How can I put a control in the JTableHeader of a JTable?

Question

Given a JTable with a column of type Boolean.class, the default renderer is a JCheckBox. It's easy enough to select individual cells based on a user selection, but it may be convenient to select all or none of the check boxes, too. These recent examples mentioned using JCheckBox in the table header, but the implementation was awkward and unappealing. If I don't need to sort the column, how can I put a well-behaved control in the JTableHeader?

Addendum: For convenience, I've added my sscce as an answer, but I'd be pleased to accept an answer that addresses the well-behaved aspect of the problem.

Answer 1

The article How to Use Tables: Using Custom Renderers offers TableSorter as an example of how to detect mouse events on a column header. Using a similar approach, SelectAllHeader extends JToggleButton and implements TableCellRenderer in the example below to achieve a similar effect. A TableModelListener is used to condition the toggle button when all the check boxes are in a uniform state.

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.TableModelEvent;
import javax.swing.event.TableModelListener;
import javax.swing.table.*;

/**
 * @see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7137786
 * @see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7092219
 * @see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7093213
 */
public class SelectAllHeaderTest {

    private static final int BOOLEAN_COL = 2;
    private static final Object colNames[] = {"Column 1", "Column 2", ""};
    private DefaultTableModel model = new DefaultTableModel(null, colNames) {

        @Override
        public Class<?> getColumnClass(int columnIndex) {
            if (columnIndex == BOOLEAN_COL) {
                return Boolean.class;
            } else {
                return String.class;
            }
        }
    };
    private JTable table = new JTable(model);

    public void create() {
        for (int x = 1; x < 6; x++) {
            model.addRow(new Object[]{
                    "Row " + x + ", Col 1", "Row " + x + ", Col 2", false
                });
        }
        table.setAutoCreateRowSorter(true);
        table.setPreferredScrollableViewportSize(new Dimension(320, 160));
        TableColumn tc = table.getColumnModel().getColumn(BOOLEAN_COL);
        tc.setHeaderRenderer(new SelectAllHeader(table, BOOLEAN_COL));
        JFrame f = new JFrame();
        f.add(new JScrollPane(table));
        f.pack();
        f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        f.setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                new SelectAllHeaderTest().create();
            }
        });
    }
}

/**
 * A TableCellRenderer that selects all or none of a Boolean column.
 * 
 * @param targetColumn the Boolean column to manage
 */
class SelectAllHeader extends JToggleButton implements TableCellRenderer {

    private static final String ALL = "✓ Select all";
    private static final String NONE = "✓ Select none";
    private JTable table;
    private TableModel tableModel;
    private JTableHeader header;
    private TableColumnModel tcm;
    private int targetColumn;
    private int viewColumn;

    public SelectAllHeader(JTable table, int targetColumn) {
        super(ALL);
        this.table = table;
        this.tableModel = table.getModel();
        if (tableModel.getColumnClass(targetColumn) != Boolean.class) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Boolean column required.");
        }
        this.targetColumn = targetColumn;
        this.header = table.getTableHeader();
        this.tcm = table.getColumnModel();
        this.applyUI();
        this.addItemListener(new ItemHandler());
        header.addMouseListener(new MouseHandler());
        tableModel.addTableModelListener(new ModelHandler());
    }

    @Override
    public Component getTableCellRendererComponent(
        JTable table, Object value, boolean isSelected,
        boolean hasFocus, int row, int column) {
        return this;
    }

    private class ItemHandler implements ItemListener {

        @Override
        public void itemStateChanged(ItemEvent e) {
            boolean state = e.getStateChange() == ItemEvent.SELECTED;
            setText((state) ? NONE : ALL);
            for (int r = 0; r < table.getRowCount(); r++) {
                table.setValueAt(state, r, viewColumn);
            }
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void updateUI() {
        super.updateUI();
        applyUI();
    }

    private void applyUI() {
        this.setFont(UIManager.getFont("TableHeader.font"));
        this.setBorder(UIManager.getBorder("TableHeader.cellBorder"));
        this.setBackground(UIManager.getColor("TableHeader.background"));
        this.setForeground(UIManager.getColor("TableHeader.foreground"));
    }

    private class MouseHandler extends MouseAdapter {

        @Override
        public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
            viewColumn = header.columnAtPoint(e.getPoint());
            int modelColumn = tcm.getColumn(viewColumn).getModelIndex();
            if (modelColumn == targetColumn) {
                doClick();
            }
        }
    }

    private class ModelHandler implements TableModelListener {

        @Override
        public void tableChanged(TableModelEvent e) {
            if (needsToggle()) {
                doClick();
                header.repaint();
            }
        }
    }

    // Return true if this toggle needs to match the model.
    private boolean needsToggle() {
        boolean allTrue = true;
        boolean allFalse = true;
        for (int r = 0; r < tableModel.getRowCount(); r++) {
            boolean b = (Boolean) tableModel.getValueAt(r, targetColumn);
            allTrue &= b;
            allFalse &= !b;
        }
        return allTrue && !isSelected() || allFalse && isSelected();
    }
}