Solution to Disable a Panel

[Charith Fernando]

Hi all,

I have few panels in a JDialog which i need to disable for editing. basically i dont wont to gray-out the components and disable the components, but keeping the components as it is, i wont them to be un-editable, i know that components such as text boxes have that capability, but do other components such as check boxes and radio button have that? and on the other hand the solution which i'm thinking is basically to have a pane on top of the panel i wont to disable something like a glass pane.. will that be possible? or can i put any means of transparent component on top of the panel and control that...

[Michael Dunn]

[EDIT]

ignore the following - it relates only to the subject line, oblivious to this part of the post
"basically i dont wont to gray-out the components and disable the components"

[/EDIT]

maybe iterating the components in an overridden isEnabled() will work, then you just enable/disable the panel (or disable the panel's components in the
actionListener - whichever way suits)

something like this (may need a try/catch around the comp[x].setEnabled)

    
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
class Testing
{
  public void buildGUI()
  {
    final MyPanel mp1 = new MyPanel();
    final MyPanel mp2 = new MyPanel(){
      public boolean isEnabled(){
        boolean enabled = super.isEnabled();
 
        Component[] comp = getComponents();
        for(int x = 0; x < comp.length; x++)
        {
          comp[x].setEnabled(enabled);
        }
 
        return enabled;
      }
    };
    final JButton btn = new JButton("Disable Panels");
    JFrame f = new JFrame();
    f.getContentPane().add(mp1,BorderLayout.WEST);
    f.getContentPane().add(mp2,BorderLayout.EAST);
    f.getContentPane().add(btn,BorderLayout.SOUTH);
    f.pack();
    f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
    f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    f.setVisible(true);
    btn.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
      public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae){
        mp1.setEnabled(!mp1.isEnabled());
        mp2.setEnabled(!mp2.isEnabled());
        btn.setText((mp2.isEnabled()? "Disable":"Enable")+" Panels");
      }
    });
  }
  class MyPanel extends JPanel
  {
    public MyPanel()
    {
      add(new JCheckBox("OK"));
      add(new JTextField(5));
    }
  }
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
    SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable(){
      public void run(){
        new Testing().buildGUI();
      }
    });
  }
}

[ June 14, 2007: Message edited by: Michael Dunn ]