! instead of returning the index to the actual item selected by the mouse!!
* I need this labelIndex to be the index of the position selected!! not the
* first instance of the label in the list.
labelIndex = frame.labelsComboBox.getSelectedIndex();
Does anyone know how to remedy this?

Answer 1

Instead of putting Strings in your combobox, put some other kind of Object which has a toString() method which returns the string you want to show. Then when the JComboBox code calls the equals() method (I think) to see which index matches, it will only find the correct one.import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Test2 extends JFrame {
  public Test2() {
    setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    Container content = getContentPane();
    MyObject[] stuff = { new MyObject("A"),new MyObject("B"), new MyObject("A")};
    JComboBox jcb = new JComboBox(stuff);
    content.add(jcb, BorderLayout.NORTH);
    jcb.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
      public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
        System.out.println(((JComboBox)ae.getSource()).getSelectedIndex());
    setSize(200,200);
  public static void main(String[] args) { new Test2().setVisible(true); }
class MyObject {
  String text;
  public MyObject(String text) { this.text=text; }
  public String toString() { return text; }
}This example uses the default Object equals() method which is actually ==. You can override equals() if you want.
I use this a lot to put any kind of object in a combo.