JList with aligned pictures

Question

What would be the best way to make a JList with a picture for each item?
I have all the pictures loaded as ImageIcons btw.

Answer 1

Write a custom list renderer, see http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/docs/api/javax/swing/ListCellRenderer.html
Then, to get the text aligned, you'll need to use the setIconTextGap method of JLabel. If the maximum icon width is 16 and your current icon is 13 pixels wide, then just set the icon-text-gab to 3.
Something like this:
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Dummy
     public static void main(String [] args)
          JList list = new JList(new Object[]{
               new JLabel("small", new ImageIcon("d:/java/resources/java logo 16x16.png"), JLabel.LEFT),
               new JLabel("large", new ImageIcon("d:/java/resources/java logo 32x32.png"), JLabel.LEFT)
          list.setCellRenderer(new MyCellRenderer());
          JFrame f = new JFrame();
          f.getContentPane().add(list);
          f.setSize(400,400);
          f.setVisible(true);
     static class MyCellRenderer extends JLabel implements ListCellRenderer
          public MyCellRenderer()
               setOpaque(true);
          public Component getListCellRendererComponent(JList list, Object value, int index, boolean isSelected, boolean cellHasFocus)
               JLabel label = (JLabel)value;
               setText(label.getText());
               setIconTextGap(4 + 32 - label.getIcon().getIconWidth());
               setIcon(label.getIcon());
               setBackground(isSelected ? Color.red : Color.white);
               setForeground(isSelected ? Color.white : Color.black);
               return this;