JTable Tab Behavior

Hi,
after some weeks learning swing, i am proud to finish my first project, which makes sense (not Apps like "Hello World"...).
I just got two problems left, which i need help for.
The first and more important problem is the tab behavior in a JTable.
The default behavior is that the focused cells change
Left-To-Right and then Top-To-Bottom
Is there a way to make the focus change
Top-To-Bottom and then Left-To-Right?
I tried a bit with a KexListener, but there must be a better solution...
private void table_keyPressed(KeyEvent e) {
     if(e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_TAB) {
          table.setEditingRow(table.getEditingRow() + 1);
          table.setEditingColumn(table.getEditingColumn());
}Although there seem to be many topics adressing this problem in the forum, I couldn't really find an answer ;-(
The second problem, i can't solve on my own, is that JTable seems to handle UTF-16 in a wrong way (i cant' use the german umlaute ä ö ü Ä .... with a JTable
Niko

Works like a charm....
I also was able to fix the german Umlaute Problem (you should always set a LOCALE Variable in Gentoo Linux ;-)
Thanks,
Niko

Similar Messages

How do I restore tab behavior back to the way it was in FF 3.5??

I just upgraded to FF 3.6.13, I generally wait to upgrade until any new bugs have been identified and corrected. In FF 3.5, when I opened a new tab from a link, the new tab appeared to the right of the current tab (NOT at the very end of the tab bar) and the focus STAYED ON THE CURRENT TAB. If I opened multiple new tabs, they each opened to the right of the previously opened new tab, as in <original tab sequence> Yahoo Facebook GMail MyBlog <New tab sequence after opening links> Yahoo Facebook NewFBLink1 NewFBLink2 NewFBLink3 NewFBLink4 GMail MyBlog, with the focus remaining on the CURRENT TAB (in this example Facebook, from which I was opening the links). In 3.6.13, the tabs SOMETIMES open to the right of the current tab, sometimes at the end of the tab bar, and no matter how I fiddle the settings, I cannot make them CONSISTENT. Have tried the extensions 'Tab Mix Plus' and 'New Tab at End' - these do not give me consistent behavior - sometimes they do as I wish, sometimes not. In addition, sometimes the focus stays on the current tab (which is what I want) - sometimes the focus changes to the new tab just opened, sometimes it stays on the current tab until I've opened 3 or 4 new tabs, then jumps to one of the new ones. In the 'options', I do NOT have 'when I open a link in a new tab, switch to it immediately' checked; yet sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. HOW do I achieve consistent behavior?? This is why I don't upgrade often. Very frustrating. I have not changed any plugins, other than trying Tab Mix Plus and New Tabs at End after upgrading to 3.6.13, once I realized that the tab behavior was not consistent. How can I go back to FF 3.5 ???

First of all, sometimes Extensions can interfere with one another. That '''''<u>MAY</u>''''' be the case with your using both Tab Mix Plus and New Tabs at End. They both have a function that you can set for where new tabs appear. TMP has options concerning focus on new tabs.
My suggestions are:
#Un-install New Tabs at End (Tools > Add-ons > Extensions, click New Tabs at End, click Uninstall, then exit and restart Firefox).
#*If using no other extension that affect where tabs appear (to the right of current tab or at end of all open tabs), a simple preference change can affect that change for you, <u>and you have one less extension to be concerned with</u>. I have also made this change as TMP did not have the Focus options to do this when the "new tab at end" feature first appeared or when I first started using the version of Firefox in which this feature appeared:
#*#Type '''about:config''' in the URL bar and press the Enter key.
#*#*See: http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config
#*#If you see the warning, accept it (promise to be careful).
#*#Filter = browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent
#*#Look at the "Value" column ('''false'''=open at end, '''true'''=open after current tab); Value = true is the default.
#*#Double-click that preference to toggle the value from true to false, or false to true
#*#Restart Firefox (File > Restart Firefox)
#*#See: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2010/02/01/change-firefox-to-open-new-tab-at-far-right-end-of-tabbar-disable-insert-next-to-current-active-tab/
#Tab Mix Plus settings
#*Open the Tab Mix Plus Options (Tools > Add-ons > Extensions, click Tab Mix Plus, click Options)
#*Click on Events > Tab Opening
#*#Place a check mark before "Open new tabs next to current one"
#*#I have checked "Open other tabs next to current one"
#*##I have un-checked "Only if related to current tab"
#*##I have un-checked "Change opening order"
#*#I have checked "Open duplicated tabs next to original"
#*Click Events > Tab Focus
#*#If you ALWAYS want to stay on the current tab and let the new tabs open in the background, un-check everything. These selections will/should over-ride Tools > Options > Tabs, "When I open a link in a new tab, switch to it immediately"
See if the above changes give you the results you are seeking. Tab Mix Plus has lots of options. You may need to change one or two settings at a time until it behaves the way you desire. Keep track of the changes you make so that you can easily re-trace/re-set when the results are not what you want.

