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JComboBox with AutoCompletion Issue

843805May 7 2007 — edited May 8 2007
I am having an issue with this AutoCompletion class that I am using. The behavior that I wish to achieve is as follows:

1. As the user is typing in the JComboBox, I dont want an actionEvent to occur. I only want the actionEvent to trigger when the user hits the enter key or selects an item with the mouse.

2. As the user is typing in the JComboBox, I want the popup menu to display the highlighted item at the top of the menu instead of the bottom.

Here is the AutoCompletion class:
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.beans.PropertyChangeEvent;
import java.beans.PropertyChangeListener;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.text.*;

public class AutoCompletion extends PlainDocument 
{    
	private static final long serialVersionUID = -5904225455924280749L;
	JComboBox comboBox;
    ComboBoxModel model;
    JTextComponent editor;
    // flag to indicate if setSelectedItem has been called
    // subsequent calls to remove/insertString should be ignored
    boolean selecting = false;
    boolean hidePopupOnFocusLoss;
    boolean hitBackspace = false;
    boolean hitBackspaceOnSelection;
    
    KeyListener editorKeyListener;
    FocusListener editorFocusListener;
    
    public AutoCompletion(final JComboBox comboBox) 
    {
        this.comboBox = comboBox;
        model = comboBox.getModel();
        comboBox.addActionListener(new ActionListener() 
        {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) 
            {
                if (!selecting)
                {
                	highlightCompletedText(0);
                }
            }
        });
        comboBox.addPropertyChangeListener(new PropertyChangeListener() 
        {
            public void propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent e) 
            {
                if (e.getPropertyName().equals("editor"))
                {
                	configureEditor((ComboBoxEditor) e.getNewValue());
                }
                if (e.getPropertyName().equals("model"))
                {
                	model = (ComboBoxModel) e.getNewValue();
                }
            }
        });
        editorKeyListener = new KeyAdapter() 
        {
            public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) 
            {
                if (comboBox.isDisplayable())
                {                	
                	comboBox.setPopupVisible(true);
                }
                hitBackspace = false;
                switch (e.getKeyCode()) 
                {                
                // determine if the pressed key is backspace (needed by the remove method)
                case (KeyEvent.VK_BACK_SPACE) : 
                {
                	hitBackspace = true;
                	hitBackspaceOnSelection = editor.getSelectionStart() != editor.getSelectionEnd();
                	break;
                }
                // ignore delete key                
                case (KeyEvent.VK_DELETE) : 
                {
                	//e.consume();
                	//comboBox.getToolkit().beep();
                	setText("");
                	comboBox.setPopupVisible(false);
                	break;
                }                
                }
            }
        };
        // Bug 5100422 on Java 1.5: Editable JComboBox won't hide popup when tabbing out
        hidePopupOnFocusLoss = System.getProperty("java.version").startsWith("1.5");
        // Highlight whole text when gaining focus
        editorFocusListener = new FocusAdapter() 
        {
            public void focusGained(FocusEvent e) 
            {
                highlightCompletedText(0);
            }
            public void focusLost(FocusEvent e) 
            {
                // Workaround for Bug 5100422 - Hide Popup on focus loss
                if (hidePopupOnFocusLoss)
                {
                	comboBox.setPopupVisible(false);                	
                }
            }
        };
        configureEditor(comboBox.getEditor());
        // Handle initially selected object
        Object selected = comboBox.getSelectedItem();
        if (selected != null)
        {
        	setText(selected.toString());
        }
        highlightCompletedText(0);
    }
    
    public static void enable(JComboBox comboBox) 
    {
        // has to be editable
        comboBox.setEditable(true);
        // change the editor's document
        new AutoCompletion(comboBox);
    }
    
    void configureEditor(ComboBoxEditor newEditor) 
    {
        if (editor != null) 
        {
            editor.removeKeyListener(editorKeyListener);
            editor.removeFocusListener(editorFocusListener);
        }
        
        if (newEditor != null) 
        {
            editor = (JTextComponent) newEditor.getEditorComponent();
            editor.addKeyListener(editorKeyListener);
            editor.addFocusListener(editorFocusListener);
            editor.setDocument(this);
        }
    }
    
    public void remove(int offs, int len) throws BadLocationException 
    {
        // return immediately when selecting an item
        if (selecting) 
        {        	
        	return;
        }
        if (hitBackspace) 
        {
            // user hit backspace => move the selection backwards
            // old item keeps being selected
            if (offs > 0) 
            {
                if (hitBackspaceOnSelection)
                {
                	offs--;
                	                	
