JTextFields above column headers in JTable

Question

I am looking for a way to put a single row above (for filtering purposes) the table header in a JTable. Right now I am using JTextFields above my table for the filters, but as the columns are resized or moved so would the text fields have to be. So I am thinking putting a row above the table header would be appropriate.
Any suggestions or examples in this area?

Answer 1

Hello
I've been working on something similar (filters above a JXTable) and i managed to get it working. So i'm putting it on this thread if someone find it with google :)
The code for moving / resizing columns works fine, but the code for removing/adding columns doesn't work very well because it only allows one removed column at a time, or that you add the columns in the correct order.
My solution is a bit different. I put a listener on the column property "visible", associated with the filter component above the column. That way, when i remove (hide) a column, the filter component removes itself from the panel, and when i reactivate the column, the component adds itself to the panel.
Because the property change event is fired after the columnadded / columnmoved event, i have to use invokeLater thread to actually move the component at its right position.
Here's the code for the moved/resized listener:
import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTable;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.event.ChangeEvent;
import javax.swing.event.ListSelectionEvent;
import javax.swing.event.TableColumnModelEvent;
import javax.swing.event.TableColumnModelListener;
import javax.swing.table.TableColumnModel;
import fr.dga.gesma.catalyse.ihm.beans.FilterPanel;
public class ExternalHeaderColumnModelListener implements TableColumnModelListener {
    private JPanel filterRow;
    private JTable table;
    public ExternalHeaderColumnModelListener(JPanel header, JTable table) {
        filterRow = header;
        this.table = table;
    public void columnAdded(TableColumnModelEvent e) {
    public void columnRemoved(TableColumnModelEvent e) {
    public void columnMarginChanged(ChangeEvent e)
        TableColumnModel tcm = table.getColumnModel();
        int columns = tcm.getColumnCount();
        for (int i = 0; i < columns; i ++)
            FilterPanel filtre = (FilterPanel)filterRow.getComponent( i );
            Dimension d = filtre.getPreferredSize();
            d.width = tcm.getColumn(i).getWidth();
            filtre.setPreferredSize( d );
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
            public void run()
                filterRow.revalidate();
    public void columnMoved(TableColumnModelEvent e)
        final int toIndex = e.getToIndex();
        final int fromIndex = e.getFromIndex();
        // Delaying so the component exists when we move it
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
            public void run()
                Component moved = filterRow.getComponent(fromIndex);
                if (moved != null) {
                    filterRow.remove(fromIndex);
                    filterRow.add(moved, toIndex);
                    filterRow.validate();
    public void columnSelectionChanged(ListSelectionEvent e) {}and the code for the filter component (listener part) :
    private Container parent = null;
    // Taken from ColumnControlButton (JXTable component)
    // This listener is added to the TableColumn associated to this filter component
    protected PropertyChangeListener createPropertyChangeListener() {
        return new PropertyChangeListener() {
            public void propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent evt) {
                if ("visible".equals(evt.getPropertyName())) {
                    updateFromColumnVisible((Boolean) evt.getNewValue());
     * Hides or shows the filter component. This
     * is called on change of tablecolumn's <code>visible</code> property.
     * @param visible column visible state to synch to.
    private void updateFromColumnVisible(boolean visible) {
        if (visible) {
            if (parent != null) {
                parent.add(this);
                parent.validate();
        } else {
            parent = this.getParent();
            if (parent != null) {
                parent.remove(this);
                parent.validate();
    }Hope this helps someone :)