How to cut, copy and paste a tree node in JTree?????

Question

Hi, Java GUI guru. Thank you for your help in advance.
I am working on a File Explorer project with JTree. There are cut, copy and paste item menus in my menu bar. I need three EventAction methods or classes to implements the three tasks. I tried to use Clipboard to copy and paste tree node. But I can not copy any tree node from my tree.
Are there any body has sample source code about cut, copy, and paste for tree? If possible, would you mind send me your sample source code to [email protected]
I would appreciate you very very much for your help!!!!
X.G.

Answer 1

Hi, Paul Clapham:
Thank you for your quick answer.
I store the node in a DefaultMutableTreeNode variable, and assign it to another DefaultMutableTreeNode variable. I set up two classes (CopyNode and PasteNode). Here they are as follows:
//CopyNode class
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.tree.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
public class CopyNode implements ActionListener{
private TreeList jtree;
String treeNodeName;
TreePath currentSelection;
DefaultMutableTreeNode currentNode;
public CopyNode(TreeList t){
jtree = t;
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
currentSelection = jtree.tree.getSelectionPath();
if(currentSelection != null){
currentNode = (DefaultMutableTreeNode)(currentSelection.getLastPathComponent());
treeNodeName = currentNode.toString();
//PasteNode class
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.tree.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
public class PasteNode extends DefaultMutableTreeNode{
private TreeList jtree;
CopyNode copyNode;
public PasteNode(TreeList t){
jtree = t;
copyNode = new CopyNode(t);
public DefaultMutableTreeNode addObject(Object child){
DefaultMutableTreeNode parentNode = null;
TreePath parentPath = jtree.tree.getSelectionPath();
if(parentPath == null){
parentNode = jtree.root;
else{
parentNode = (DefaultMutableTreeNode)parentPath.getLastPathComponent();
return addObject(parentNode, child, true);
public DefaultMutableTreeNode addObject(DefaultMutableTreeNode parent, Object child, boolean shouldBeVisible){
DefaultMutableTreeNode childNode = copyNode.currentNode;
if(parent == null){
parent = jtree.root;
jtree.treemodel.insertNodeInto(childNode, parent, parent.getChildCount());
if(shouldBeVisible){
jtree.tree.scrollPathToVisible(new TreePath(childNode.getPath()));
return childNode;
I used these two classes objects in "actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)" methods in my tree:
//invoke copyNode
copyItem = new JMenuItem("Copy");
copyItem.addActionListener(copyNode);
//invoke pasteNode
pasteItem = new JMenuItem("Paste");
pasteItem.addActionListener(
new ActionListener(){
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
pasteName.addObject(copyName.treeNodeName);
When I run the drive code, making a copy some node from my tree list, I got bunch of error messages.
Can you figour out what is wrong in my two classes? If you have sample code, would you mind mail me for reference.
Thank you very much in advance.
X.G.