JTable woes (JDK 1.5): Sorting and updating data

Question

So I've been working on this project for a while here that is essentially the front-end to a database system. The data itself is displayed in a JTable derivative. Column 1 is a JComboBox containing a list of companies, Column 2 is a JComboBox containing a list of employees, and the rest of the columns contain information specific to that employee.
The data for each row is actually contained within a custom TableRowData object, which is used to assign listeners and such:
    private void initComponents() {
        this.organizations.setSelectedEnum(this.data.getOrganizationNumber());
        organizations.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                if("comboBoxChanged".equals(e.getActionCommand())) {
                    clearData();
                    try {                 
                        updateEmployees();
                        fireRowDataChanged();
                    } catch (SQLException ex) {
                        Logger.getLogger(VenosTeammateRow.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
        pocs.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {               
                if("comboBoxChanged".equals(e.getActionCommand())) {
                    try {
                        data = getEmployeeInformation();
                        fireRowDataChanged();
                    } catch (SQLException ex) {
                        Logger.getLogger(VenosTeammateRow.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
    }Ideally, I would like a change in Column 1 to load the employees for the selected company into Column 2. This is working as expected.
I would also like a change in Column 2 to load the information specific to the selected employee into the rest of the columns. This is also working as expected.
The problem I am having arises when the data is sorted and THEN a change is made to either column.
To sort, I am using a custom comparator that keeps track of the sort direction and current sort column.
In the JTable derivative class, I have a method, sortByColumn(int col):
public void sortByColumn(int col) {
        this.getColumnModel().getColumn(col).getCellEditor().cancelCellEditing();
        if(this.getSelectedRow() > 0 && this.getSelectedRow() < this.getRowCount())
            this.removeRowSelectionInterval(this.getSelectedRow(), this.getSelectedRow());
        DefaultTableModel mdl = (DefaultTableModel)this.getModel();
        comp.setSortColumn(col);
        Collections.sort(mdl.getDataVector(), comp);
        // Declare and initialize the header
        JTableHeader header = this.getTableHeader();
        // Reset all headers to their identifier values
        for(int i = 0; i < mdl.getColumnCount(); i++) {
            String identifier = header.getColumnModel().getColumn(i).getIdentifier().toString();
            header.getColumnModel().getColumn(i).setHeaderValue(identifier);
        // Find the sort order (for the sorting indicator)
        int sortOrder = comp.getSortOrder(col);
        // Store the identifier text temporarily
        String headerText = header.getColumnModel().getColumn(col).getIdentifier().toString();
        // Declare and initialize the sort indicator based on the sort order
        String sortIndicator;
        switch(sortOrder) {
            case TableRowComparator.ASCENDING:
                sortIndicator = "  \u2191";
                break;
            case TableRowComparator.DECENDING:
                sortIndicator = "  \u2193";
                break;
            case TableRowComparator.UNSORTED:
                sortIndicator = "";
                break;
            default:
                sortIndicator = "  \u2193";
                break;
        /* Set the Header to display the text with the indicator. Since
         * this will automatically set the Identifier to the same value,
         * reset it to the value we stored previously.
        header.getColumnModel().getColumn(col).setHeaderValue(headerText+sortIndicator);
        header.getColumnModel().getColumn(col).setIdentifier(headerText);
        // Make sure all the changes are painted
        header.repaint();
        this.repaint();
    }After the sort, the rows are updated and displayed correctly. However, for example with three rows, if by sorting row 1 and row 3 swap, changing the JComboBox in row 3 also updates the data in row 1.
I'll be converting my code into a short self-contained program momentarily to post on here for a better understanding of what's going on. However, I decided I would post this just in case there were something painfully obvious I missed.
Thanks.

Answer 1

Thanks, you've been really helpful :) However, I realized while trying to copy my code to a smaller, self-contained form to illustrate my problems... I never changed the row number in my TableDataRow! So of course the update information, which was relying on the row number stored in the TableDataRow object (and not the actual row number in the model's data vector) updated according to the old row numbers.
Basically, I coded myself into a corner :P
Fixed it by making a new comparator to compare TableDataRow objects, and I stored an array of those objects in my custom table model. So the hard work is done on the TableDataRow objects, the data vector is cleared, and then each TableDataRow is added back as a vector.
Not sure if this is the most elegant solution, but... it works.
Edited by: GranoblasticMan on Oct 21, 2008 1:11 PM