How do I add a separator to a JComboBox in Java?
Solution 1
There is a pretty short tutorial with an example that shows how to use a custom ListCellRenderer on java2s http://www.java2s.com/Code/Java/Swing-Components/BlockComboBoxExample.htm
Basically it involves inserting a known placeholder in your list model and when you detect the placeholder in the ListCellRenderer you return an instance of 'new JSeparator(JSeparator.HORIZONTAL)'
Solution 2
By the time I wrote and tested the code below, you probably got lot of better answers...
I don't mind as I enjoyed the experiment/learning (still a bit green on the Swing front).
[EDIT] Three years later, I am a bit less green, and I took in account the valid remarks of bobndrew. I have no problem with the key navigation that just works (perhaps it was a JVM version issue?). I improved the renderer to show highlight, though. And I use a better demo code. The accepted answer is probably better (more standard), mine is probably more flexible if you want a custom separator...
The base idea is to use a renderer for the items of the combo box. For most items, it is a simple JLabel with the text of the item. For the last recent/most used item, I decorate the JLabel with a custom border drawing a line on its bottom.
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
@SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class TwoPartsComboBox extends JComboBox
{
private int m_lastFirstPartIndex;
public TwoPartsComboBox(String[] itemsFirstPart, String[] itemsSecondPart)
{
super(itemsFirstPart);
m_lastFirstPartIndex = itemsFirstPart.length - 1;
for (int i = 0; i < itemsSecondPart.length; i++)
{
insertItemAt(itemsSecondPart[i], i);
}
setRenderer(new JLRenderer());
}
protected class JLRenderer extends JLabel implements ListCellRenderer
{
private JLabel m_lastFirstPart;
public JLRenderer()
{
m_lastFirstPart = new JLabel();
m_lastFirstPart.setBorder(new BottomLineBorder());
// m_lastFirstPart.setBorder(new BottomLineBorder(10, Color.BLUE));
}
@Override
public Component getListCellRendererComponent(
JList list,
Object value,
int index,
boolean isSelected,
boolean cellHasFocus)
{
if (value == null)
{
value = "Select an option";
}
JLabel label = this;
if (index == m_lastFirstPartIndex)
{
label = m_lastFirstPart;
}
label.setText(value.toString());
label.setBackground(isSelected ? list.getSelectionBackground() : list.getBackground());
label.setForeground(isSelected ? list.getSelectionForeground() : list.getForeground());
label.setOpaque(true);
return label;
}
}
}
Separator class, can be thick, with custom color, etc.
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.border.AbstractBorder;
/**
* Draws a line at the bottom only.
* Useful for making a separator in combo box, for example.
*/
@SuppressWarnings("serial")
class BottomLineBorder extends AbstractBorder
{
private int m_thickness;
private Color m_color;
BottomLineBorder()
{
this(1, Color.BLACK);
}
BottomLineBorder(Color color)
{
this(1, color);
}
BottomLineBorder(int thickness, Color color)
{
m_thickness = thickness;
m_color = color;
}
@Override
public void paintBorder(Component c, Graphics g,
int x, int y, int width, int height)
{
Graphics copy = g.create();
if (copy != null)
{
try
{
copy.translate(x, y);
copy.setColor(m_color);
copy.fillRect(0, height - m_thickness, width - 1, height - 1);
}
finally
{
copy.dispose();
}
}
}
@Override
public boolean isBorderOpaque()
{
return true;
}
@Override
public Insets getBorderInsets(Component c)
{
return new Insets(0, 0, m_thickness, 0);
}
@Override
public Insets getBorderInsets(Component c, Insets i)
{
i.left = i.top = i.right = 0;
i.bottom = m_thickness;
return i;
}
}
Test class:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
@SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class TwoPartsComboBoxDemo extends JFrame
{
private TwoPartsComboBox m_combo;
public TwoPartsComboBoxDemo()
{
Container cont = getContentPane();
cont.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
cont.add(new JLabel("Data: ")) ;
String[] itemsRecent = new String[] { "ichi", "ni", "san" };
String[] itemsOther = new String[] { "one", "two", "three" };
m_combo = new TwoPartsComboBox(itemsRecent, itemsOther);
m_combo.setSelectedIndex(-1);
cont.add(m_combo);
m_combo.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
{
String si = (String) m_combo.getSelectedItem();
System.out.println(si == null ? "No item selected" : si.toString());
}
});
// Reference, to check we have similar behavior to standard combo
JComboBox combo = new JComboBox(itemsRecent);
cont.add(combo);
}
/**
* Start the demo.
*
* @param args the command line arguments
*/
public static void main(String[] args)
{
// turn bold fonts off in metal
UIManager.put("swing.boldMetal", Boolean.FALSE);
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
JFrame demoFrame = new TwoPartsComboBoxDemo();
demoFrame.setTitle("Test GUI");
demoFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
demoFrame.setSize(400, 100);
demoFrame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
}
Solution 3
You can use a custom ListCellRenderer
which would draw the separator items differently. See docs and a small tutorial.
Related videos on Youtube
Alfred B. Thordarson
Software developer in Reykjavik, Iceland Blog www.abthordarson.net Work www.ruedenet.com
Updated on April 19, 2022Comments
-
Alfred B. Thordarson about 2 years
I have a JComboBox and would like to have a separator in the list of elements. How do I do this in Java?
A sample scenario where this would come in handy is when making a combobox for font-family-selection; similar to the font-family-selection-control in Word and Excel. In this case I would like to show the most-used-fonts at the top, then a separator and finally all font-families below the separator in alphabetical order.
Can anyone help me with how to do this or is this not possible in Java?
-
bobndrew over 12 yearsYour variable-naming is not the worst thing here: You're breaking the whole combobox-item-selection: the selection is not painted anymore and the first-letter-key-jumps are broken. And you should define
m_combo
andm_renderer
in the smallest possible scope (inpublic TestGui()
). And should not use a glooooobalm_lastRecentIndex
for the Renderer and the 'TestGui' class (which should be a lonely Main class, not a 'JFrame' subclass). But I like the braces-style! -
bobndrew over 12 yearsThe
BlockComboBoxExample
example breaks the cursor-key and the first-letter-key navigation. Santhosh Kumar's example seems to work better. -
PhiLho over 12 years@bobndrew: hey! As I wrote, I was a newbie at the time (3 years already!). Among sins you don't point out, I probably used some Swing test template I found and even worse, I didn't use SwingUtilities.invokeLater! The code I have currently uses it, at least (but it is still a JFrame subclass...). And m_lastRecentIndex is more local... But most of your criticism is about a quickly made test class, which isn't really production code. Today, I pay more attention to such code, as newbies can take inspiration from it... :-) Also, you are right about highlighting hovered elements and selection. TODO
-
PhiLho over 12 yearsNote: I edited the code above for a more modern / correct version. One advantage of my approach is that it is more flexible (in look at least) than JSeparator and it doesn't take a slot.