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ListView with custom Cell click handling

In my JavaFX app I use ListView with custom cells. I want to handle list item clicks differently than clicks on the empty space below the items. I've set an event listener on whole ListView, but I can't determine which of the items was clicked (getSelectedItem() is null, probably because of bug in my custom cell code). How to handle following situation properly?
My component looks like this:
<fx:root type="javafx.scene.layout.VBox">
<Label fx:id="dayname" text="${controller.day.name}" />
<ListView fx:id="appointmentsListView" items="${controller.day.events}"
onMouseClicked="#handleAppointmentsClick" />
</fx:root>
ListView has custom cell factory which is set in component constructor:
public class DayComponent extends VBox {
#FXML
private ListView<Appointment> appointmentsListView;
public DayComponent() throws IOException {
// ...
appointmentsListView.setCellFactory(l -> new AppointmentCell());
}
#FXML
public void handleAppointmentsClick(MouseEvent event) {
System.out.println(appointmentsListView.getSelectionModel()
.getSelectedItem()); // null in every case
}
}
Custom cell code:
public class AppointmentCell extends ListCell<Appointment> {
#Override
protected void updateItem(Appointment item, boolean empty) {
super.updateItem(item, empty);
if (!empty) {
setGraphic(new AppointmentLabel(item));
} else {
setGraphic(null);
}
}
}

One reasonably clean approach is to register a mouse listener with the cells in the list view, to handle clicks on non-empty cells. Consume the mouse event if the cell is non-empty. Register a second mouse listener on the list view itself, to handle clicks on empty cells (or on the list view's placeholder if the list view is empty). This needs two handlers, but at least separates the "empty" and "non-empty" functionality in a sensible way.
Here is a quick example:
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.ButtonBar;
import javafx.scene.control.ListCell;
import javafx.scene.control.ListView;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class ListViewMouseHandlerExample extends Application {
private int count = 0 ;
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
ListView<String> listView = new ListView<>();
Button addButton = new Button("Add");
addButton.setOnAction(e -> listView.getItems().add("Item " + (++count)));
Button deleteButton = new Button("Delete");
deleteButton.setOnAction(e -> listView.getItems().remove(listView.getSelectionModel().getSelectedIndex()));
deleteButton.disableProperty().bind(listView.getSelectionModel().selectedItemProperty().isNull());
listView.setCellFactory(lv -> {
ListCell<String> cell = new ListCell<String>() {
#Override
protected void updateItem(String item, boolean empty) {
super.updateItem(item, empty);
setText(item);
}
};
cell.setOnMouseClicked(e -> {
if (!cell.isEmpty()) {
System.out.println("You clicked on " + cell.getItem());
e.consume();
}
});
return cell;
});
listView.setOnMouseClicked(e -> {
System.out.println("You clicked on an empty cell");
});
BorderPane root = new BorderPane(listView);
ButtonBar buttons = new ButtonBar();
buttons.getButtons().addAll(addButton, deleteButton);
root.setBottom(buttons);
Scene scene = new Scene(root, 600, 600);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
}

You could try something like that:
public class AppointmentCellMouseClickHandler implements EventHandler<MouseEvent> {
private final Appointment appointment;
public AppointmentCellMouseClickHandler(Appointment appointment) {
this.appointment = appointment;
}
#Override
public void handle(MouseEvent arg0) {
//Do stuff with appointment
}
}
public class EmptyAppointmentCellMouseClickHandler implements EventHandler<MouseEvent> {
#Override
public void handle(MouseEvent arg0) {
//Do stuff without appointment
}
}
public class AppointmentCell extends ListCell<Appointment> {
#Override
protected void updateItem(Appointment item, boolean empty) {
super.updateItem(item, empty);
if (!empty) {
setGraphic(new AppointmentLabel(item));
this.setOnMouseClicked(new AppointmentCellMouseClickHandler(item));
} else {
setGraphic(null);
this.setOnMouseClicked(new EmptyAppointmentCellMouseClickHandler());
}
}
}
Edit related to comment:
To handle when the ListView is empty you can do:
//To handle the initialisation where the listener won't be call
appointmentsListView.setOnMouseClicked(new EmptyAppointmentCellMouseClickHandler());
appointmentsListView.getItems().addListener(new ListChangeListener<Appointment>() {
#Override
public void onChanged(Change<? extends Appointment> change) {
while(change.next()){
//Toogle the listener depending on the content of the list
listView.setOnMouseClicked(change.getList().isEmpty() ? new EmptyAppointmentCellMouseClickHandler() : null);
}
}
});

