Error Dialog Not Being Destroyed

Question

I am working on a project that is using a JTable to display, among other things, a column of dates. We needed validation for the user input for dates, so I have implemented a combination of masking for format validation and parsing for actual date validation. I have done this using a custom CellEditor for the date column.

Inside my MaskedCellEditor, I have a JFormattedTextField. I setup the masking for dates. Then I add an InputVerifier to allow for actual validation. My InputVerifier implements verify() to check: 1. textField.isEditValid() 2. DateValidator.ValidDate(). If either is invalid, verify returns false and the InputVerifier locks the focus into the text field (the cell editor) and a small message dialog is displayed reminding the user of the date format.

The error message is a small, undecorated, non-modal, non-focusable JDialog that pops up underneath the cell being edited. It disappears on a keypress or a successful date verification. It is working great except for a small edge case.

If the user selects a menu button on the top of the application while an invalid edit has popped up the dialog, it switches screens, destroying everything currently on the screen (including the table). However, since the dialog is being shown and a keypress/successful edit has not occurred, the dialog is never hidden. It remains visible in a completely unrelated context on a different screen. Once the user has switched off the screen with the table, there is no way for the user to get rid of the dialog.

I have debated throwing either a Timer and/or a MouseListener on the dialog itself that would cause it to disappear, but I feel that I am ignoring the actual problem. The dialog is never being disposed of and I am pretty sure its because it is still set to be visible and it is preventing the garbage collector from getting rid of it.

I have a Cleanup method on the panel holding the JTable, but I cannot find a good way to reference the dialog (a component of the InputVerifier) in order to get rid of it. The dialog is pretty far removed from the table's parent panel. (Panel -> JTable -> CellEditor -> JFormattedTextField -> InputVerifier -> JDialog)

Any ideas on how to force the dialog to be hidden when the table is destroyed? If you need more details, let me know. I'm trying not to get you guys bogged down in the details, but there is a lot going on.

Answer 1

Many people will vote me down for saying this, but it sounds like your dialog should be modal so that users can't switch away from it without dismissing it first. Or at least disable the menus that allow people to switch away while this dialog is displayed.

Answer 2

As a first thought, can you not go down the listener approach. If you have a closeErrorDialog() type method that gets called when upon successful valdiation, then you can also call it when a menu action is selected.

As an alternative, perhaps you could control the transition from menu to menu in some way, and create a "cleanup" method which will close down any exisiting error dialogs. This would allow for any other actions that need to take place when changing menus, to happen in the same place.

Just a couple of quick ideas of the top of my head. Hope they are along the lines of what you meant