JTable Cell Value needs to hided

Question

Hi,
I have 5 columns in a JTable. The first column is a checkbox. The second column is non editable. The third, fourth and fifth columns are editable. Whan I click a check box, I am performing a database operation and based on the output, I am setting values to for the column 3, 4 and 5.
My requirement: I need to perform the database operation only for the first time of the check box click. If I uncheck the checkbox, the values in column 3, 4 and 5 needs to be disappeared. If I check the check box again, I need the values to be visible. Basically, I will do database calls only for the first time. From second time onwards, I need to just hide the text in the particular cells (if the checkbox is unchecked) and make the cell values visible (if the checkbox is checked) In JTable API, there are no methods to hide a cell value or I am unable to figure it out. Please help me.
Regards
subbu

Answer 1

Alirght here is some code. This is a bit messy but I guess the solution is clear. It make use of a combination of renderers, ie the Sun's DefaultTableCellRenderer (for the first column to get the checkboxes) and a custom renderer for the rest of the columns.
Also, a MouseListener is added so that on clicking the first column, a repaint is forced to ensure the values in the cells disappear.
* @(#)CheckableRow.java
* @author icewalker2g
* @version 1.00 2007/12/27
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
import javax.swing.table.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
public class CheckableRow extends JFrame {
    public JTable table;
    public DefaultTableModel model;
    public CheckableRow() {
        super("Checkable Row");
        createUI();
    public void createUI() {
        Vector<String> cols = new Vector<String>();
            cols.addElement("Col 1");
            cols.addElement("Col 2");
            cols.addElement("Col 3");
            cols.addElement("Col 4");
            cols.addElement("Col 5");
        Vector<Object> rows = new Vector<Object>();
        model = new DefaultTableModel(rows, cols);
        for(int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
            Vector<Object> row = new Vector<Object>();
                row.addElement( false );
                row.addElement("Data");
                row.addElement("Col 3 Data " + (i+1));
                row.addElement("Col 4 Data " + (i+1));
                row.addElement("Col 5 Data " + (i+1));
            model.addRow( row );
        table = new JTable(model) {
            CellValueRenderer renderer = new CellValueRenderer();
            public TableCellRenderer getCellRenderer(int row, int col) {
                if(col > 1) {
                    return renderer;   
                return super.getCellRenderer(row, col);
            public Class getColumnClass(int col) {
                if( col == 0) {
                    return Boolean.class;
                return super.getColumnClass(col);
            public boolean isCellEditable(int row, int col) {
                if( col != 1 ){
                    return true;
                return false;
        table.addMouseListener( new MouseAdapter() {
            public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
                if( table.columnAtPoint( e.getPoint() ) == 0 ) {
                    table.repaint();
        getContentPane().add( new JScrollPane(table), BorderLayout.CENTER );
        pack();
        setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setVisible(true);
    public class CellValueRenderer extends DefaultTableCellRenderer {
        public CellValueRenderer() {
            super();
        public Component getTableCellRendererComponent(JTable table, Object value, boolean isSelected,
            boolean hasFocus, int row, int col) {
            DefaultTableCellRenderer renderer = (DefaultTableCellRenderer)
            super.getTableCellRendererComponent(table, value, isSelected, hasFocus, row, col);
            if( table.getValueAt(row, 0).toString().equals("true") && col > 1) {
                renderer.setText("");
            } else {
                renderer.setText( value == null ? "" : value.toString() );
            return renderer;
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new CheckableRow();
}ICE