Problem in Customising JTable's Functionality

Question

Problem Scenario :
We are facing a problem related to JTables. In our GUI, we have used JTables and the data model that we are using for the table is a bit complicated. Complicated in the sense that we want different values(multiple) in each cell of a particular column in the table and we want to use JComboBox at that particular cell. For achieving this we have set the values in the JComboBox in its renderer class. But to set the user selected value in the particular cell JComboBox we initialized a new JComboBox in the renderer class. With this the GUI is working fine but it has raised a problem that if we renderer the component another JComboBox appears in the same cell. The problem is obvious as we are initializing a new JComboBox in the renderer class, but to solve our purpose we don�t have another way.
With the kind of data model we are using is it possible to create a JTable with combo boxes in a particular cell having different option values in each cell?
Could someone suggest a solution for this problem?
Regards
Prajkta Bonde
[email protected]

Answer 1

I have done it around 4 years back. Add filled JComboBox as table data.
Attached sample code should help
// Imports
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.table.*;
class SimpleTableExample
          extends      JFrame
     // Instance attributes used in this example
     private     JPanel          topPanel;
     private     JTable          table;
     private     JScrollPane scrollPane;
     // Constructor of main frame
     public SimpleTableExample()
          // Set the frame characteristics
          setTitle( "Simple Table Application" );
          setSize( 300, 200 );
          setBackground( Color.gray );
          // Create a panel to hold all other components
          topPanel = new JPanel();
          topPanel.setLayout( new BorderLayout() );
          getContentPane().add( topPanel );
          // Create columns names
          String columnNames[] = { "Column 1", "Column 2", "Column 3" };
          Object dataValues[][] = new Object[10][3];
          for(int row=0;row<dataValues.length;row++) {
               for(int col=0;col<dataValues[row].length;col++){
                    JComboBox tempBox = new JComboBox();
                    for(int data=0;data<10;data++){
                         tempBox.addItem("Row "+row+" Column "+col+" Data "+data);
                    dataValues[row][col]=tempBox;
          // Create a new table instance
          table = new JTable( dataValues, columnNames );
        comboBoxColumn(table.getColumnModel().getColumn(0));
        comboBoxColumn(table.getColumnModel().getColumn(1));
        comboBoxColumn(table.getColumnModel().getColumn(2));
          // Add the table to a scrolling pane
          scrollPane = new JScrollPane( table );
          topPanel.add( scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER );
    public void comboBoxColumn(TableColumn comboBoxCol) {
        comboBoxCol.setCellEditor(new TableComponentEditor());
        comboBoxCol.setCellRenderer(new TableComponentRenderer());
        //Set up tool tip for the sport column header.
        TableCellRenderer headerRenderer = comboBoxCol.getHeaderRenderer();
        if (headerRenderer instanceof DefaultTableCellRenderer) {
             ((DefaultTableCellRenderer)headerRenderer).setToolTipText("Click the sport to see a list of service stations");
    } //end of method
    class TableComponentEditor extends DefaultCellEditor {
        * Constructor
        * @param none
        TableComponentEditor() {
            super(new JComboBox());
        * Called when table Cell is clicked
        * @param table
        * @param value - Object associated with the particular column for which it is called
        * @param isSelected -whether the particular cell is selected
        * @param row - The row to which cell belongs
        * @param column - The Column To which Cell Belongs
        public  Component getTableCellEditorComponent(JTable table, Object value, boolean isSelected, int row, int column) {
            cbo = (JComboBox)value;
            return cbo;
        *  getCellEditorValue
        * @return Object
        public Object getCellEditorValue() {
            return cbo;
        /***************CLASS VARIABLES***********************/
        private JComboBox cbo = null;
    class TableComponentRenderer  implements TableCellRenderer {
        public  Component getTableCellRendererComponent(JTable table, Object value, boolean isSelected, boolean hasFocus, int row, int column)  {
            return (JComboBox)value;
     // Main entry point for this example
     public static void main( String args[] )
          // Create an instance of the test application
          SimpleTableExample mainFrame     = new SimpleTableExample();
          mainFrame.setVisible( true );
}