The new tab behavior is driving me nuts. It keeps re-centering on tabs nearest the start of the list when I move a tab. How do I change this?

The new tab behavior is driving me nuts. It keeps re-centering on tabs nearest the start of the list when I move a tab. How do I change this?
I don't want to download an app. I would rather add a new string in about config or just change of the ones in there to false. It's making my work life rather difficult, to be forced to go all the way back to the end of my list after moving one tab just to have to do it again. I mean it's to the point where I might consider changing browsers if they had tab scroll bars.
Edit: At this point I will download any app. Please make this stupid feature stop.

The result of setting up that code will do exactly as you described: the tabs will be crowded together. I had not noticed any change in behaviour of Firefox with tabs because all the tabs are crowded together, so they cannot scroll, and I very seldom move tabs.

Bizarre tabs behavior

After the 10.4.11 update Safari has had very bizarre tabs behavior.
http://www.99.se/attachments/safari/14197d1195126743-safari-3-bugg-bild-2.png
http://www.99.se/attachments/safari/14211d1195172108-safari-3-bugg-bild-1.png
http://www.99.se/attachments/safari/14212d1195172234-safari-3-bugg-bild-5.png
The active image isn't showing, or shows up completely screwed up. I've tried reverting to Safari 2, which fixed the problem, but when reapplying the update the problem comes back. I've tried every magic script I know to repair the system.
I have no plug-ins whatsoever.
Any ideas?

Sorry, no ideas, but I have an odd situation, too. When working with multiple tabs, I click a link that opens a new window, but it doesn't open a new window. It opens in oldest tab with the header (and URL) of the old web page, but the body being the pop-up.
Go figure that one out!

How to get JTable's default TAB behavior and apply it to another key ?

Is there any way to get Table's default behavior of one key say TAB & apply it to the another key say ENTER?
Means I want to disable JTable's default behavior of ENTER key & I want ENTER key should act like TAB.

Take a look at this.
[http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/special_report/kestrel/keybindings.html]

Urgent Regarding Jtable TAB and Arrow keys

Hi guys and gals,
In my project i need urgnet help regarding Jtable.I want to use DOWN ARROW key same as TAB function.When i reach the first row last editing coulmn by using arrow key,then i habe to creating a new row with default values.And if press UP key if that row contains no values i have to delete.Plz help me in this regard.
sreeni

I meant that the laptop freezes in gdm and in console (tty1). In gdm i can't even type any character. And in console i can login but when i press the tab key (autocompletation) it stops. The only thing i can do is press the power button.
Actually my keymap is es_ES. And i think that it's working fine because the n tilde and pipes work fine.

Overriding Default JTable Selection Behavior

I'm attempting to override the default selection behavior of a JTable. For clicking, I want the table to behave basically as if the ctrl key was being held down all the time. That works great.
I want the behavior of dragging a selection to behave a certain way as well. If ctrl is not held down, then a drag should cancel the current selection and start a new one at the drag interval. This works fine too.
However, if ctrl is held down during a drag, I want the dragged interval to be added to the selection instead of replacing it. This almost works. However, if I hold ctrl while dragging, it no longer let's me "undrag" the selection: once a cell is inside the dragged interval, it's selected, even if you drag back over it to deselect it.
I understand why that's happening given my approach, but I'm looking for a way around it. Does anybody have any ideas about how to get a JTable to behave the way I want?
Here's a compilable program that demonstrates what I'm doing:
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class TestTableSelection{
     boolean ctrlDown = false;
     JTable table;
     public TestTableSelection(){
          JFrame frame = new JFrame("Test Table Selection");
          frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
          //give the table random data
          String [][] data = new String [10][5];
          String [] names = new String [5];
          for(int i = 0; i < 5; i++){
               names[i] = "C: " + i;
               for(int j = 0; j < 10; j++){
                    data[j] = "t: " + (int)(Math.random()*100);
          table = new JTable(data, names){
               //override the default selection behavior
               public void changeSelection(int rowIndex, int columnIndex, boolean toggle, boolean extend) {
                    if(ctrlDown){
                         //ctrl + dragging should add the dragged interval to the selection
                         super.changeSelection(rowIndex, columnIndex, toggle, extend);
                    else{
                         //clicking adds a row to the selection without clearing others
                         //dragging without holding ctrl clears the selection
                         //and starts a new selection at the dragged interval
                         super.changeSelection(rowIndex, columnIndex, !extend, extend);
          //keep track of when ctrl is held down
          table.addKeyListener(new KeyAdapter() {
               public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) {
                    ctrlDown = e.isControlDown();
               public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e){
                    ctrlDown = e.isControlDown();
          frame.getContentPane().add(new JScrollPane(table));
          frame.setSize(250, 250);
          frame.setVisible(true);
     public static void main(String[] args){
          new TestTableSelection();
Let me know if any of that isn't clear.