TableVew - Edit cell when KeyEvent is thrown

I have an event listener on a TableView that listens for keyboard event.
// Add event listener to table
table.setOnKeyTyped(event -> {
TablePosition<SimpleStringProperty, String> focusedCell = table.getFocusModel().getFocusedCell();
if (focusedCell != null)
{
table.getItems().get(focusedCell.getRow()).set(event.getCharacter());
table.edit(focusedCell.getRow(), focusedCell.getTableColumn());
}
});
I am having problems with updating the cell with the new data when a user clicks enter or changes focus to another cell. When you click enter or change focus, the cell becomes empty. I'm not sure why. How can I save the data and update the cell with the new data.
// Here is the full code.
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleStringProperty;
import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.ContentDisplay;
import javafx.scene.control.TableCell;
import javafx.scene.control.TableColumn;
import javafx.scene.control.TablePosition;
import javafx.scene.control.TableView;
import javafx.scene.control.TextField;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class TableViewEdit extends Application
{
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage)
{
TableView<SimpleStringProperty> table = new TableView<SimpleStringProperty>();
table.getSelectionModel().setCellSelectionEnabled(true);
table.setEditable(true);
table.getColumns().add(this.createColumn());
ObservableList<SimpleStringProperty> rowData = FXCollections.observableArrayList();
//table.getItems().addAll(rowData);
for (int j = 0; j < 10; j++)
{
rowData.add(new SimpleStringProperty(String.format("Cell [%d", j)));
}
table.setItems(rowData);
table.setOnKeyTyped(event -> {
TablePosition<SimpleStringProperty, String> focusedCell = table.getFocusModel().getFocusedCell();
if (focusedCell != null)
{
table.getItems().get(focusedCell.getRow()).set(event.getCharacter());
table.edit(focusedCell.getRow(), focusedCell.getTableColumn());
}
});
Scene scene = new Scene(new BorderPane(table), 880, 600);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
private TableColumn<SimpleStringProperty, String> createColumn()
{
TableColumn<SimpleStringProperty, String> col = new TableColumn<>("Column ");
col.setCellValueFactory(cellData -> cellData.getValue());
col.setCellFactory(column -> new EditCell());
return col;
}
private static class EditCell extends TableCell<SimpleStringProperty, String>
{
private final TextField textField = new TextField();
EditCell()
{
this.textProperty().bind(this.itemProperty());
this.setGraphic(this.textField);
this.setContentDisplay(ContentDisplay.TEXT_ONLY);
this.textField.setOnAction(evt -> this.commitEdit(this.textField.getText()));
this.textField.focusedProperty().addListener((obs, wasFocused, isNowFocused) -> {
if (!isNowFocused)
{
this.commitEdit(this.textField.getText());
}
});
}
#Override
public void startEdit()
{
super.startEdit();
this.textField.setText(this.getItem());
this.setContentDisplay(ContentDisplay.GRAPHIC_ONLY);
this.textField.requestFocus();
}
#Override
public void cancelEdit()
{
super.cancelEdit();
this.setContentDisplay(ContentDisplay.TEXT_ONLY);
}
#Override
public void commitEdit(String text)
{
super.commitEdit(text);
this.setContentDisplay(ContentDisplay.TEXT_ONLY);
}
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
launch(args);
}
}

