Java JTextPane + JScrollPane: de/activate automatic scrolling
I'm currently writing a simple chat in Java and currently I'm stuck on this problem: I want my output JTextPane to behave like you would expect it to from a good chat, ie by default the text scrolls automatically when new text arrives (using outputfield.setCaretPosition(outputdocument.getLength())), but when the user scrolls up this should be disabled and of course re-enabled when the user scrolls to the bottom again.
I tried toying around with the ScrollBars and all, but I can't seem to find a way to detect whether the ScrollBar is at the bottom or not.
I create the scrollable output area simply by creating a JTextPane, a JScrollPane and put one into the other.
JTextPane outputpane = new JTextPane
...
JScrollPane outputscroll = new JScrollPane(outputpane);
outputscroll.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);
Edit: Here's the code I use to create the components and display new messages:
// lots of imports
public class RoomFrame extends JFrame implements ListSelectionListener, ActionListener, Comparable, Runnable
{
public static final String DEFAULT_FONT = "Courier";
public static final int DEFAULT_FONT_SIZE = 12;
private JTextPane mOutputField;
private JScrollPane mOutputScroll;
private StyledDocument mOutputDocument;
public RoomFrame(...)
{
super(...);
createGUI();
setOutputStyles();
setVisible(true);
new Thread(this).start();
}
// ========================================================
private void createGUI()
{
Color borderhighlightouter = new Color(220, 220, 220);
Color borderhighlightinner = new Color(170, 170, 170);
Color bordershadowouter = new Color(120, 120, 120);
Color bordershadowinner = new Color(170, 170, 170);
setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
setSize(500, 400);
// -----------------------------
// Output
mOutputField = new JTextPane();
mOutputField.setEditable(false);
mOutputField.setBackground(new Color(245, 245, 245));
mOutputDocument = mOutputField.getStyledDocument();
mOutputScroll = new JScrollPane(mOutputField);
mOutputScroll.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);
mOutputScroll.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(250, 250));
mOutputScroll.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(50, 50));
mOutputScroll.setOpaque(false);
mOutputScroll.setBorder(BorderFactory.createCompoundBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(0, 0, 1, 0), BorderFactory.createBevelBorder(BevelBorder.LOWERED, borderhighlightouter, borderhighlightinner, bordershadowouter, bordershadowinner)));
getContentPane().add(mOutputScroll);
}
private void setOutputStyles()
{
Style def = StyleContext.getDefaultStyleContext().getStyle(StyleContext.DEFAULT_STYLE);
Style regular = mOutputDocument.addStyle("regular", def);
StyleConstants.setFontFamily(def, DEFAULT_FONT);
StyleConstants.setFontSize(def, DEFAULT_FONT_SIZE);
StyleConstants.setFirstLineIndent(def, 100.0f);
Style nickname = mOutputDocument.addStyle("username", def);
StyleConstants.setBold(nickname, true);
StyleConstants.setForeground(nickname, new Color(50, 50, 220));
Style highlight = mOutputDocument.addStyle("highlight", def);
StyleConstants.setBold(highlight, true);
StyleConstants.setBackground(highlight, new Color(150, 0, 0));
Style join = mOutputDocument.addStyle("join", def);
StyleConstants.setBold(join, true);
StyleConstants.setForeground(join, new Color(20, 100, 20));
Style leave = mOutputDocument.addStyle("leave", def);
StyleConstants.setBold(leave, true);
StyleConstants.setForeground(leave, new Color(100, 100, 20));
Style topic = mOutputDocument.addStyle("topic", def);
StyleConstants.setBold(topic, true);
StyleConstants.setUnderline(topic, true);
Style error = mOutputDocument.addStyle("error", def);
StyleConstants.setBold(error, true);
StyleConstants.setForeground(error, new Color(255, 0, 0));
Style kick = mOutputDocument.addStyle("kick", def);
StyleConstants.setBold(kick, true);
StyleConstants.setForeground(kick, new Color(150, 0, 0));
}
private final boolean shouldScroll()
{
int min = mOutputScroll.getVerticalScrollBar().getValue() + mOutputScroll.getVerticalScrollBar().getVisibleAmount();
int max = mOutputScroll.getVerticalScrollBar().getMaximum();
return min == max;
}
// ========================================================
public void displayMessage(String message)