This change seemed to work for me
          table = new JTable(data, names){
               int prevRow = -1;
               //override the default selection behavior
               public void changeSelection(int rowIndex, int columnIndex, boolean toggle, boolean extend) {
                    if(ctrlDown){
                         //ctrl + dragging should add the dragged interval to the selection
                         if ( rowIndex != prevRow ) {
                              prevRow = rowIndex;
                              super.changeSelection(rowIndex, columnIndex, true, false);
                    else{
                         //clicking adds a row to the selection without clearing others
                         //dragging without holding ctrl clears the selection
                         //and starts a new selection at the dragged interval
                         super.changeSelection(rowIndex, columnIndex, !extend, extend);
          };

Switching tab behavior in JTextArea

I think by default Multiline text areas in windows will tab to the next focusable component by pressing the tab button and will create a tab character within the text area by pressing ctrl-tab. JTextArea has the opposite behavior. Does anyone know how to make JTextArea have the default windows behavior? I've looked all over this site for two days and have tried many of the suggestions and many of my own ideas without being able to get this work. Please help if you can.
porcaree

i do have a similar problem.
can u suggest me u r ideas.
thanks
vijay

JTable tab key navigation with JComboBox Cell Editors in Java 1.3 & 1.4

Hello - this is one for the experts!
I have a JTable which has an editable JComboBox as one of the cell editors for a particular column. Users must be able to navigate through the table using the tab key. After editing a cell a single tab should advance the cell selection to the next column and then the user should just be able to start typing to populate the cell.
However, i've come across some really frustrating differences between the Swing implementation of JDK1.3.1_09 and JDK 1.4.2_04 which means this behaviour is very different between versions!....
1. Editing Cells and then advancing to the next column using tab.
Using standard cell editors (based around JTextFields) in 1.3.1 the user has to press tab twice to traverse to the next column after editing. However, in 1.4.2 a single tab key is enough to move to the next column after editing.
2. Editable JComboBox editors and and advancing to the next column using tab.
Using JDK 1.3.1, having entered some text in the editable combo it takes 2 tabs to transfer the selected cell to the next column. With 1.4.2 a single tab while editing the editable combo ends editing and transfers the selection out of the table completely?!?
With these 2 issues I don't know how to make a single tab key reliably transfer to the next cell, between java versions. Can anyone please help me?!??!
(i've attached test code below which can be run in both 1.3 and 1.4 and demonstrates the above behaviour.)
package com.test;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.table.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
public class TableTest4 extends JFrame {
     private JTable table;
     private DefaultTableModel tableModel;
     public TableTest4() {
          initFrame();
      * Initialises the test frame.
     public void initFrame() {
          // initialise table
          table = new JTable(10, 5);
          tableModel = (DefaultTableModel) table.getModel();
          table.setPreferredScrollableViewportSize(table.getPreferredSize());
          table.setRowHeight(22);
          JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(table);
          getContentPane().add(scrollPane);
          JButton dummyBtn1 = new JButton("Dummy Button 1");
          JButton dummyBtn2 = new JButton("Dummy Button 2");
          // initialise frame
          JPanel btnPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(2, 1));
          btnPanel.add(dummyBtn1);
          btnPanel.add(dummyBtn2);
          getContentPane().add(btnPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
          // set renderer of first table column to be an editable combobox
          JComboBox editableCombo = new JComboBox();
          editableCombo.setEditable(true);
          TableColumn firstColumn = table.getColumnModel().getColumn(0);
          firstColumn.setCellEditor(new DefaultCellEditor(editableCombo));
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          TableTest4 frame = new TableTest4();
          frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
          frame.pack();
          frame.setVisible(true);

Run the above code in 1.3 and 1.4 and you can see that after editing a cell, the tab key behaviour works differently between versions.
I don't believe by adding a key listener to the cell editors will have the desired effect.
I've read other posts and from what i've read it looks like the processKeyBinding method of the JTable can be overridden to manually handle key events.
Has anyone done this to handle tab key presses so that the same java app running under 1.3 and 1.4 works in the same way ??? I would really appreciate some advice on this as its very frustrating !