These get really tricky; I think anything "behavior-related" (i.e. standard controls reacting to user input) is hard to change and generally not well supported in JavaFX. Hopefully this is an area of the API that will be improved...
There seem to be a couple of different issues. I think that what is happening with the Enter key, is that although this generates an ActionEvent on the text field, which commits the edit, etc, the keyTyped event still propagates back to the table, causing it to re-enter editing mode. A fix for this seems to be to use a keyPressed handler on the table instead (though to be honest this doesn't feel very robust).
The code relies on the default onEditCommit handler on the table column to actually change the property value. The onEditCommit handler is invoked by the default table cell's commitEdit method. The problem with calling commitEdit(...) on losing focus is that the default commitEdit method first checks if the cell is in an editing state, and does nothing if it's not. It appears that when the cell loses focus, it is taken out of the editing state before the focusProperty listener is invoked, so the onEditCommit handler is never called. (As an aside, this also prevents example 13-11 "Alternative solution of cell editing" (sic) from working correctly in the JDK 8 u25 (the current version).)
The only fix I can see for this second issue is to directly update the property from the commitEdit(...) method. This requires the cell have a reference to the property, which breaks the nice separation between the cell and the cell value.
I rewrote the example using the usual Person example and incorporated these two fixes. This example works quite well, though as I said some parts feel as though they are not very robust:
import java.util.function.Function;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleStringProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.StringProperty;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.ContentDisplay;
import javafx.scene.control.TableCell;
import javafx.scene.control.TableColumn;
import javafx.scene.control.TablePosition;
import javafx.scene.control.TableView;
import javafx.scene.control.TextField;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class TableViewEditOnType extends Application {
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
TableView<Person> table = new TableView<>();
table.getSelectionModel().setCellSelectionEnabled(true);
table.setEditable(true);
table.getColumns().add(createColumn("First Name", Person::firstNameProperty));
table.getColumns().add(createColumn("Last Name", Person::lastNameProperty));
table.getColumns().add(createColumn("Email", Person::emailProperty));
table.getItems().addAll(
new Person("Jacob", "Smith", "jacob.smith#example.com"),
new Person("Isabella", "Johnson", "isabella.johnson#example.com"),
new Person("Ethan", "Williams", "ethan.williams#example.com"),
new Person("Emma", "Jones", "emma.jones#example.com"),
new Person("Michael", "Brown", "michael.brown#example.com")
);
table.setOnKeyPressed(event -> {
TablePosition<Person, ?> pos = table.getFocusModel().getFocusedCell() ;
if (pos != null) {
table.edit(pos.getRow(), pos.getTableColumn());
}
});
Scene scene = new Scene(new BorderPane(table), 880, 600);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
private TableColumn<Person, String> createColumn(String title, Function<Person, StringProperty> property) {
TableColumn<Person, String> col = new TableColumn<>(title);
col.setCellValueFactory(cellData -> property.apply(cellData.getValue()));
col.setCellFactory(column -> new EditCell(property));
return col ;
}
private static class EditCell extends TableCell<Person, String> {
private final TextField textField = new TextField();
private final Function<Person, StringProperty> property ;
EditCell(Function<Person, StringProperty> property) {
this.property = property ;
textProperty().bind(itemProperty());
setGraphic(textField);
setContentDisplay(ContentDisplay.TEXT_ONLY);
textField.setOnAction(evt -> {
commitEdit(textField.getText());
});
textField.focusedProperty().addListener((obs, wasFocused, isNowFocused) -> {
if (! isNowFocused) {
commitEdit(textField.getText());
}
});
}
#Override
public void startEdit() {
super.startEdit();
textField.setText(getItem());
setContentDisplay(ContentDisplay.GRAPHIC_ONLY);
textField.requestFocus();
}
#Override
public void cancelEdit() {
super.cancelEdit();
setContentDisplay(ContentDisplay.TEXT_ONLY);
}
#Override
public void commitEdit(String text) {
super.commitEdit(text);
Person person = getTableView().getItems().get(getIndex()) ;
StringProperty cellProperty = property.apply(person);
cellProperty.set(text);
setContentDisplay(ContentDisplay.TEXT_ONLY);
}
}
public static class Person {
private final StringProperty firstName = new SimpleStringProperty();
private final StringProperty lastName = new SimpleStringProperty();
private final StringProperty email = new SimpleStringProperty();
public Person(String firstName, String lastName, String email) {
setFirstName(firstName);
setLastName(lastName);
setEmail(email);
}
public final StringProperty firstNameProperty() {
return this.firstName;
}
public final java.lang.String getFirstName() {
return this.firstNameProperty().get();
}
public final void setFirstName(final java.lang.String firstName) {
this.firstNameProperty().set(firstName);
}
public final StringProperty lastNameProperty() {
return this.lastName;
}
public final java.lang.String getLastName() {
return this.lastNameProperty().get();
}
public final void setLastName(final java.lang.String lastName) {
this.lastNameProperty().set(lastName);
}
public final StringProperty emailProperty() {
return this.email;
}
public final java.lang.String getEmail() {
return this.emailProperty().get();
}
public final void setEmail(final java.lang.String email) {
this.emailProperty().set(email);
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
}

How to add listener to the checkbox inside a listview that uses CheckBoxListCell

I have a listview that uses a CheckBoxListCell to display a list with checkboxes next to the items. How do I add a listener to this checkbox to know when an item as been selected or unselected?

