JComboBox fires an event only after changed selection?!

Question

I have added a JComboBox to my application, combined with an ActionListener which is added to the combobox just after initialization. It works fine, but there is one problem left:
Generally, an event for the ActionListener is initially only fired by a combobox, if the user selects a different item than the last selected one. But I need an event that is fired by the combobox each time an item will be selected, even if it is the same item as the last selected one.
I tried to use an ItemChangeListener, but it gave no success (and sense), it fires an event each time the user wants to select an item from the combobox' item list, that is no solution.
Best way to solve this problem? I thought about a adding a MouseListener, but that might be the longest way. There seems to be no special method in JComboBox class to set this desired property?
Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Hello,
thank you for your answer so far. Well, here is a trivial source code with the problem that still exists (see also my text at the end of this post). This one has been tested using Java 2 SDK V1.4, even using the newest SDK version did not change anything on the behaviour:
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.Container;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
* JComboBox-Test: using Java 2 SDK V1.4, ActionEvent is only fired by combobox, if
* a different item than the previous one is selected from combobox;
public class Forum3 extends JFrame implements ActionListener {
    String[] CB_ITEMS = {
        "item 1",
        "item 2",
        "item 3",
    public Forum3 () {
        super();
        setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setLayout(new FlowLayout());
        JComboBox cb = new JComboBox(CB_ITEMS);
        cb.addActionListener(this);
        getContentPane().add(cb);
    public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent e) {
        System.out.println("action!");
    public static void main (String[] argv) {
        Forum3 test = new Forum3();
        test.setSize(300,200);
        test.setVisible(true);
}If you start this program (I am also using Windows XP), you see the JFrame window including the JComboBox. "item 1" is selected by default. If you click again on "item 1", no event will be fired. An event will be fired only, if you choose "item 2" or "item 3". You can try this with any other of the given items. An event will be only fired, if you choose a different item than the last one.
What I need, is a routine that fires an event each time any item is selected!
I would be grateful for a helpful hint, how to solve this in a "clean" way :-)