Highlighting a JTable cell on a successful search for a value entered in a textfield.

[Neha D]

Hi All,

I want to have a feature with JTable wherein I'll provide a textfield to enter a value to be searched from the JTable and if this entered value matches with any of the cell values in the JTable then that particular cell should be highlighted & the cell font should be turned to BOLD. The values will be matched when the user presses Enter key after specifying the value in the text field.

Now I am able to search a value from the JTable, & on a successful search I call the TableCellRenderer. But the thing is on a successful search I try & edit that particular cell so that it is selected. But the method editCellAt(row, column) returns a false. And also how do I give a focus on that particular matched cell. Due to this even if the cell renderer runs it reflects me no change in the JTable cell.

Can anyone plz help me out with this problem. It is very urgent.
All help is appreciated.

Thanx.
Neha......

[Craig Wood]

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.table.*;
 
public class SearchTest
{
    JTable table;
    JTextField textField;
 
    public SearchTest()
    {
        table = getTable();
        textField = new JTextField();
        textField.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
        {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
            {
                search();
            }
        });
    }
 
    private JTable getTable()
    {
        int rows = 32, cols = 3;
        String[] colNames = { "column 1", "column 2", "column 3" };
        Object[][] data = new Object[rows][cols];
        for(int row = 0; row < rows; row++)
            for(int col = 0; col < cols; col++)
                data[row][col] = "item " + (row*cols + col + 1);
        DefaultTableModel model = new DefaultTableModel(data, colNames)
        {
            public Class getColumnClass(int col)
            {
                Object o = getValueAt(0, col);
                if(o == null)
                    return Object.class;
                else
                    return o.getClass();
            }
        };
        JTable table = new JTable(model);
        table.setDefaultRenderer(String.class, new CustomRenderer());
        table.setRowSelectionAllowed(true);
        table.setColumnSelectionAllowed(true);
        table.setSelectionMode(ListSelectionModel.SINGLE_SELECTION);
        return table;
    }
 
    private void search()
    {
        String target = textField.getText();
        for(int row = 0; row < table.getRowCount(); row++)
            for(int col = 0; col < table.getColumnCount(); col++)
            {
                String next = (String)table.getValueAt(row, col);
                if(next.equals(target))
                {
                    showSearchResults(row, col);
                    return;
                }
            }
 
        // reset table display after failed search
        //        > target null/not found <
        CustomRenderer renderer =
                (CustomRenderer)table.getDefaultRenderer(String.class);
        renderer.setTargetCell(-1, -1);
        table.repaint();
    }
 
    private void showSearchResults(int row, int col)
    {
        CustomRenderer renderer = (CustomRenderer)table.getCellRenderer(row, col);
        renderer.setTargetCell(row, col);
        Rectangle r = table.getCellRect(row, col, false);
        table.scrollRectToVisible(r);
        table.repaint();
    }
 
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        SearchTest test = new SearchTest();
        JFrame f = new JFrame();
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        f.getContentPane().add(new JScrollPane(test.table));
        f.getContentPane().add(test.textField, "South");
        f.setSize(400,400);
        f.setLocation(200,200);
        f.setVisible(true);
        test.textField.requestFocusInWindow();
    }
}
 
class CustomRenderer implements TableCellRenderer
{
    JLabel label;
    int targetRow, targetCol;
 
    public CustomRenderer()
    {
        label = new JLabel();
        label.setHorizontalAlignment(JLabel.CENTER);
        label.setOpaque(true);
        targetRow = -1;
        targetCol = -1;
    }
 
    public Component getTableCellRendererComponent(JTable table,
                                                   Object value,
                                                   boolean isSelected,
                                                   boolean hasFocus,
                                                   int row, int column)
    {
        if(isSelected)
        {
            label.setBackground(table.getSelectionBackground());
            label.setForeground(table.getSelectionForeground());
        }
        else
        {
            label.setBackground(table.getBackground());
            label.setForeground(table.getForeground());
        }
        if(row == targetRow && column == targetCol)
        {
            label.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.red));
            label.setFont(table.getFont().deriveFont(Font.BOLD));
        }
        else
        {
            label.setBorder(null);
            label.setFont(table.getFont());
        }
        label.setText((String)value);
        return label;
    }
 
    public void setTargetCell(int row, int col)
    {
        targetRow = row;
        targetCol = col;
    }
}

[Neha D]

Heyy thanx for the code. But when I tried implementing this code, it blanked out all the cells of the JTable. Could you let me know some other solution for the problem.

Thanx.
Neha......

[francis joby]

I have same problem and I have one more. can u set the background color red to table heading.

[Sandesh Gowda]

Just add this line to your table and to an actionListener.
JTable myJTable;
myJTable.getSearchable(); //This line implements pops up a search box when you add this line to an actionlistener for (ctrl+f). getSearchable() is a default search function for JTable. it provides, case sensitive/forward/backward search

[Darryl Burke]

The question was asked more than 6½ years ago.

Sandesh Shankarappa wrote:Just add this line to your table and to an actionListener.
JTable myJTable;
myJTable.getSearchable(); //This line implements pops up a search box when you add this line to an actionlistener for (ctrl+f). getSearchable() is a default search function for JTable. it provides, case sensitive/forward/backward search

Did you invent that or are you referring to some third party JTable class unfortunately named the same as the one in the standard JDK, javax.swing.JTable?

JTable doesn't have a getSearchable() method. Note: method, not function. Java doesn't have functions.

And welcome to the Ranch!

[Sandesh Gowda]

I did not invent it, the function is part of searchable class under swing.

The following line of code pops up a find window with forward/backward/case sensitive search options.
SearchFactory.getInstance().showFindInput(myjTable, myjTable.getSearchable());

I am working on incremental search in jtable and I came across this question, I thought it would help someone like me who is working on searchables in jtable
Do you know how to make getSearchable to forward search from selected row instead of searching from the first row of the table?

[Rob Spoor]

There is no searchable class in Swing, and there is no class SearchFactory in all of JSE.

[Sandesh Gowda]

hmmm... searchable is mentioned in this link: http://www.jidesoft.com/javadoc/com/jidesoft/swing/Searchable.html#getSearchable(javax.swing.JComponent)
Does anyone know how to implement an incremental search for JTables ?

[Darryl Burke]

That's a Jidesoft link you posted. Not part of the standard API.

If Jidesoft is open source, you could start a thread in the Other Open Source Projects section. If not, ask wherever you got those classes.