Solution
You don't add a listener to the checkbox. You add a listener to the observable property of the object which was associated with the checkbox by the CheckBoxListCell.forListView routine.
Setting up the association:
ListView<Task> checklist = new ListView<>(tasks);
checklist.setCellFactory(CheckBoxListCell.forListView(Task::selectedProperty));
Adding a listener for all items:
tasks.forEach(task -> task.selectedProperty().addListener((observable, wasSelected, isSelected) -> {
if (isSelected) {
// . . .
} else {
// . . .
}
}));
Documentation
The process is described in the CheckBoxListCell.forListView javadoc like so:
getSelectedProperty - A Callback that, given an object of type T
(which is a value taken out of the ListView.items list), will
return an ObservableValue that represents whether the given
item is selected or not. This ObservableValue will be bound
bidirectionally (meaning that the CheckBox in the cell will set/unset
this property based on user interactions, and the CheckBox will
reflect the state of the ObservableValue, if it changes externally).
Sample Program
A sample program which demonstrated some of the patterns which could be used with CheckBoxListCell:
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.beans.property.*;
import javafx.collections.*;
import javafx.geometry.Insets;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.ListView;
import javafx.scene.control.cell.CheckBoxListCell;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.util.StringConverter;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;
public class CheckList extends Application {
#Override
public void start(Stage stage) throws Exception{
ObservableList<Task> tasks = FXCollections.observableArrayList(
Arrays.stream(taskNames).map(Task::new).collect(Collectors.toList())
);
ListView<String> reactionLog = new ListView<>();
tasks.forEach(task -> task.selectedProperty().addListener((observable, wasSelected, isSelected) -> {
if (isSelected) {
reactionLog.getItems().add(reactionStrings.get(task.getName()));
reactionLog.scrollTo(reactionLog.getItems().size() - 1);
}
}));
ListView<Task> checklist = new ListView<>(tasks);
checklist.setCellFactory(CheckBoxListCell.forListView(Task::selectedProperty, new StringConverter<Task>() {
#Override
public String toString(Task object) {
return object.getName();
}
#Override
public Task fromString(String string) {
return null;
}
}));
HBox layout = new HBox(10, checklist, reactionLog);
layout.setPrefSize(350, 150);
layout.setPadding(new Insets(10));
Scene scene = new Scene(layout);
stage.setScene(scene);
stage.show();
}
public static class Task {
private ReadOnlyStringWrapper name = new ReadOnlyStringWrapper();
private BooleanProperty selected = new SimpleBooleanProperty(false);
public Task(String name) {
this.name.set(name);
}
public String getName() {
return name.get();
}
public ReadOnlyStringProperty nameProperty() {
return name.getReadOnlyProperty();
}
public BooleanProperty selectedProperty() {
return selected;
}
public boolean isSelected() {
return selected.get();
}
public void setSelected(boolean selected) {
this.selected.set(selected);
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
private static final String[] taskNames = {
"Walk the dog",
"Skin the cat",
"Feed the pig"
};
private static final Map<String, String> reactionStrings = new HashMap<>();
static {
reactionStrings.put("Walk the dog", "The dog thanks you");
reactionStrings.put("Skin the cat", "The cat hates you");
reactionStrings.put("Feed the pig", "The pig wants more");
}
}
Sample output after selecting the first item once and the third item three times.

Here is an alternative if the item does not already have a property that indicates if it has been selected or not:
public class CheckedListViewCheckObserver<T> extends SimpleObjectProperty<Pair<T, Boolean>> {
BooleanProperty getObserverForObject(T object) {
BooleanProperty value = new SimpleBooleanProperty(false);
value.addListener((observable, oldValue, newValue) -> {
CheckedListViewCheckObserver.this.set(new Pair<>(object, newValue));
});
return value;
}
}
Then to use it, you simply do:
CheckedListViewCheckObserver observer = new CheckedListViewCheckObserver<>();
checklist.setCellFactory(CheckBoxListCell.forListView(observer::getObserverForObject));
Now you can set a listener to listen for any changes:
observer.addListener((obs, old, curr) -> {
if (curr.getValue()) {
System.out.println("You have checked " + curr.getKey());
} else {
System.out.println("You have unchecked " + curr.getKey());
}
});
The advantage of this method is that it does not depend on the objects being used; Instead, since it is generic, you can simply attach it to an already existing listview and it starts working off the bat.
Hope this helps someone.

