Need to listen for tab KeyEvents

Question

i have implemented a JTree, and added a key listener to it. i want to listen for when the user presses the tab key, but for some reason the tab key does not cause the keyPressed or keyReleased methods to be called (all other keys do). I guess it is something to do with the tree loosing focus (the tab key generally moves focus to the next component). does anyone know how to solve this problem?

Answer 1

here is my code:
// this is the class that contains the JTree
public class XMLTreeViewer extends JPanel
     protected JTree tree;
     protected JScrollPane treeScrollPane;
     public XMLTreeViewer(String xmlFile)
          tree = new JTree(root);
          treeScrollPane = new JScrollPane(tree);
          setLayout(new BorderLayout());
          add(treeScrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
     public JTree getTree()
          return tree;
// this is the class that adds the keyListener to the JTree
public class AnatomyLinkingTool extends JPanel
     protected XMLTreeViewer anatomyTree;
     public AnatomyLinkingTool()
          anatomyTree = new XMLTreeViewer("../XML/Anatomy2.xml");     
          anatomyTree.getTree().addKeyListener(new TabListener());
     // inner class
     protected class TabListener extends KeyAdapter
          public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e)
               System.out.println("In keyPressed()");
               if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_TAB)
                    System.out.println("tab pressed : ) ");
}keyPressed( ) gets called when i press any key except the tab key! thanks in advance for any help you can offer.