Word wrapping: Tab behavior in TLF editor

Hi,
I have created an editor using TLF which has word-wrapping enabled. The editor also takes in the Tab key and places it at prober position. In case you insert Tab at the beginning of the line except for the first line then the TAB is inserted in the previous line and it does not get wrapped.
Is there any way in which I can acheive word wrapping for Tabs? I have observed similar behavior for SPACE as well.
Why is such a behavior in the both the cases?

We are using the TLF bundled with Flex 4.1.0.16076, latest production release. You can verify the problem here in this demo:
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/textlayout/demos/
Type two lines, make sure they wrap. At the beginning of the second line press the tab key multiple times. The tabs will stack up on the end of the first line.
If this is fixed in a newer version of TLF, is it safe to use with flex 4.1?
Thanks,
Ryan

Would like tab behavior to be same as with IE when clicking on links in Bookmarks Toolbar

In IE, when I click on a Bookmarks Toolbar link, it opens that link in the tab in which I am currently working. In Firefox, however, it always opens a new tab. I would prefer having Firefox behave such that it only opens a new tab when I specifically instruct it to do so, or when a URL links to a page that would ordinarily open a new window (in which case I prefer it open a new tab instead -- and I found where =that= setting is but has no effect on my particular problem).
Note: I may have asked this before but I have either lost the information, or made the change once in my system and forgot about it. I'm setting up a newly-purchased laptop after my "old faithful" gave up the ghost after four long and satisfying years of service. I shall miss it greatly.

Hello Steve.
Firefox normal behavior is to open bookmarks in the current tab. You may be having a problem with some Firefox add-on that is hindering your Firefox's normal behavior. Have you tried disabling all add-ons (just to check), to see if Firefox goes back to normal?
Whenever you have a problem with Firefox, whatever it is, you should make sure it's not coming from one of your installed add-ons, be it an extension, a theme or a plugin. To do that easily and cleanly, run Firefox in [http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode safe mode] and select ''Disable all add-ons''. If the problem disappears, you know it's from an add-on. Disable them all in normal mode, and enable them one at a time until you find the source of the problem. See [http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes this article] for information about troubleshooting extensions and theme. You can troubleshoot plugins the same way.
If you want support for one of your add-ons, you'll need to contact its author.

Limit JTable selection behavior

I have a simple table with 3 columns an multiple rows. If I select a row with the left mouse button and, with out letting go, move the mouse pointer up to a higher row or down to a lower row the currently selected row changes to the row the mouse pointer is over.
I need to stop this behavior.
If I select a row with a left mouse press and move the mouse around when I do a mouse release I want the selected row to still be the one i did the mouse pressed action over.
Please Help.

This change seemed to work for me
          table = new JTable(data, names){
               int prevRow = -1;
               //override the default selection behavior
               public void changeSelection(int rowIndex, int columnIndex, boolean toggle, boolean extend) {
                    if(ctrlDown){
                         //ctrl + dragging should add the dragged interval to the selection
                         if ( rowIndex != prevRow ) {
                              prevRow = rowIndex;
                              super.changeSelection(rowIndex, columnIndex, true, false);
                    else{
                         //clicking adds a row to the selection without clearing others
                         //dragging without holding ctrl clears the selection
                         //and starts a new selection at the dragged interval
                         super.changeSelection(rowIndex, columnIndex, !extend, extend);
          };

JTable TAB key listener

Hi all:
I'm trying to write a filterable jtable. User can input the filter rule in the table header and the table displays the filtered data at the same time when the user inputs letters. The table filter works fine. But when I try to add "TAB" key listener, I find that I can't track the "TAB" key. I use a customerized cell renderer to display the filterable table header, a customerized cell editor to edit the filterable table header. The cell editor is created like this:
JTextField textField = new JTextField("");
DefaultCellEditor cellEditor = new DefaultCellEditor(textField);
And I add a KeyListener to the textField. The KeyListener can track other keys like "Shift", "Alt", "Ctrl", but it can't track "TAB". It's weird. I also add the KeyListener to JTableHeader, JTable, but when I edit something in the JTextField, I still can't catch the "TAB" key. Have any ideas? Thank you for your time.

by default the Tab is used (and consumed) by
focusManager to move focus between components. If you
want to get it in a component you have to signal the
manager to keep it's hands off. How to do so depends
on the jdk version. Focus handling changed
considerably between 1.3 and 1.4: Prior to 1.4 you
have to subclass the component in question to return
true on isManagingFocus(), since 1.4 you have to set
the comp's focusTraversalKeys to make the manager take
those instead of the default keys.
Greetings
JeanetteThanks Jeanette, it works. I use the Component.setFocusTraversalKeysEnabled(false) to disable all traversal keys of JTextField and add a KeyEventDispatcher to the KeyboardFocusManager. It finally works. Users can use "TAB" keyStroke and "Shift-TAB" keyStroke to traverse in the filterable table header now. Thank you for your great help and the $$ are yours.