{
displayMessage(message, "");
}
public void displayMessage(String message, String style)
{
displayMessage(message, style, true);
}
public void displayMessage(String message, String style, boolean addnewline)
{
String newline = (addnewline ? "\n" : "");
style = (style.equals("") ? "regular" : style);
message = message.replace("\n", " ");
// check for highlight
try
{
mOutputDocument.insertString(mOutputDocument.getLength(),
String.format("%s%s", message, newline),
mOutputDocument.getStyle(style));
}
catch (Exception e) {}
// if (shouldScroll())
// mOutputField.setCaretPosition(mOutputDocument.getLength());
}
public void run()
{
while (true)
{
if (shouldScroll())
{
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(
new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
mOutputScroll.getVerticalScrollBar().setValue(mOutputScroll.getVerticalScrollBar().getMaximum());
}
});
}
try { Thread.sleep(500); }
catch (InterruptedException e) { break; }
}
}
public void valueChanged(ListSelectionEvent event)
{
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
{
}
public final int compareTo(Object o) { return this.toString().compareTo(o.toString()); }
}
Edit: Thanks to fireshadow52's link to another similar question I finally got it to work exactly how I want it to:
private boolean isViewAtBottom()
{
JScrollBar sb = mOutputScroll.getVerticalScrollBar();
int min = sb.getValue() + sb.getVisibleAmount();
int max = sb.getMaximum();
System.out.println(min + " " + max);
return min == max;
}
private void scrollToBottom()
{
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(
new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
mOutputScroll.getVerticalScrollBar().setValue(mOutputScroll.getVerticalScrollBar().getMaximum());
}
});
}
public void displayMessage(String message, String style, boolean prependnewline)
{
String newline = (prependnewline ? "\n" : "");
boolean scroll = isViewAtBottom() && prependnewline;
style = (style.equals("") ? "regular" : style);
message = message.replace("\n", " ");
try
{
mOutputDocument.insertString(mOutputDocument.getLength(),
String.format("%s%s", newline, message),
mOutputDocument.getStyle(style));
}
catch (Exception e) {}
if (scroll)
scrollToBottom();
}
Again, thanks for all your help!
Answer
If you're only wanting to scroll when you're at the bottom then this should help.
Use this method to check and see if the scrollbar is at the end (or bottom), and if so, scroll down automatically using setCaretPosition(Component.getDocument().getLength());:
public boolean shouldScroll() {
int minimumValue = scrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar().getValue() + scrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar().getVisibleAmount();
int maximumValue = scrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar().getMaximum();
return maximumValue == minimumValue;
}
I found similar results when using Google which led me to a method similar to this one which worked as requested.
Edit: Make sure that it is done within invokeLater() as it needs to be updated before scrolling is done.
A full example of what I use:
public class ScrollTest extends Thread {
private JFrame frame;
private JTextArea textArea;
private JScrollPane scrollPane;
public static void main(String[] arguments) {
new ScrollTest().run();
}
public ScrollTest() {
textArea = new JTextArea(20, 20);
scrollPane = new JScrollPane(textArea);
frame = new JFrame("Test");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(scrollPane);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public void run() {
while (true) {
textArea.append("" + Math.random() + "\n");
if (shouldScroll()) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
@Override
public void run() {
scrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar().setValue(scrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar().getMaximum());
}
});
}
try {
Thread.sleep(500);
} catch (Exception exception) {
exception.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
public boolean shouldScroll() {
int minimumValue = scrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar().getValue() + scrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar().getVisibleAmount();
int maximumValue = scrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar().getMaximum();
return maximumValue == minimumValue;
}
}