Prob. w/ JFileChooser in 1.4.x on Win. w/ CDF files

Question

I have an application which deals with files named with a .cdf extension. These files are NOT actually MS Channel Definition Files. With Java 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3, JFileChooser displayed my CDF files as files and allowed them to be choosen. With Java 1.4.0 and 1.4.1 FCS on Windows 2000 (problem doesn't exist on Solaris 8), JFileChooser displays them as empty directories. This prevents them from being selectable to be opened by the application. The problem is easy to reproduce with the FileChooserDemo from the Swing tutorial
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/components/filechooser.html
Simply download and compile the code. Then create an empty file named test.cdf. Under Java 1.4.0, the file will have to be in a directory other than the current working directory of the application. Under Java 1.4.1 the problem occurs even when the file is in the cwd. java.io.File correctly identifies the file as a file (isFile() == true && isDirectory() == false).
Is this new JFileChooser behavior the intended behavior? If so, how can I customize JFileChooser to restore the previous behavior in my applications? Thanks.
Bernie

Answer 1

The best workaround might be to provide a new FileView object
which delegates to the default one. See example below.
(Sorry for the tardy response.)
Leif Samuelsson
The Swing Team, Java Software
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
import java.io.File;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.filechooser.*;
import javax.swing.plaf.*;
public class CDF {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
     JFileChooser fc = new JFileChooser();
     final FileView fv = ((FileChooserUI)fc.getUI()).getFileView(fc);
     fc.setFileView(new FileView() {
         File plainFile = new File("dummy");
         public String getName(File f) {
          return fv.getName(f);
         public String getDescription(File f) {
          if (f.getName().endsWith(".cdf")) {
              return f.getName();
          } else {
              return fv.getDescription(f);
         public String getTypeDescription(File f) {
          if (f.getName().endsWith(".cdf")) {
              return fv.getTypeDescription(plainFile);
          } else {
              return fv.getTypeDescription(f);
         public Icon getIcon(File f) {
          if (f.getName().endsWith(".cdf")) {
              return fv.getIcon(plainFile);
          } else {
              return fv.getIcon(f);
         public Boolean isTraversable(File f) {
          if (f.getName().endsWith(".cdf")) {
              return Boolean.FALSE;
          } else {
              return fv.isTraversable(f);
     if (fc.showOpenDialog(null) == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
         System.out.println("You selected: " + fc.getSelectedFile());
     System.exit(0);
}