JTable: how to select columns at runtime

Question

I have too many columns in a table to display them all at once, and would like to let the user change which columns are visible. How can I do this?

note: It is easy to make the application select columns at runtime. What I am asking is what UI element(s) to add to allow the user to hide/unhide columns at runtime.

Answer 1

There isn't a standard way, however what you could do is something like this:

1. Use a custom table header render component to install additional actions/UI on the column headers (e.g. through a context menu of checkboxes)
2. Add a custom model which you can re-configure to display different items depending on what the user selected through additional actions on the column headers
3. Do the event wiring/plumbing.

Alternatively: find a custom component that does this. There probably is something out there already: projects like the component library from JIDE would be a good place to look.

Answer 2

Table Column Manager allows the user to right click on the table header to control which columns are visible.

Answer 3

If you can import some external libraries, you could have a look to http://swinglabs.org/docs/components/JXTable/tutorial.jsp which supports such runtime modifications.

Answer 4

Use TableModel.addColumn(TableColumn) and TableModel.removeColumn(TableColumn) methods to show/hide columns on-the-fly.

You can attach that calls to any other GUI components (for example, make a JPanel or a JTable with a few checkboxes).

Answer 5

Either display a popup menu with the possible columns when user right-clicks the header or implement a small (and light) popup dialog with a checkbox list for selecting the visible columns. The dialog can be opened by right-clicking, by clicking a toolbar button or from a toolbar menu.