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Listen to the paste events JTextArea

I want to call a function when the user pastes text in my JTextArea. Is there any event generated when the text is pasted to the JTextArea and which listener can I use to trigger my function on this event?

One possible solution (and I hope some one has a better one) would be to replace the key binding Action responsible for actually performing the paste operation.
Now, before you do this, the default paste operation is not trivial, instead, I would replace the default paste Action with a proxy, which could call the original, but would allow you to intercept the operation, but not have to re-implement the functionality yourself, for example...
public class ProxyAction extends AbstractAction {
private Action action;
public ProxyAction(Action action) {
this.action = action;
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
action.actionPerformed(e);
System.out.println("Paste Occured...");
}
}
Then you would simply need to look up the default Action and replace it...
JTextArea ta = new JTextArea(10, 10);
Action action = ta.getActionMap().get("paste-from-clipboard");
ta.getActionMap().put("paste-from-clipboard", new ProxyAction(action));
The problem here is, this won't tell you if the operation failed or succeeded or what was actually pasted. For that, you could use a DocumentListener, registered before you call the default Action which could record the changes to the document. Obviously, you'd want to deregister this after the default action ;)...
Now, equally, you could just override the paste method of the JTextArea, which equates to about the same thing, but, the first option would be more portable...
As an idea...
Take a look at How to Use Actions and How to Use Key Bindings for more details

you can have something like below, whenever you paste something in the textarea, then 'Pasted!' is printed out on your console. It prints only on paste !
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyListener;
import javax.swing.*;
public class TextAreaDemo extends JFrame {
JTextArea _resultArea = new JTextArea(6, 20);
public TextAreaDemo() {
_resultArea.setText("");
JScrollPane scrollingArea = new JScrollPane(_resultArea);
JPanel content = new JPanel();
content.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
content.add(scrollingArea, BorderLayout.CENTER);
this.setContentPane(content);
this.setTitle("TextAreaDemo B");
this.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
this.pack();
_resultArea.addKeyListener(new KeyListener() {
#Override
public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e) {
}
#Override
public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) {
if ((e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_V) && ((e.getModifiers() & KeyEvent.CTRL_MASK) != 0)) {
System.out.println("Pasted!");
}
}
#Override
public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e) {
}
});
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame win = new TextAreaDemo();
win.setVisible(true);
}
}

You can also check out Wrapping Actions which is basically the same suggestion as MadProgrammer except that the WrapperAction will delegate all the methods of the Action to the original Action. This will allow you to pick up the text and Icons associated with the original Action in case you ever want to add your custom Action to a JMenuItem or JButton.

How to move 3 buttons inside a window

In the below code I am attempting to move the three buttons to the left when you click the left button. When I click it; nothing happens currently. Can anyone explain to me what I am doing wrong here? Also, for some reason it has stopped compiling correctly and I am unsure why but I BELIEVE it is because of a mistake in my code while attempting to get the buttons to move to the left when you click the button. I do NOT want the window to move. Just the buttons within the window. Does any one see what I am doing wrong and can you explain it?
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class Buttons extends JFrame {
//Control Definitions
JButton resetButton;
JButton leftButton;
JButton colorButton;
JPanel buttonPanel;
// Layout Definiton
eventHandle evt;
FlowLayout flt;
Point point; //to Hold Previous Window Position
Color color; //to Hold Previous Color
public Buttons() {
super("Buttons Window");
flt = new FlowLayout();//inialize the Flow Layout
buttonPanel = new JPanel(flt);
//inialize the buttonPanel With Flow Layout
//initialize buttons
resetButton = new JButton("Reset");
leftButton = new JButton("Left");
colorButton = new JButton("Blue");
evt = new eventHandle(); //initiate the eventhandle class
buttonPanel.add(leftButton); //add leftButton
buttonPanel.add(colorButton);//add colorButton
buttonPanel.add(resetButton);//add colorButton
getContentPane().add(buttonPanel);//buttonPanel
//add actionlistners
leftButton.addActionListener(evt);
colorButton.addActionListener(evt);
resetButton.addActionListener(evt);
setBounds(20, 120, 250, 70);
//following Initate the point with Center of Scren
point = new Point((Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().
getScreenSize().width - getWidth()) / 2,
(Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize().height
- getHeight()) / 2);
setLocation(point); //locates the window in center
color = buttonPanel.getBackground();//stores the initial color
setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setVisible(true);
}
class eventHandle implements ActionListener { //Event Handler
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
{
if (e.getSource() == leftButton) ///if its from leftButton
{
leftButton.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT);
colorButton.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT);
resetButton.setAlignmentX(Component.LEFT_ALIGNMENT);
//setLocation( (point.x -150), point.y);//shift the window 150 pixels left
} else if (e.getSource() == colorButton) {
buttonPanel.setBackground(color.BLUE);
//sets the backgorund to Blue
} else {
leftButton.setAlignmentX(Component.CENTER_ALIGNMENT);
//sets the location to previous location
colorButton.setAlignmentX(Component.CENTER_ALIGNMENT);
resetButton.setAlignmentX(Component.CENTER_ALIGNMENT);
}
}
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Buttons buttonwindow = new Buttons();
}
}

