How to get JToolBar location

Question

How can I find the current location of a JToolBar (NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST or FLOATING) ?
I've searched the forums for an answer to this question and seen the question asked before but no answer given.
In short I have a situation where the contents of the toolbar need to change based on some application specific context. Currently I have a routine that returns the appropriate JToolbar. I'd like to be able to move the current toolbar and put the new one in the same place the old one was.
I could change the code to empty the existing toolbar and the repopulate it with the items required in the current context but I'd like to avoid that if possible because in the future I might want to cache toolbars. (It could still be done but you can't avoid the extra steps of having to clear and repopulate from cached specs rather than just using a cached toolbar).
Thanks !

Answer 1

Now for the question of the floating toolbar:
* This class is licensed under GNU public license.
* Original author: Marco Lopes ([email protected])
import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.event.HierarchyListener;
import java.awt.event.HierarchyEvent;
import javax.swing.JToolBar;
* <p>Provides a JToolBar extension where it's possible to check wether the tool bar is
* floating or docked. Also, it provides a new property that can be listened by a
* PropertyChangeListener {@link #FLOATING}.</p>
* <p>In every HierarchyEvent where the parent is changed, a new property change event will be fired.
* Note that one event is fired in the begining telling that the tool bar is floating. </p>
* <p>This event is fired before the toolbar is processed and added to the parent and should be ignored.</p>
* @see java.beans.PropertyChangeListener
* @author Last modified by $Author: MLopes $
* @version $Revision: 1.4 $
public class ExtendedToolBar extends JToolBar
     /** the property fired to indicate a change in the status: floating(true) or docked(false) */
     public static final String FLOATING = "Floating";
     /** keeps the original parent reference */
     private Component originalParent;
     /** indicates whether the component is floating or not */
     private boolean floating = false;
     /** @see javax.swing.JToolBar#JToolBar() */
     public ExtendedToolBar()
          super();
          initComponents();
     /** @see javax.swing.JToolBar#JToolBar(int) */
     public ExtendedToolBar(final int orientation)
          super(orientation);
          initComponents();
     /** @see javax.swing.JToolBar#JToolBar(String) */
     public ExtendedToolBar(final String name)
          super(name);
          initComponents();
     /** @see javax.swing.JToolBar#JToolBar(String, int) */
     public ExtendedToolBar(final String name, final int orientation)
          super(name, orientation);
          initComponents();
     * returns true if this tool bar is floating.
     * @return true if this tool bar is floating.
     public boolean isFloating()
          return floating;
     /** adds a HierarchyListener to listen to changes in its parent */
     private void initComponents()
          this.addHierarchyListener(new HierarchyListener() {
               public void hierarchyChanged(HierarchyEvent e) {
                    checkParent(e);
     * checks if the parent has changed, means that the tool bar has been detached and
     * it's now floating.
     * The first event is used to get the original parent.
     * In every event, a new property change event will be fired. Note that one event
     * is fired in the begining telling that the tool bar is floating. This event is fired
     * before the toolbar is processed and added to the parent and should be ignored.
     * @param he the trigered hierarchy event
     private void checkParent(final HierarchyEvent he)
          if (originalParent == null) {
               originalParent = he.getChangedParent();
               return;
          if ( he.getChangeFlags() == HierarchyEvent.PARENT_CHANGED ) {
               if (originalParent == he.getChangedParent()) {
                    final boolean oldValue = floating;
                    floating = false;
                    firePropertyChange(FLOATING, oldValue, floating);
               } else {
                    final boolean oldValue = floating;
                    floating = true;
                    firePropertyChange(FLOATING, oldValue, floating);