Setting the color of a node in JTree

Question

Hi all!
I'm new to Java and facing a problem with JTrees.
I'm using the following snippet to create a JTree :
DeafultMutableTreeNode root = new DefaultMutableTeeNode("Letters");
DeafultMutableTreeNode parent1 = new DefaultMutableTeeNode("uppercase");
DeafultMutableTreeNode parent2 = new DefaultMutableTeeNode("lowercase");
DeafultMutableTreeNode child1 = new DefaultMutableTeeNode("A");
DeafultMutableTreeNode child2 = new DefaultMutableTeeNode("B");
DeafultMutableTreeNode child3 = new DefaultMutableTeeNode("C");
DeafultMutableTreeNode child4 = new DefaultMutableTeeNode("a");
DeafultMutableTreeNode child5 = new DefaultMutableTeeNode("b");
DeafultMutableTreeNode child6 = new DefaultMutableTeeNode("c");
root.add(parent1);
root.add(parent2);
parent1.add(child1);
parent1.add(child2);
parent1.add(child3);
parent2.add(child4);
parent2.add(child5);
parent2.add(child6);
JTree tree = new JTree(root);
JScrollPane pane = new JScrollPane(tree);
TreePath path = tree.getNextMatch("lowercase", 0, javax.swing.text.Position.Bias.Forward);
tree.setSelectionPath(path);
tree.expandPath(path);
In the above JTree, the node labeled "lowercase" gets selected and expanded as soon as the program is run.
What i want to know is that, is there any way in which i can set only the "lowercase" node's background to a different color (say, YELLOW) and have it so, no matter if the node is expanded or collapsed or other nodes are expanded or collapsed.
ps: Sample snippet would really b helpful.

Answer 1

You need to write your own renderer for this.
Read the tutorial:
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/components/tree.html#display