JavaFX 2 TableView : different cell factory depending on the data inside the cell

Question

I am trying to use the table view to render / edit the "key = value" pairs. So the table is supposed to have two columns : "key" and "value". Key is just a normal string, and value can be anything. My problem is that the data type of the values can be different from row to row. Basically, I wanted to use checkboxes for boolean values and choices for lists. I have found a way to render the whole table column with checkboxes or choices by setting the cell factory:

final TableColumn<FieldValue, Field> valueColumn = new TableColumn<>("Value");
valueColumn.setCellFactory(new Callback<TableColumn<FieldValue, Field>, TableCell<FieldValue, Field>>() {
    @Override
    public TableCell<FieldValue, Field> call(final TableColumn<FieldValue, Field> column) {
        // if (value instanceof Boolean)
        return new CheckBoxTableCell<>();
    }
});

But what I need is to be able to insert a condition based on the type of the item that is going to be rendered inside the cell. In other words, some cell factory on the cell level and not on the column level. And that evaluates my condition at the render time. I haven't found still any solution to that. Maybe someone has some proper techniques for implementing this sort of rendering? Maybe some 3rd party datagrid?

Answer 1

Here is a table displaying pairs of Strings and Objects of various types.

A custom cell factory is used to handle display of different object types (by performing an instanceof check on the object's type and rendering the appropriate text or graphic).

import javafx.application.*;
import javafx.beans.property.ReadOnlyObjectWrapper;
import javafx.beans.value.ObservableValue;
import javafx.collections.*;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.*;
import javafx.scene.image.*;
import javafx.scene.layout.*;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.util.Callback;
import javafx.util.Pair;

public class PairTable extends Application {
    public static final String NAME_COLUMN_NAME  = "Name";
    public static final String VALUE_COLUMN_NAME = "Value";

    final TableView<Pair<String, Object>> table = new TableView<>();

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        launch(args);
    }

    public void start(final Stage stage) throws Exception {
        // model data
        ObservableList<Pair<String, Object>> data = FXCollections.observableArrayList(
                pair("Song", "Bach Cello Suite 2"),
                pair("Image", new Image("http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Bach_Seal.jpg")),
                pair("Rating", 4),
                pair("Classic", true),
                pair("Song Data", new byte[]{})
        );

        table.getItems().setAll(data);
        table.setPrefHeight(275);

        // table definition
        TableColumn<Pair<String, Object>, String> nameColumn = new TableColumn<>(NAME_COLUMN_NAME);
        nameColumn.setPrefWidth(100);
        TableColumn<Pair<String, Object>, Object> valueColumn = new TableColumn<>(VALUE_COLUMN_NAME);
        valueColumn.setSortable(false);
        valueColumn.setPrefWidth(150);

        nameColumn.setCellValueFactory(new PairKeyFactory());
        valueColumn.setCellValueFactory(new PairValueFactory());

        table.getColumns().setAll(nameColumn, valueColumn);
        valueColumn.setCellFactory(new Callback<TableColumn<Pair<String, Object>, Object>, TableCell<Pair<String, Object>, Object>>() {
            @Override
            public TableCell<Pair<String, Object>, Object> call(TableColumn<Pair<String, Object>, Object> column) {
                return new PairValueCell();
            }
        });

        // layout the scene.
        final StackPane layout = new StackPane();
        layout.getChildren().setAll(table);
        Scene scene = new Scene(layout);
        stage.setScene(scene);
        stage.show();
    }

    private Pair<String, Object> pair(String name, Object value) {
        return new Pair<>(name, value);
    }
}

class PairKeyFactory implements Callback<TableColumn.CellDataFeatures<Pair<String, Object>, String>, ObservableValue<String>> {
    @Override
    public ObservableValue<String> call(TableColumn.CellDataFeatures<Pair<String, Object>, String> data) {
        return new ReadOnlyObjectWrapper<>(data.getValue().getKey());
    }
}

class PairValueFactory implements Callback<TableColumn.CellDataFeatures<Pair<String, Object>, Object>, ObservableValue<Object>> {
    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    @Override
    public ObservableValue<Object> call(TableColumn.CellDataFeatures<Pair<String, Object>, Object> data) {
        Object value = data.getValue().getValue();
        return (value instanceof ObservableValue)
                ? (ObservableValue) value
                : new ReadOnlyObjectWrapper<>(value);
    }
}

class PairValueCell extends TableCell<Pair<String, Object>, Object> {
    @Override
    protected void updateItem(Object item, boolean empty) {
        super.updateItem(item, empty);

        if (item != null) {
            if (item instanceof String) {
                setText((String) item);
                setGraphic(null);
            } else if (item instanceof Integer) {
                setText(Integer.toString((Integer) item));
                setGraphic(null);
            } else if (item instanceof Boolean) {
                CheckBox checkBox = new CheckBox();
                checkBox.setSelected((boolean) item);
                setGraphic(checkBox);
            } else if (item instanceof Image) {
                setText(null);
                ImageView imageView = new ImageView((Image) item);
                imageView.setFitWidth(100);
                imageView.setPreserveRatio(true);
                imageView.setSmooth(true);
                setGraphic(imageView);
            } else {
                setText("N/A");
                setGraphic(null);
            }
        } else {
            setText(null);
            setGraphic(null);
        }
    }
}