Why does the DocumentFilter not give the intended result?

Question

I figure this must be a simple mistake in the code or a misunderstanding on my part, but I cannot get a DocumentFilter to detect insertString event

Answer 1

The text components use the replaceSelection(...) method which will in turn invoke the replace(...) method of the AbstractDocument which will invoke the replace(...) method of the DocumentFilter.

The insertString(...) method of the DocumentFilter is only called when you use the Document.insertString(...) method to directly update the Document.

So in reality you need to override both methods to make sure the upper case conversion is done.

A simple example showing how to easily implement both methods:

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.text.*;

public class UpperCaseFilter extends DocumentFilter
{
    public void insertString(FilterBypass fb, int offs, String str, AttributeSet a)
        throws BadLocationException
    {
        replace(fb, offs, 0, str, a);
    }

    public void replace(FilterBypass fb, final int offs, final int length, final String str, final AttributeSet a)
        throws BadLocationException
    {
        if (str != null)
        {
            String converted = convertString(str);
            super.replace(fb, offs, length, converted, a);
        }
    }

    private String convertString(String str)
    {
        char[] upper = str.toCharArray();

        for (int i = 0; i < upper.length; i++)
        {
            upper[i] = Character.toUpperCase(upper[i]);
        }

        return new String( upper );
    }

    private static void createAndShowGUI()
    {
        JTextField textField = new JTextField(10);
        AbstractDocument doc = (AbstractDocument) textField.getDocument();
        doc.setDocumentFilter( new UpperCaseFilter() );

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Upper Case Filter");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setLayout( new java.awt.GridBagLayout() );
        frame.add( textField );
        frame.setSize(220, 200);
        frame.setLocationByPlatform( true );
        frame.setVisible( true );
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
    {
        EventQueue.invokeLater( () -> createAndShowGUI() );
/*
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable()
        {
            public void run()
            {
                createAndShowGUI();
            }
        });
*/
    }

}