Change keyboard tab behavior

This one is tough to search for, with so much duplicity of meaning in the words key, tab, navigate, etc.
I have a tabular form where the optimal way to navigate is to go down each column instead of across each row; i.e. when the tab key is pressed, I want the focus to change from the current cell to the cell in the same column but immediately below the current cell.
I looked at html tabindex, and I'm not sure how to make that work.
So: can tabindex be used to change the navigation behavior of the tab key? Or, is there another way to change the tab key behavior to go column by column instead of row by row?
TIA.
Rick.

Rick - I know that is possible (in theory) to trap the keystroke using JavaScript and replace it (or, do a focus() call or similar to move the focus to another element), but figuring out where you are in the table can get quite hairy.
To be honest, it's one of these things we've been meaning to implement on one of our apps (our issue is moving to the next element when the user presses ENTER), but haven't got round to yet.
I'd therefore be very interested to hear if you crack it (either using JS or some other method).
Cheers,
John.

JTextArea inside Jtable - Tab, Focus issues

I am facing the following problems with JTextArea inside Jtable Cell
1. blinking cursor not visible on the cell(0,0) first time the UI is shown, although it has the focus
2. blinking cursor not visible on the 5th column (JTextArea) when it receives the focus nor the characters are visible when i start typing. i have to manually double click to force the focus to shift to the cell.
3. focus does not shit out of the 5th column (JTextArea) after pressing the tab key or enter key once. i have to do that twice to force the focus out.
Following is the code which i have implemented. Please let me know what is being missed out to rectify the above problems.
Thanks.
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import javax.swing.AbstractAction;
import javax.swing.Action;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.DefaultCellEditor;
import javax.swing.InputMap;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTable;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.KeyStroke;
public class test extends JFrame {
     JTable table;
     public test() {
          table = new JTable(15, 5) {
               public boolean isCellEditable(int row, int column) {
                    return column % 2 == 0;
                    // return true;
               public void changeSelection(final int row, final int column,
                         boolean toggle, boolean extend) {
                    super.changeSelection(row, column, toggle, extend);
                    if (editCellAt(row, column)) {
                         getEditorComponent().requestFocusInWindow();
          table.setPreferredScrollableViewportSize(table.getPreferredSize());
          table.putClientProperty("terminateEditOnFocusLost", Boolean.TRUE);
          TextAreaRenderer textAreaRenderer = new TextAreaRenderer();
          TextAreaEditor textEditor = new TextAreaEditor();
          table.getColumnModel().getColumn(4).setCellRenderer(textAreaRenderer);
          table.getColumnModel().getColumn(4).setCellEditor(textEditor);
          JTextField tf = new JTextField();
          tf.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder());
          table.setDefaultEditor(Object.class, new DefaultCellEditor((tf)));
          JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(table);
          DefaultCellEditor dce = (DefaultCellEditor) table
                    .getDefaultEditor(Object.class);
          dce.setClickCountToStart(1);
          getContentPane().add(scrollPane);
          InputMap im = table
                    .getInputMap(JTable.WHEN_ANCESTOR_OF_FOCUSED_COMPONENT);
          // Have the enter key work the same as the tab key
          KeyStroke tab = KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_TAB, 0);
          KeyStroke enter = KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER, 0);
          im.put(enter, im.get(tab));
          // Disable the right arrow key
          KeyStroke right = KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_RIGHT, 0);
          im.put(right, "none");
          // Override the default tab behaviour
          // Tab to the next editable cell. When no editable cells goto next cell.
          final Action oldTabAction = table.getActionMap().get(im.get(tab));
          Action tabAction = new AbstractAction() {
               public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                    oldTabAction.actionPerformed(e);
                    JTable table = (JTable) e.getSource();
                    int rowCount = table.getRowCount();
                    int columnCount = table.getColumnCount();
                    int row = table.getSelectedRow();
                    int column = table.getSelectedColumn();
                    while (!table.isCellEditable(row, column)) {
                         column += 1;
                         if (column == columnCount) {
                              column = 0;
                              row += 1;
                         if (row == rowCount) {
                              row = 0;
                         // Back to where we started, get out.
                         if (row == table.getSelectedRow()
                                   && column == table.getSelectedColumn()) {
                              break;
                    table.changeSelection(row, column, false, false);
          table.getActionMap().put(im.get(tab), tabAction);
          table.setSurrendersFocusOnKeystroke(true);
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          test frame = new test();
          frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
