Making a JButton clickable inside a JTable

Question

Here is the screenshot of what I want to do :

What\'s happening there

Answer 1

This Table Button Column from Rob Camick may fit your needs.

Answer 2

This articles provides an easier approach to your problem without adding MouseListeners and computing if the click is actually on the button or not:

http://web.archive.org/web/20100623105810/http://ivolo.mit.edu/post/A-Simple-Pattern-for-Embedding-Components-into-a-Swing-JTable.aspx

Answer 3

Here is my solution

ButtonEditor.java

public abstract class ButtonEditor extends DefaultCellEditor implements ActionListener {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

/** The cell's row. */
protected int row;

/** The cell's column. */
protected int column;

/** The cell's column. */
protected JTable table;

/** The button we are editing. */
protected JButton button;

/** The panel used when editing. */
protected JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());

/** Constructor */
public ButtonEditor() {super(new JCheckBox());}

/**
 * This method is called when the user try to modify a cell. 
 * In this case it will be called whenever the user click on the cell.
 * @param table
 * @param value
 * @param isSelected
 * @param row
 * @param column
 * @return JPanel The JPanel returned contains a JButton with an ActionListener. 
 */
@Override
public Component getTableCellEditorComponent(JTable table, Object value, boolean isSelected, int row, int column) { 
    this.row = row;
    this.column = column;
    this.table = table;
    button = (JButton) value;

    //prevent to add the action listener everytime the user click on the cell.
    if(button.getActionListeners().length == 0) button.addActionListener(this); 

    panel.add(button);
    panel.setBackground(table.getGridColor());
    return panel;
}

/**
 * Return a renderer for JButtons. The result is a button centered in the table's cell.
 * @return
 */
public static TableCellRenderer getRenderer() {
    return new TableCellRenderer() {
        @Override
        public Component getTableCellRendererComponent(JTable table, Object value, boolean isSelected, boolean hasFocus, int row, int column) {
            JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
            panel.add((JButton) value);
            panel.setBackground(table.getGridColor());
            return panel;
        }
    };
}

}

And here is how to use it:

Demo.java

    table.setDefaultRenderer(JButton.class, ButtonEditor.getRenderer()); 
    table.setDefaultEditor(JButton.class, new ButtonEditor() {
        @Override
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {

            //handle clicks here. for example:   
            if(column == 5) {
                System.out.Println(row);
                button.setFocusPainted(false);                  
            }
        }
    });

Answer 4

The problem is that the JButton no longer exists when painted in the table. Those components are only used to create a 'stamp' when the table is rendered. There is no actual button present.

There is a way to allow you to click on the button, and still keep your table non-editable, but it is far from proper code. Just a quick outline for a possible solution (I do not have the time at this moment to give a full code example)

• attach a mouse listener to the table
• when you receive a mouse click, determine the cell in which the mouse click occurred
• ask the table renderer for the component for that cell
• use the location of the mouse click to determine whether a button is present in the component from the previous step at that particular location
• if so, do the click through the button api (the doClick method)

And this is not even the dirty part of the code. Since your renderer (hopefully) does not return a new JButton each time, you should in your ActionListener which is attached to the JButton keep track of for which component the click actually occurred. A possible solution is to keep a reference to the table model value for which you the last time created a JButton (so in the getCellRendererComponent method keep track of the row/column), but I am unsure whether this is the best approach.

As said, a possible solution but far from elegant.

The easiest way is to just make that one column editable and use an editor, as pointed out in other answers

Answer 5

Overload your Table model, and set isCellEditable(int, int) return false for the cells with buttons.

It works great in with a MouseListener added to the table.

Answer 6

Try this:

import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

import javax.swing.DefaultCellEditor;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JCheckBox;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTable;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.table.DefaultTableModel;
import javax.swing.table.TableCellRenderer;
import javax.swing.table.TableModel;

public class TableWithButtonDemo
{
  private JFrame frame = new JFrame("Table Demo");
  private String[] columnNames = { "String", "Integer", "Float", "" };
  private Object[][] data = { { "Dummy", new Integer(12), new Float(12.15), "Consulter" } };
  private TableModel model = new DefaultTableModel(data, columnNames)
  {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    public boolean isCellEditable(int row, int column)
    {
      return column == 3;
    }
  };
  private JTable table = new JTable(model);

  public TableWithButtonDemo()
  {
    table.getColumnModel().getColumn(3).setCellRenderer(new ClientsTableButtonRenderer());
    table.getColumnModel().getColumn(3).setCellEditor(new ClientsTableRenderer(new JCheckBox()));
    table.setPreferredScrollableViewportSize(table.getPreferredSize());
    table.setShowHorizontalLines(true);
    table.setShowVerticalLines(false);

    JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane(table);
    frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    frame.add(scroll);
    frame.pack();
    frame.setLocation(150, 150);
    frame.setVisible(true);
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
  {
    UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
    EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable()
    {
      public void run()
      {
        new TableWithButtonDemo();
      }
    });
  }

  class ClientsTableButtonRenderer extends JButton implements TableCellRenderer
  {
    public ClientsTableButtonRenderer()
    {
      setOpaque(true);
    }

    public Component getTableCellRendererComponent(JTable table, Object value, boolean isSelected, boolean hasFocus, int row, int column)
    {
      setForeground(Color.black);
      setBackground(UIManager.getColor("Button.background"));
      setText((value == null) ? "" : value.toString());
      return this;
    }
  }
  public class ClientsTableRenderer extends DefaultCellEditor
  {
    private JButton button;
    private String label;
    private boolean clicked;
    private int row, col;
    private JTable table;

    public ClientsTableRenderer(JCheckBox checkBox)
    {
      super(checkBox);
      button = new JButton();
      button.setOpaque(true);
      button.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
      {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
        {
          fireEditingStopped();
        }
      });
    }
    public Component getTableCellEditorComponent(JTable table, Object value, boolean isSelected, int row, int column)
    {
      this.table = table;
      this.row = row;
      this.col = column;

      button.setForeground(Color.black);
      button.setBackground(UIManager.getColor("Button.background"));
      label = (value == null) ? "" : value.toString();
      button.setText(label);
      clicked = true;
      return button;
    }
    public Object getCellEditorValue()
    {
      if (clicked)
      {
        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(button, "Column with Value: "+table.getValueAt(row, 1) + " -  Clicked!");
      }
      clicked = false;
      return new String(label);
    }

    public boolean stopCellEditing()
    {
      clicked = false;
      return super.stopCellEditing();
    }

    protected void fireEditingStopped()
    {
      super.fireEditingStopped();
    }
  }

}