                	Object object = (String)lookupItem(getText(0, offs));
                	setSelectedItem(object);
                	setText(object.toString());
                }
            } 
            else 
            {
                // User hit backspace with the cursor positioned on the start => beep
                //comboBox.getToolkit().beep(); // when available use: UIManager.getLookAndFeel().provideErrorFeedback(comboBox);
            	setText("");
            	comboBox.setPopupVisible(false);
            }
            highlightCompletedText(offs);
        } 
        else 
        {
            super.remove(offs, len);
        }
    }
    
    public void insertString(int offs, String str, AttributeSet a) throws BadLocationException 
    {
        // return immediately when selecting an item
        if (selecting) return;
        // insert the string into the document
        super.insertString(offs, str, a);
        // lookup and select a matching item
        Object item = lookupItem(getText(0, getLength()));
        if (item != null) 
        {
        	// commented out to remove auto selection when typing
            setSelectedItem(item);
        } 
        else 
        {
            // keep old item selected if there is no match
            item = comboBox.getSelectedItem();
            // imitate no insert (later on offs will be incremented by str.length(): selection won't move forward)
            offs = offs-str.length();
            // provide feedback to the user that his input has been received but can not be accepted
            comboBox.getToolkit().beep(); // when available use: UIManager.getLookAndFeel().provideErrorFeedback(comboBox);
        }
        setText(item.toString());
        // select the completed part
        highlightCompletedText(offs+str.length());
    }
    
    private void setText(String text) 
    {
        try 
        {
            // remove all text and insert the completed string
            super.remove(0, getLength());
            super.insertString(0, text, null);
        } 
        catch (BadLocationException e) 
        {
            throw new RuntimeException(e.toString());
        }
    }
    
    private void highlightCompletedText(int start) 
    {
        editor.setCaretPosition(getLength());
        editor.moveCaretPosition(start);
    }
    
    private void setSelectedItem(Object item) 
    {  
    	selecting = true;       
    	model.setSelectedItem(model.getElementAt(model.getSize() - 1));
    	model.setSelectedItem(item);
    	selecting = false;     	
    }
    
    private Object lookupItem(String pattern) 
    {
        //Object selectedItem = model.getSelectedItem();    	
    	Object selectedItem = model.getElementAt(0);
    	
        // only search for a different item if the currently selected does not match
        if (selectedItem != null && startsWithIgnoreCase(selectedItem.toString(), pattern)) 
        {
            return selectedItem;
        } 
        else 
        {
            // iterate over all items
            for (int i = 0, n = model.getSize(); i < n; i++) 
            {
                Object currentItem = model.getElementAt(i);
                // current item starts with the pattern?
                if (currentItem != null && startsWithIgnoreCase(currentItem.toString(), pattern)) 
                {
                    return currentItem;
                }
            }
        }
        // no item starts with the pattern => return null
        return null;
    }
    
    // checks if str1 starts with str2 - ignores case
    private boolean startsWithIgnoreCase(String str1, String str2) 
    {
        return str1.toUpperCase().startsWith(str2.toUpperCase());
    }   
}
I tried to take care of requirement number two by doing this:
model.setSelectedItem(model.getElementAt(model.getSize() - 1));
model.setSelectedItem(item);
But it causes some performance issues that I cannot have in my application.
It automatically triggers two actionEvents when I only need one. And as for requirement number 1, I have no idea how to attack that issue. If someone can lead me in the right direction that would be awesome.

Oh and heres how to work with the class:
public static void main(String[] args)
{
    //set up JFrame...
    JComboBox comboBox = new JComboBox(stringArray);
    AutoCompletion.enable(comboBox);
    //more code...
}
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Post Details
Locked on Jun 5 2007
Added on May 7 2007
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