          frame.pack();
          frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
          frame.setVisible(true);
import java.awt.Component;
import java.util.Enumeration;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.Map;
import javax.swing.JTable;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.table.DefaultTableCellRenderer;
import javax.swing.table.TableCellRenderer;
import javax.swing.table.TableColumn;
import javax.swing.table.TableColumnModel;
public class TextAreaRenderer extends JTextArea implements TableCellRenderer {
     private final DefaultTableCellRenderer adaptee = new DefaultTableCellRenderer();
     /** map from table to map of rows to map of column heights */
     private final Map cellSizes = new HashMap();
     public TextAreaRenderer() {
          setLineWrap(true);
          setWrapStyleWord(true);
     public Component getTableCellRendererComponent(//
               JTable table, Object obj, boolean isSelected, boolean hasFocus,
               int row, int column) {
          // set the colours, etc. using the standard for that platform
          adaptee.getTableCellRendererComponent(table, obj, isSelected, hasFocus,
                    row, column);
          setForeground(adaptee.getForeground());
          setBackground(adaptee.getBackground());
          setBorder(adaptee.getBorder());
          setFont(adaptee.getFont());
          setText(adaptee.getText());
          // This line was very important to get it working with JDK1.4
          TableColumnModel columnModel = table.getColumnModel();
          setSize(columnModel.getColumn(column).getWidth(), 100000);
          int height_wanted = (int) getPreferredSize().getHeight();
          addSize(table, row, column, height_wanted);
          height_wanted = findTotalMaximumRowSize(table, row);
          if (height_wanted != table.getRowHeight(row)) {
               table.setRowHeight(row, height_wanted);
          return this;
     private void addSize(JTable table, int row, int column, int height) {
          Map rows = (Map) cellSizes.get(table);
          if (rows == null) {
               cellSizes.put(table, rows = new HashMap());
          Map rowheights = (Map) rows.get(new Integer(row));
          if (rowheights == null) {
               rows.put(new Integer(row), rowheights = new HashMap());
          rowheights.put(new Integer(column), new Integer(height));
     * Look through all columns and get the renderer. If it is also a
     * TextAreaRenderer, we look at the maximum height in its hash table for
     * this row.
     private int findTotalMaximumRowSize(JTable table, int row) {
          int maximum_height = 0;
          Enumeration columns = table.getColumnModel().getColumns();
          while (columns.hasMoreElements()) {
               TableColumn tc = (TableColumn) columns.nextElement();
               TableCellRenderer cellRenderer = tc.getCellRenderer();
               if (cellRenderer instanceof TextAreaRenderer) {
                    TextAreaRenderer tar = (TextAreaRenderer) cellRenderer;
                    maximum_height = Math.max(maximum_height, tar
                              .findMaximumRowSize(table, row));
          return maximum_height;
     private int findMaximumRowSize(JTable table, int row) {
          Map rows = (Map) cellSizes.get(table);
          if (rows == null)
               return 0;
          Map rowheights = (Map) rows.get(new Integer(row));
          if (rowheights == null)
               return 0;
          int maximum_height = 0;
          for (Iterator it = rowheights.entrySet().iterator(); it.hasNext();) {
               Map.Entry entry = (Map.Entry) it.next();
               int cellHeight = ((Integer) entry.getValue()).intValue();
               maximum_height = Math.max(maximum_height, cellHeight);
          return maximum_height;
import java.awt.KeyboardFocusManager;
import java.awt.event.FocusEvent;
import java.awt.event.InputEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.util.HashSet;
import java.util.Set;
import javax.swing.DefaultCellEditor;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.KeyStroke;
public class TextAreaEditor extends DefaultCellEditor {
     public TextAreaEditor() {
          super(new JTextField());
          final JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea();
          textArea.setWrapStyleWord(true);
          textArea.setLineWrap(true);
          JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(textArea);
          scrollPane.setBorder(null);
          Set forwardTraversalKeys = new HashSet();
          forwardTraversalKeys.add(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_TAB, 0));
          textArea.setFocusTraversalKeys(
                    KeyboardFocusManager.FORWARD_TRAVERSAL_KEYS,
                    forwardTraversalKeys);
          Set backwardTraversalKeys = new HashSet();
          backwardTraversalKeys.add(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_TAB,
                    InputEvent.SHIFT_MASK));
          textArea.setFocusTraversalKeys(
                    KeyboardFocusManager.BACKWARD_TRAVERSAL_KEYS,
                    backwardTraversalKeys);
          scrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar().setFocusable(false);
          scrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar().setFocusable(false);
          editorComponent = scrollPane;
          delegate = new DefaultCellEditor.EditorDelegate() {
               public void setValue(Object value) {
                    textArea.setText((value != null) ? value.toString() : "");
               public Object getCellEditorValue() {
                    return textArea.getText();
     public void lostFocus() {
          stopCellEditing();
--------------------------------------------