It has stopped compiling, because you deleted one accolade, so put one accolade "}" just above the method:
public static void main(String[] args)
and the code should compile. pls feedback.
EDIT:
Also rewrite your main method like this:
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
Buttons buttonwindow = new Buttons();
}
}
);
}
Every usage of Swing components must be done thorugh the Event Dispatch Thread (abbreviated EDT) or you will probably get unwanted visual effects. See here for explanation.
EDIT^2:
To achieve the desired behavior, rewrite the the action listener like this:
if (e.getSource() == leftButton) {
((FlowLayout)buttonPanel.getLayout()).setAlignment(FlowLayout.LEFT); //1
buttonPanel.revalidate(); //2
}
else if (e.getSource() == colorButton) {
buttonPanel.setBackground(color.BLUE);
}
else {
((FlowLayout)buttonPanel.getLayout()).setAlignment(FlowLayout.CENTER);
buttonPanel.revalidate();
}
Any change to the visual appereance to the Swing component must be done through the assigned layout manager, in this case FlowLayout - in line 1.
To see the change you must notify the Swing components layout manager to rearrange the components - in line 2 the revalidate() method "notifies" the layout manager to recalculate the new positions and eventually "notifies" the EDT to draw it on the screen.

You should update the layout manager to align the components to the left or right. Try something like;
((FlowLayout)getLayout()).setAlignment(FlowLayout.LEFT);
Instead

You code won't compile as the static main method appears inside the inner class eventHandle. You can fix simply by moving it into the class body of the outer class Buttons.
As you have all the objects references at class level, you could do the button alignment using, for instance:
flt.setAlignment(FlowLayout.RIGHT);
buttonPanel.revalidate();
...
Here you are adjusting the layout alignment of your FlowLayout and revalidating to visually reflect the updated changes on your panel.

How can I keep executing work while a button is pressed?

I want to keep executing work while a button is pressed, using Java. When the button is released, the work should stop. Something like this:
Button_is_pressed()
{
for(int i=0;i<100;i++)
{
count=i;
print "count"
}
}
How might I achieve this?

One way:
Add a ChangeListener to the JButton's ButtonModel
In this listener check the model's isPressed() method and turn on or off a Swing Timer depending on its state.
If you want a background process, then you can execute or cancel a SwingWorker in the same way.
An example of the former:
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
public class ButtonPressedEg {
public static void main(String[] args) {
int timerDelay = 100;
final Timer timer = new Timer(timerDelay , new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
System.out.println("Button Pressed!");
}
});
JButton button = new JButton("Press Me!");
final ButtonModel bModel = button.getModel();
bModel.addChangeListener(new ChangeListener() {
#Override
public void stateChanged(ChangeEvent cEvt) {
if (bModel.isPressed() && !timer.isRunning()) {
timer.start();
} else if (!bModel.isPressed() && timer.isRunning()) {
timer.stop();
}
}
});
JPanel panel = new JPanel();
panel.add(button);
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, panel);
}
}

