JTableHeader Animation

Question

I want to make the JTableHeader of my table animate the way a regular button does when click - flat,lowerd when pressed and high poped-up when released.
I tried making a TableCellRenderer for the header and it works, the Header doesnt animate like a button. Nothing happens when i click it. Still remains flat.
Here is the code:
package tabledemo;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.table.TableCellRenderer;
import java.awt.*;
import java.net.URL;
public class ButtonHeaderRenderer extends JButton implements TableCellRenderer {
     static URL picUrl = ClassLoader.getSystemResource("smile.gif");
    public Component getTableCellRendererComponent(JTable table, Object value,
                                                  boolean isSelected, boolean hasFocus,
                                                  int row, int column){
        LookAndFeel.installColorsAndFont(this,"TableHeader.background",
                                         "TableHeader.foreground",
                                         "TableHeader.font");
        LookAndFeel.installBorder(this,"TableHeader.cellBorder");
        setIcon(new ImageIcon(picUrl));
        setText((String)value);
        return this;
}The icon and text show in the table header, but no animation.
I was thinking maybe i can do something if i extend the JTableHeader class. I did that and i can change the dimensions of the columns with it but i dont know how to make the button animate here either.
Here is the extended JTableHeader class:
package tabledemo;
import javax.swing.table.JTableHeader;
import javax.swing.table.TableColumnModel;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.*;
public class JTableHeaderMouseEvents extends JTableHeader {
    String[] columnNames = {"FirstName","Lastname","Progress"};
    public JTableHeaderMouseEvents(TableColumnModel tcm){
        super(tcm);
        this.setPreferredSize( new Dimension( 70, 18  ) );
        addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter(){
            public void mousePressed(MouseEvent event){
                int i = columnAtPoint(event.getPoint());
                int column = getColumnModel().getColumn(i).getModelIndex();
               // JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "You pressed "+columnNames[column] + " column");
}Maybe in the mousePressed/Released method of MouseAdapter i can use some method to programatically change the button effects?
Any tips are appreciated.

