JMenuItem.setEnabled() not working

Question

Hello,
How can I force JMenuItem object to be disabled?
I've tried the following:
package forum;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import javax.swing.JMenuBar;
import javax.swing.JMenuItem;
public class ForumFrame extends javax.swing.JFrame {
    public ForumFrame() {
        initComponents();
    public Dimension getMinimumSize() {
        return new Dimension(600,600);
    public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
        return getMinimumSize();
    private void initComponents(){
        setJMenuBar(menuBar);
        menuBar.add(menuItem);
        menuItem.setEnabled(false);
        menuItem.addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter() {
            public void mousePressed(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
                System.out.println("Menu Item enabled: " +menuItem.isEnabled());
                System.out.println("Menu Item clicked!");
        pack();
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                new ForumFrame().setVisible(true);
    private  JMenuBar menuBar=new JMenuBar();
    private  JMenuItem menuItem=new JMenuItem("Click me gently");
}Run gives the following output:
Menu Item enabled: false
Menu Item clicked!
Thanks.

Answer 1

The mouse listener will always be invoked. Attach action listener to the menu item (like you do to any AbstractButton) - it will not get called on a disabled control.