I want to keep executing work while a button is pressed
Execute that process in another thread and then your form is not block and you can press the button to cancel or stop the execution.
see :
How to stop threads of a Java program?
Stop/cancel SwingWorker thread?
Control thread through button

You may need to use mousePressed event to start the action
And use mouseReleased event to stop the action (This is neccesary)
For more information refer here

For Android Apps
I know this question is old, but you can use:
while (yourButton.isPressed()) {
// Do Stuff
}

How to wait for radio button to get selected in lost focus event

I have a Swing program that does a search based on the contents of some text fields and settings of a pair of radio buttons (in a button group). The program will automatically search when certain of the text fields lose focus. The problem comes in when the lose focus event is triggered by a click on one of the radio buttons. The lost focus event on the text field is getting processed before the radio button isSelected() values have changed, so the search is done with the "wrong" (i.e. old) parameters, instead of the parameters based on the new setting of the radio buttons.
I tried invoking the search using my own invokeWhenIdle method (shown below) to run the search after the event queue had settled down, but it still is using the old setting of the radio buttons.
My only working solution is to delay for 250 milliseconds in the lost focus event before running the search, so that the radio buttons have time to change. This works, but it makes the UI seem sluggish.
Any better ideas?
public static void invokeWhenIdle(final int a_max_retry, final Runnable a_runnable) {
if (a_max_retry <= 0) {
throw new IllegalStateException("invokeWhenIdle: Could not run " + a_runnable);
}
// get the next event on the queue
EventQueue l_queue = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getSystemEventQueue();
AWTEvent l_evt = l_queue.peekEvent();
if (l_evt == null) {
// nothing left on the queue (but us), we can do it
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(a_runnable);
} else {
// still something in the queue, try again
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
invokeWhenIdle(a_max_retry - 1, a_runnable);
}
});
}
}

Not an answer, but an explanation about what is happening. Maybe it will spark an idea...
The problem is that a mousePressed arms the button model and the mouseReleased actually changes the selected value of the model.
When you execute the FocusListener code the radio button the model is in an undefined state. Even if you add the FocusListener code to the end of the EDT by using invokeLater the code will still execute before the mouseReleased event is generated.
The following shows how you might code the listener to handle this. It assumes the state of the button is about to change:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class FocusSSCCE extends JPanel
{
public FocusSSCCE()
{
final JRadioButton radio = new JRadioButton("Radio");
add( radio );
radio.setMnemonic('R');
JTextField textField = new JTextField(10);
add( textField );
JButton button = new JButton("Button");
add( button );
textField.addFocusListener( new FocusAdapter()
{
public void focusLost(FocusEvent e)
{
boolean isSelected = radio.isSelected();
// Assumes selected state will change
if (radio.getModel().isArmed())
isSelected = !isSelected;
System.out.println( isSelected );
}
});
}
private static void createAndShowUI()
{
JFrame frame = new JFrame("FocusSSCCE");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add( new FocusSSCCE() );
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo( null );
frame.setVisible( true );
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
createAndShowUI();
}
});
}
}
However, even this approach can't be guaranteed to work. If for some reason the user generates the mousePressed event on the radio button and them moves the mouse away from the radio button before releasing the mouse, then the selected state of the radio button is not changed.
Similiarly, even your original implementation to sleep for 250ms can not be guaranteed to work because the user could theoretically hold down the mouse for more than 250ms which would also generate the wrong value.
My workaround for this was to make the radio buttons non focusable
I can't think of any better approach.
Edit:
I just thought of a wild solution.
textField.addFocusListener( new FocusAdapter()
{
public void focusLost(FocusEvent e)
{
if (e.getOppositeComponent() instanceof JRadioButton)
{
final JRadioButton radio = (JRadioButton)e.getOppositeComponent();
MouseListener ml = new MouseAdapter()
{
public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent e)
{
System.out.println( radio.isSelected() );
radio.removeMouseListener(this);
}
};
radio.addMouseListener( ml );
}
else
System.out.println( radio.isSelected() );
}
});
Basically your processing code won't execute until the mouse has been released when you click on the radio button.