Answer 1

I saw the same problem when I try to put a JComboBox as a column's header. Just set the renderer is not enough, the button won't animate. I can think of two solutions.
1. Do the animation manually.
     JTableHeader th = table.getTableHeader();
     th.addMouseListener( yourMouseListener);
in yourMouseListener, you define have the component
repaint itself, with shadow or without shadow.
2. Make the header editable, just like the editable cells.
Try this:
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.table.*;
* @version 1.0 08/21/99
public class EditableHeaderTableColumn extends TableColumn {
protected TableCellEditor headerEditor;
protected boolean isHeaderEditable;
public EditableHeaderTableColumn() {
setHeaderEditor(createDefaultHeaderEditor());
isHeaderEditable = true;
public void setHeaderEditor(TableCellEditor headerEditor) {
this.headerEditor = headerEditor;
public TableCellEditor getHeaderEditor() {
return headerEditor;
public void setHeaderEditable(boolean isEditable) {
isHeaderEditable = isEditable;
public boolean isHeaderEditable() {
return isHeaderEditable;
public void copyValues(TableColumn base) {
modelIndex = base.getModelIndex();
identifier = base.getIdentifier();
width = base.getWidth();
minWidth = base.getMinWidth();
setPreferredWidth(base.getPreferredWidth());
maxWidth = base.getMaxWidth();
headerRenderer = base.getHeaderRenderer();
headerValue = base.getHeaderValue();
cellRenderer = base.getCellRenderer();
cellEditor = base.getCellEditor();
isResizable = base.getResizable();
protected TableCellEditor createDefaultHeaderEditor() {
return new DefaultCellEditor(new JTextField());
import java.util.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.table.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
* @version 1.0 08/21/99
public class EditableHeader extends JTableHeader
implements CellEditorListener {
public final int HEADER_ROW = -10;
transient protected int editingColumn;
transient protected TableCellEditor cellEditor;
transient protected Component editorComp;
public EditableHeader(TableColumnModel columnModel) {
super(columnModel);
setReorderingAllowed(false);
cellEditor = null;
// The columnModel is changed. It also exists in JTable.
recreateTableColumn(columnModel);
public void updateUI(){
setUI(new EditableHeaderUI());
resizeAndRepaint();
invalidate();
protected void recreateTableColumn(TableColumnModel columnModel) {
int n = columnModel.getColumnCount();
EditableHeaderTableColumn[] newCols = new EditableHeaderTableColumn[n];
TableColumn[] oldCols = new TableColumn[n];
for (int i=0;i<n;i++) {
oldCols[i] = columnModel.getColumn(i);
newCols[i] = new EditableHeaderTableColumn();
newCols.copyValues(oldCols[i]);
for (int i=0;i<n;i++) {
columnModel.removeColumn(oldCols[i]);
for (int i=0;i<n;i++) {
columnModel.addColumn(newCols[i]);
public boolean editCellAt(int index){
return editCellAt(index);
public boolean editCellAt(int index, EventObject e){
if (cellEditor != null && !cellEditor.stopCellEditing()) {
return false;
if (!isCellEditable(index)) {
return false;
TableCellEditor editor = getCellEditor(index);
if (editor != null && editor.isCellEditable(e)) {
editorComp = prepareEditor(editor, index);
editorComp.setBounds(getHeaderRect(index));
add(editorComp);
editorComp.validate();
setCellEditor(editor);
setEditingColumn(index);
editor.addCellEditorListener(this);
return true;
return false;
public boolean isCellEditable(int index) {
if (getReorderingAllowed()) {
return false;
int columnIndex = columnModel.getColumn(index).getModelIndex();
EditableHeaderTableColumn col = (EditableHeaderTableColumn)columnModel.getColumn(columnIndex);
return col.isHeaderEditable();
public TableCellEditor getCellEditor(int index) {
int columnIndex = columnModel.getColumn(index).getModelIndex();
EditableHeaderTableColumn col = (EditableHeaderTableColumn)columnModel.getColumn(columnIndex);
return col.getHeaderEditor();
public void setCellEditor(TableCellEditor newEditor) {
TableCellEditor oldEditor = cellEditor;
cellEditor = newEditor;
// firePropertyChange
if (oldEditor != null && oldEditor instanceof TableCellEditor) {
((TableCellEditor)oldEditor).removeCellEditorListener((CellEditorListener)this);
if (newEditor != null && newEditor instanceof TableCellEditor) {
((TableCellEditor)newEditor).addCellEditorListener((CellEditorListener)this);
public Component prepareEditor(TableCellEditor editor, int index) {
Object value = columnModel.getColumn(index).getHeaderValue();
boolean isSelected = true;
int row = HEADER_ROW;
JTable table = getTable();
Component comp = editor.getTableCellEditorComponent(table,
value, isSelected, row, index);
// if (comp instanceof JComponent) {
// ((JComponent)comp).setNextFocusableComponent(this);
return comp;
public TableCellEditor getCellEditor() {
return cellEditor;
public Component getEditorComponent() {
return editorComp;
public void setEditingColumn(int aColumn) {
editingColumn = aColumn;
public int getEditingColumn() {
return editingColumn;
public void removeEditor() {
TableCellEditor editor = getCellEditor();
if (editor != null) {
editor.removeCellEditorListener(this);
requestFocus();
remove(editorComp);
int index = getEditingColumn();
Rectangle cellRect = getHeaderRect(index);
setCellEditor(null);
setEditingColumn(-1);
editorComp = null;
repaint(cellRect);
public boolean isEditing() {
return (cellEditor == null)? false : true;
// CellEditorListener
public void editingStopped(ChangeEvent e) {
TableCellEditor editor = getCellEditor();
if (editor != null) {
Object value = editor.getCellEditorValue();
int index = getEditingColumn();
columnModel.getColumn(index).setHeaderValue(value);
removeEditor();
public void editingCanceled(ChangeEvent e) {
removeEditor();
// public void setReorderingAllowed(boolean b) {
// reorderingAllowed = false;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.table.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
import javax.swing.plaf.basic.*;
* @version 1.0 08/21/99
public class EditableHeaderUI extends BasicTableHeaderUI {
protected MouseInputListener createMouseInputListener() {
return new MouseInputHandler((EditableHeader)header);
public class MouseInputHandler extends BasicTableHeaderUI.MouseInputHandler {
private Component dispatchComponent;
protected EditableHeader header;
public MouseInputHandler(EditableHeader header) {
this.header = header;
private void setDispatchComponent(MouseEvent e) {
Component editorComponent = header.getEditorComponent();
Point p = e.getPoint();
Point p2 = SwingUtilities.convertPoint(header, p, editorComponent);
dispatchComponent = SwingUtilities.getDeepestComponentAt(editorComponent,
p2.x, p2.y);
private boolean repostEvent(MouseEvent e) {
if (dispatchComponent == null) {
return false;
MouseEvent e2 = SwingUtilities.convertMouseEvent(header, e, dispatchComponent);
dispatchComponent.dispatchEvent(e2);
return true;
public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {
if (!SwingUtilities.isLeftMouseButton(e)) {
return;
super.mousePressed(e);
if (header.getResizingColumn() == null) {
Point p = e.getPoint();
TableColumnModel columnModel = header.getColumnModel();
int index = columnModel.getColumnIndexAtX(p.x);
if (index != -1) {
if (header.editCellAt(index, e)) {
setDispatchComponent(e);
repostEvent(e);
public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent e) {
super.mouseReleased(e);
if (!SwingUtilities.isLeftMouseButton(e)) {
return;
repostEvent(e);
dispatchComponent = null;
Here is my source code for using it:
EditableHeaderTableColumn column0 = (EditableHeaderTableColumn)columnModel.getColumn(0);
ComboRenderer renderer = new ComboRenderer(items);
column0.setHeaderRenderer(renderer);
// setHeaderEditor is provided by EditableHeaderTableColumn
column0.setHeaderEditor(new DefaultCellEditor(combo));
I can create DefaultCellEditor using a combobox. But you need to create the ButtonEditor, because DefaultCellEditor constructor won't take JButton.
Good luck!