JTable - make first column not scrollable

Question

I like to know using one JTable and JScrollPane to make it generically not scroll for the first column.
Do you set the viewport to start at the second column, if so how?
Thanks
Abraham

Answer 1

Heres a test to run with the renderers and editors for fixed table columns
See source for FixedColumnScrollPane
// import libraries required, no space
public class SimpleTable extends JFrame {
   private static class MyTableCellRenderer extends DefaultTableCellRenderer {
      public MyTableCellRenderer() {
         super();
         setOpaque(true);
         noFocusBorder = new EmptyBorder(1, 2, 1, 2);
         setBorder(noFocusBorder);
      public Component getTableCellRendererComponent(JTable table, Object value,
                                                     boolean isSelected, boolean hasFocus,
                                                     int row, int col) {
         JLabel renderer = (JLabel) super.getTableCellRendererComponent(table, value,
               isSelected, hasFocus, row, col);
         String cellValue = value.toString();
         renderer.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.LEFT);
         renderer.setToolTipText(cellValue);
         String headerValue = table.getColumnModel().getColumn(col).getHeaderValue().toString();
         // Use header value for renderers when splitting table columns, dont check by column index
         if (headerValue.length() == 0) {
            renderer.setText("Row " + (row+1));
         if (cellValue.startsWith("a")) {
            renderer.setForeground(Color.blue);
         } else if (cellValue.startsWith("b")) {
            renderer.setForeground(Color.green);
         } else if (cellValue.startsWith("c")) {
            renderer.setForeground(Color.blue);
         } else if (cellValue.startsWith("d")) {
            renderer.setForeground(Color.magenta);
         } else if (cellValue.startsWith("e")) {
            renderer.setForeground(Color.ORANGE);
         return this;
   public class MyTableCellEditor extends AbstractCellEditor implements TableCellEditor {
      private JComponent component = null;
      public Component getTableCellEditorComponent(JTable table, Object value,
                                                   boolean isSelected,
                                                   int row, int col) {
         this.component = new JTextField(value.toString());
         return this.component;
      public Object getCellEditorValue() {
         if (component instanceof JTextComponent) {
            String text = ((JTextComponent) component).getText();
            return text;
         return null;
   public SimpleTable() {
      super("Simple JTable Test");
      setSize(300, 200);
      setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
      TableModel mainTableModel = new AbstractTableModel() {
         private static final int ROWS = 1000;
         String colValues[] = {"", "a", "b", "c", "d", "e"};
         String data[][] = new String[ROWS][colValues.length];
         String headers[] = {"", "Column 1", "Column 2", "Column 3", "Column 4", "Column 5"};
         public int getColumnCount() {
            return colValues.length;
         public int getRowCount() {
            return ROWS;
         public String getColumnName(int col) {
            return headers[col];
         // Synthesize some entries using the data values & the row #
         public Object getValueAt(int row, int col) {
            String val = data[row][col];
            if (val == null) {
               val = colValues[col] + row;
               data[row][col] = val;
            return val;
         public void setValueAt(Object value, int row, int col) {
            data[row][col] = value.toString();
         public Class getColumnClass(int column) {
            return getValueAt(0, column).getClass();
         public boolean isCellEditable(int row, int col) {
            return (col > 0);
      JTable mainTable = new JTable(mainTableModel);
      TableColumnModel mainColumnModel = mainTable.getColumnModel();
      for (int i = 0; i < mainColumnModel.getColumnCount(); i++) {
         TableColumn tableColumn = mainColumnModel.getColumn(i);
         tableColumn.setCellRenderer(new MyTableCellRenderer());
         tableColumn.setCellEditor(new MyTableCellEditor());
      FixedColumnScrollPane fixedColumnScrollPane
            = new FixedColumnScrollPane(mainTable, 1);
      setLayout(new BoxLayout(getContentPane(), BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
      JLabel fixedLabel = new JLabel("Fixed Column Table");
      fixedLabel.setFont(new Font("Arial", Font.BOLD | Font.ITALIC, 11));
      getContentPane().add(fixedLabel);
      getContentPane().add(fixedColumnScrollPane);
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      SimpleTable st = new SimpleTable();
      st.setVisible(true);
}