I am facing the following problems with JTextArea inside Jtable Cell
1. blinking cursor not visible on the cell(0,0) first time the UI is shown, although it has the focus
2. blinking cursor not visible on the 5th column (JTextArea) when it receives the focus nor the characters are visible when i start typing. i have to manually double click to force the focus to shift to the cell.
3. focus does not shit out of the 5th column (JTextArea) after pressing the tab key or enter key once. i have to do that twice to force the focus out.
Following is the code which i have implemented. Please let me know what is being missed out to rectify the above problems.
Thanks.
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import javax.swing.AbstractAction;
import javax.swing.Action;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.DefaultCellEditor;
import javax.swing.InputMap;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTable;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.KeyStroke;
public class test extends JFrame {
     JTable table;
     public test() {
          table = new JTable(15, 5) {
               public boolean isCellEditable(int row, int column) {
                    return column % 2 == 0;
                    // return true;
               public void changeSelection(final int row, final int column,
                         boolean toggle, boolean extend) {
                    super.changeSelection(row, column, toggle, extend);
                    if (editCellAt(row, column)) {
                         getEditorComponent().requestFocusInWindow();
          table.setPreferredScrollableViewportSize(table.getPreferredSize());
          table.putClientProperty("terminateEditOnFocusLost", Boolean.TRUE);
          TextAreaRenderer textAreaRenderer = new TextAreaRenderer();
          TextAreaEditor textEditor = new TextAreaEditor();
          table.getColumnModel().getColumn(4).setCellRenderer(textAreaRenderer);
          table.getColumnModel().getColumn(4).setCellEditor(textEditor);
          JTextField tf = new JTextField();
          tf.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder());
          table.setDefaultEditor(Object.class, new DefaultCellEditor((tf)));
          JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(table);
          DefaultCellEditor dce = (DefaultCellEditor) table
                    .getDefaultEditor(Object.class);
          dce.setClickCountToStart(1);
          getContentPane().add(scrollPane);
          InputMap im = table
                    .getInputMap(JTable.WHEN_ANCESTOR_OF_FOCUSED_COMPONENT);
          // Have the enter key work the same as the tab key
          KeyStroke tab = KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_TAB, 0);
          KeyStroke enter = KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER, 0);
          im.put(enter, im.get(tab));
          // Disable the right arrow key
          KeyStroke right = KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_RIGHT, 0);
          im.put(right, "none");
          // Override the default tab behaviour
          // Tab to the next editable cell. When no editable cells goto next cell.
          final Action oldTabAction = table.getActionMap().get(im.get(tab));
          Action tabAction = new AbstractAction() {
               public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                    oldTabAction.actionPerformed(e);
                    JTable table = (JTable) e.getSource();
                    int rowCount = table.getRowCount();
                    int columnCount = table.getColumnCount();
                    int row = table.getSelectedRow();
                    int column = table.getSelectedColumn();
                    while (!table.isCellEditable(row, column)) {
                         column += 1;
                         if (column == columnCount) {
                              column = 0;
                              row += 1;
                         if (row == rowCount) {
                              row = 0;
                         // Back to where we started, get out.
                         if (row == table.getSelectedRow()
                                   && column == table.getSelectedColumn()) {
                              break;
                    table.changeSelection(row, column, false, false);
          table.getActionMap().put(im.get(tab), tabAction);
          table.setSurrendersFocusOnKeystroke(true);
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          test frame = new test();
          frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
          frame.pack();
          frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
          frame.setVisible(true);
import java.awt.Component;
import java.util.Enumeration;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.Map;
import javax.swing.JTable;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.table.DefaultTableCellRenderer;
import javax.swing.table.TableCellRenderer;
import javax.swing.table.TableColumn;
import javax.swing.table.TableColumnModel;
public class TextAreaRenderer extends JTextArea implements TableCellRenderer {
     private final DefaultTableCellRenderer adaptee = new DefaultTableCellRenderer();