Scrolling on a JComboBox popup hide it

My client is complaining that JComboBox popups often close when the scroll is being used over a JComboBox popup with no vertical scrollbar. (He seems to accidently use scrolling over it because he is using an Apple Magic Mouse.)
Any way to prevent this to happen ?
I know it has to do with the ComboBoxUI, but I would like a few pointer where to start. BasicComboPopup.handler is private (not reusable) and I don't see any code relative to any a MouseWhellListener in BasicComboPopup.

As seen in the source, BasicPopupMenuUI contains a nested class, MouseGrabber, that implements the AWTEventListener interface. The receipt of MouseEvent.MOUSE_WHEEL in eventDispatched() cancels the popup as a function of isInPopup(). I know of no simple way to defeat the behavior.
Empirically, this example invokes show() from the actionPerformed() handler of a JButton; mouse wheel events are ignored. This might be a reasonable alternative for your user, perhaps combined with a suitable ActionEvent modifier mask.
In contrast, this example invokes show() in response to isPopupTrigger() in a MouseAdapter; as expected, mouse wheel events cancel the popup.

Thanks to your suggestion, I've got an idea an found a solution by hacking AWTEventListeners.
Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().addAWTEventListener(new AWTEventListener()
{
public void eventDispatched(AWTEvent event)
{
if (event instanceof MouseWheelEvent)
{
Object source = event.getSource();
if ((source instanceof JScrollPane) &&
(((JScrollPane) source).getParent().getClass().
getName().equals("com.apple.laf.AquaComboBoxPopup")))
{
JViewport viewport = ((JScrollPane) source).getViewport();
if (viewport.getViewSize().height <= viewport.getHeight())
// prevent consuming if there is a vertical scrollbar
((MouseWheelEvent) event).consume();
}
}
}
}, AWTEvent.MOUSE_WHEEL_EVENT_MASK);
Thanks guys !

I have tested default behaviour of a combobox. And when I am scrolling over the popup it is fine it will not close it. But when I scroll outside it or even over the combobox itself then it disappears.
I do not know if you are after something like this but I have added the mouse wheel listener to the combobox this way if I detect the movement over the combobox there I am reshowing the popup. -- This bit only partially solves the issue that the mouse wheeling will not show the combo box when scrolling over the combobox.
import java.awt.HeadlessException;
import java.awt.event.MouseWheelEvent;
import java.awt.event.MouseWheelListener;
import javax.swing.JComboBox;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class ComboBoxMouseWheel
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
createGUI();
}
});
}
private static void createGUI() throws HeadlessException
{
String[] items = new String[]
{
"oasoas", "saas", "saasas"
};
final JComboBox jcb = new JComboBox(items);
jcb.addMouseWheelListener(new MouseWheelListener()
{
#Override
public void mouseWheelMoved(MouseWheelEvent e)
{
System.out.println("ohjasajs");
e.consume();
jcb.showPopup();
}
});
JPanel p = new JPanel();
p.add(jcb);
JPanel contentPane = new JPanel();
contentPane.add(p);
JFrame f = new JFrame();
f.setContentPane(contentPane);
f.setSize(300, 300);
f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
f.setVisible(true);
}
}
I hope this is helpful even a bit. If you manage to solve other way please do share it with us.
The solution provided by #trashgod seems doable but it looks so elaborated :), thus I propose mine approach an alternative.
Good luck, Boro.

Here is a solution that will work in most cases
Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().addAWTEventListener(new AWTEventListener() {
public void eventDispatched(AWTEvent event) {
if (event instanceof MouseWheelEvent) {
Object source = event.getSource();
if (source instanceof JScrollPane) {
JScrollPane scroll = (JScrollPane) source;
if (scroll.getName().equals("ComboBox.scrollPane")) {
MouseWheelEvent sourceEvent = ((MouseWheelEvent) event);
for (MouseWheelListener listener : scroll.getListeners(MouseWheelListener.class)) {
listener.mouseWheelMoved(sourceEvent);
}
sourceEvent.consume();
}
}
}
}
}, AWTEvent.MOUSE_WHEEL_EVENT_MASK);