JFileChooser is a very nasty thing

Question

Greetings,
Fiddling with JFileChooser objects I noticed a couple of peculiarities:
1) The 'Cancel' button text cannot be changed by the user
2) The text next to the selected file cannot be changed
3) The text next to the file filter cannot be changed.
I can remove most of the controls (as a result to an old question of
mine for which very satisfactory and fine answers were posted).
What's up with that component? Did it go through any design at all or
was it conceived while the programmer was sniffing cheap glue?
IMHO that JFileChooser thing is a total inconsistent mess. Does anyone
know whether or not better alternatives are available or should I write
my own localizable, modifiable version?
kind regards,
Jos

Answer 1

Jos!That's me! ;-)
[ snippety ... ]
The farthest I got was finding the method that
actually returns the dialog:[ snipped the createDialog method ]
Where are all the components actually getting put together and drawn?Not in that method; that's for sure. Don't forget that a JFileChooser
extends a JComponent and that's where all the other components are
stored. For now I localize all the text components in this JFileChooser
by 'put'ing the following keys in the UIManager:FileChooser.lookInLabelText
FileChooser.filesOfTypeLabelText
FileChooser.upFolderToolTipText
FileChooser.fileNameLabelText
FileChooser.homeFolderToolTipText
FileChooser.newFolderToolTipText
FileChooser.listViewButtonToolTipTextlist
FileChooser.detailsViewButtonToolTipText
FileChooser.saveButtonText=Save
FileChooser.openButtonText=Open
FileChooser.cancelButtonText=Cancel
FileChooser.updateButtonText=Update
FileChooser.helpButtonText=Help
FileChooser.saveButtonToolTipText=Save
FileChooser.openButtonToolTipText=Open
FileChooser.cancelButtonToolTipText=Cancel
FileChooser.updateButtonToolTipText=Update
FileChooser.helpButtonToolTipText=HelpI found those key strings by googling and scrutinizing sources. On top of
that I can show/hide those toolbars (and their buttons and stuff) like this:     private void hideComponents(Component[] components, boolean visible) {
          for (int i= 0; i < components.length; i++) {
               if (components[i] instanceof JPanel)
                    hideComponents(((JPanel)components).getComponents(), visible);
               else if (components[i] instanceof JToolBar)
                    components[i].setVisible(visible);
IMHO that JFileChooser API is a mess and far from complete. I'm afraid
I'll find the same mess when I put my teeth in the JColorChooser thingy ;-)
kind regards,
Jos