     /** map from table to map of rows to map of column heights */
     private final Map cellSizes = new HashMap();
     public TextAreaRenderer() {
          setLineWrap(true);
          setWrapStyleWord(true);
     public Component getTableCellRendererComponent(//
               JTable table, Object obj, boolean isSelected, boolean hasFocus,
               int row, int column) {
          // set the colours, etc. using the standard for that platform
          adaptee.getTableCellRendererComponent(table, obj, isSelected, hasFocus,
                    row, column);
          setForeground(adaptee.getForeground());
          setBackground(adaptee.getBackground());
          setBorder(adaptee.getBorder());
          setFont(adaptee.getFont());
          setText(adaptee.getText());
          // This line was very important to get it working with JDK1.4
          TableColumnModel columnModel = table.getColumnModel();
          setSize(columnModel.getColumn(column).getWidth(), 100000);
          int height_wanted = (int) getPreferredSize().getHeight();
          addSize(table, row, column, height_wanted);
          height_wanted = findTotalMaximumRowSize(table, row);
          if (height_wanted != table.getRowHeight(row)) {
               table.setRowHeight(row, height_wanted);
          return this;
     private void addSize(JTable table, int row, int column, int height) {
          Map rows = (Map) cellSizes.get(table);
          if (rows == null) {
               cellSizes.put(table, rows = new HashMap());
          Map rowheights = (Map) rows.get(new Integer(row));
          if (rowheights == null) {
               rows.put(new Integer(row), rowheights = new HashMap());
          rowheights.put(new Integer(column), new Integer(height));
     * Look through all columns and get the renderer. If it is also a
     * TextAreaRenderer, we look at the maximum height in its hash table for
     * this row.
     private int findTotalMaximumRowSize(JTable table, int row) {
          int maximum_height = 0;
          Enumeration columns = table.getColumnModel().getColumns();
          while (columns.hasMoreElements()) {
               TableColumn tc = (TableColumn) columns.nextElement();
               TableCellRenderer cellRenderer = tc.getCellRenderer();
               if (cellRenderer instanceof TextAreaRenderer) {
                    TextAreaRenderer tar = (TextAreaRenderer) cellRenderer;
                    maximum_height = Math.max(maximum_height, tar
                              .findMaximumRowSize(table, row));
          return maximum_height;
     private int findMaximumRowSize(JTable table, int row) {
          Map rows = (Map) cellSizes.get(table);
          if (rows == null)
               return 0;
          Map rowheights = (Map) rows.get(new Integer(row));
          if (rowheights == null)
               return 0;
          int maximum_height = 0;
          for (Iterator it = rowheights.entrySet().iterator(); it.hasNext();) {
               Map.Entry entry = (Map.Entry) it.next();
               int cellHeight = ((Integer) entry.getValue()).intValue();
               maximum_height = Math.max(maximum_height, cellHeight);
          return maximum_height;
import java.awt.KeyboardFocusManager;
import java.awt.event.FocusEvent;
import java.awt.event.InputEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.util.HashSet;
import java.util.Set;
import javax.swing.DefaultCellEditor;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.KeyStroke;
public class TextAreaEditor extends DefaultCellEditor {
     public TextAreaEditor() {
          super(new JTextField());
          final JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea();
          textArea.setWrapStyleWord(true);
          textArea.setLineWrap(true);
          JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(textArea);
          scrollPane.setBorder(null);
          Set forwardTraversalKeys = new HashSet();
          forwardTraversalKeys.add(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_TAB, 0));
          textArea.setFocusTraversalKeys(
                    KeyboardFocusManager.FORWARD_TRAVERSAL_KEYS,
                    forwardTraversalKeys);
          Set backwardTraversalKeys = new HashSet();
          backwardTraversalKeys.add(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_TAB,
                    InputEvent.SHIFT_MASK));
          textArea.setFocusTraversalKeys(
                    KeyboardFocusManager.BACKWARD_TRAVERSAL_KEYS,
                    backwardTraversalKeys);
          scrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar().setFocusable(false);
          scrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar().setFocusable(false);
          editorComponent = scrollPane;
          delegate = new DefaultCellEditor.EditorDelegate() {
               public void setValue(Object value) {
                    textArea.setText((value != null) ? value.toString() : "");
               public Object getCellEditorValue() {
                    return textArea.getText();
     public void lostFocus() {
          stopCellEditing();
--------------------------------------------

JTable Tab Behavior

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