Set the UI for just one component?

Question

I have a JTextArea in my application and I would like to specify explicitly which UI class to use for just this one instance only. I've tried subclassing JTextArea and both calling setUI(new MyIntendedTextUI()); in the constructor and overriding getUI, but neither approaches seem to have any effect. I don't know if this matters or not, but I'm already using a custom look and feel (via Substance). Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I canot reproduce your problem. Could you provide an SSCCE ?
Here is a working example, trying to mimic your design. The text area's background color actually changes to green, as expected.
import com.sun.java.swing.plaf.motif.MotifTextAreaUI;
import java.awt.Color;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
//import org.junit.Test;
public class TestChangeJTextAreaUI {
    public TestChangeJTextAreaUI() {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new TestChangeJTextAreaUI().testChangeJTextAreaUI();
    private static class CustomJTextArea extends JTextArea {
        public CustomJTextArea(String text) {
            super(text);
            setUI(new MotifTextAreaUI() {
                @Override
                public void installUI(JComponent c) {
                    super.installUI(c);
                    c.setBackground(Color.GREEN);
    //@Test
    public void testChangeJTextAreaUI() {
        JTextArea jta = new CustomJTextArea("initial text");
        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, jta);
}Note that I followed your design but I suspect that changing the UI from the constructor may be fragile.
Have you made sure that the custom JTextArea is instantiated only after you have set the look and feel?