How do I make a list with checkboxes in Java Swing?

Question

What would be the best way to have a list of items with a checkbox each in Java Swing? I.e. a JList with items that have some text and a checkbox each?

Answer 1

I'd probably be looking to use a JTable rather than a JList and since the default rendering of a checkbox is rather ugly, I'd probably be looking to drop in a custom TableModel, CellRenderer and CellEditor to represent a boolean value. Of course, I would imagine this has been done a bajillion times already. Sun has good examples.

Answer 2

Create a custom ListCellRenderer and asign it to the JList.

This custom ListCellRenderer must return a JCheckbox in the implementantion of getListCellRendererComponent(...) method.

But this JCheckbox will not be editable, is a simple paint in the screen is up to you to choose when this JCheckbox must be 'ticked' or not,

For example, show it ticked when the row is selected (parameter 'isSelected'), but this way the check status will no be mantained if the selection changes. Its better to show it checked consulting the data below the ListModel, but then is up to you to implement the method who changes the check status of the data, and notify the change to the JList to be repainted.

I Will post sample code later if you need it

ListCellRenderer

Answer 3

Odds are good w/ Java that someone has already implemented the widget or utility you need. Part of the benefits of a large OSS community. No need to reinvent the wheel unless you really want to do it yourself. In this case it would be a good learning exercise in CellRenderers and Editors.

My project has had great success with JIDE. The component you want, a Check Box List, is in the JIDE Common Layer (which is OSS and hosted on java.net). The commercial stuff is good too, but you don't need it.

http://www.jidesoft.com/products/oss.htm https://jide-oss.dev.java.net/

Answer 4

A wonderful answer is this CheckBoxList. It implements Telcontar's answer (though 3 years before :)... I'm using it in Java 1.6 with no problems. I've also added an addCheckbox method like this (surely could be shorter, haven't used Java in a while):

public void addCheckbox(JCheckBox checkBox) {
 ListModel currentList = this.getModel();
 JCheckBox[] newList = new JCheckBox[currentList.getSize() + 1];
 for (int i = 0; i < currentList.getSize(); i++) {
  newList[i] = (JCheckBox) currentList.getElementAt(i);
 }
 newList[newList.length - 1] = checkBox;
 setListData(newList);
}

I tried out the demo for the Jidesoft stuff, playing with the CheckBoxList I encountered some problems (behaviors that didn't work). I'll modify this answer if I find problems with the CheckBoxList I linked to.