Add Button to TableView and bind Button's textProperty to property of TableView object

I've got an Order object I'm representing in TableView.
One of the column should contain a Button.
Button's text property should be bind to String property on Order object.
I used this post as a starting point:
http://java-buddy.blogspot.ru/2013/03/javafx-embed-button-in-tableview.html
How can I bind Button's text property to string property of Order object?
Order object:
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleStringProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.StringProperty;
public class Order {
private String id;
private StringProperty action = new SimpleStringProperty("CANCEL"); // initial value, to be changed later
public String getAction() {
return action.get();
}
public StringProperty actionProperty() {
return action;
}
public void setAction(String action) {
this.action.set(action);
}
public String getId() {
return id;
}
public void setId(String id) {
this.id = id;
}
}
OrderManager:
import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
public class OrdersManager {
private Map<String, Order> orders = new ConcurrentHashMap<>();
private ObservableList<Order> ordersView = FXCollections.observableArrayList(orders.values());
public ObservableList<Order> getOrdersView() {
return ordersView;
}
// other code below...
}
Controller:
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleStringProperty;
import javafx.beans.value.ObservableValue;
import javafx.event.ActionEvent;
import javafx.event.EventHandler;
import javafx.fxml.FXML;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.TableCell;
import javafx.scene.control.TableColumn;
import javafx.scene.control.TableView;
import javafx.util.Callback;
public class Controller {
#FXML
private TableView<Order> ordersView;
private OrdersManager ordersManager;
public void initController() {
// other code above...
// init orders view table
initOrdersViewTable();
}
private void initOrdersViewTable() {
// create other columns. Removed as not important
//Insert Button
TableColumn<Order, String> actionCol = new TableColumn<>("Action");
actionCol.setSortable(false);
actionCol.setCellValueFactory(
new Callback<TableColumn.CellDataFeatures<Order, String>, ObservableValue<String>>() {
#Override
public ObservableValue<String> call(TableColumn.CellDataFeatures<Order, String> p) {
return new SimpleStringProperty(p.getValue().getId()); //order.id is used as cell value
}
});
actionCol.setCellFactory(
new Callback<TableColumn<Order, String>, TableCell<Order, String>>() {
#Override
public TableCell<Order, String> call(TableColumn<Order, String> p) {
ButtonCell buttonCell = new ButtonCell();
// HOW TO BIND TO Order.action stringProperty ???
//buttonCell.textProperty().bind(???);
return buttonCell;
}
});
ordersView.setItems(ordersManager.getOrdersView());
ordersView.getColumns().addAll(actionCol);
}
//Define the button cell
private class ButtonCell extends TableCell<Order, String> {
final Button cellButton = new Button();
ButtonCell(){
cellButton.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>(){
#Override
public void handle(ActionEvent t) {
String id = getItem(); // it will be order.id
String action = cellButton.getText(); // it's actually will be order.action field
// orderManager.doSomethingWithIdandAction
}
});
}
//Display button if the row is not empty
#Override
protected void updateItem(String t, boolean empty) {
super.updateItem(t, empty);
if (!empty) {
setGraphic(cellButton);
}
}
}
public void setOrdersManager(OrdersManager ordersManager) {
this.ordersManager = ordersManager;
}
}
UPDATE after James_D answer:
was suggested too put into ButtonCell constructor:
cellButton.textProperty().bind(itemProperty());
itemProperty() returns value associated with cell so to make solution work I had to modify CellValueFactory (need to set action field as cell value)
actionCol.setCellValueFactory(
new Callback<TableColumn.CellDataFeatures<Order, String>, ObservableValue<String>>() {
#Override
public ObservableValue<String> call(TableColumn.CellDataFeatures<Order, String> p) {
return p.getValue().actionProperty();
}
});
Next required change is to update button's handle method. So now it is:
cellButton.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>(){
#Override
public void handle(ActionEvent t) {
String id = ((Order) getTableRow().getItem()).getId(); // it will be order.id
String action = getItem(); // it's actually will be order.action field
// orderManager.doSomethingWithIdandAction
}
});

In the ButtonCell constructor, just do
cellButton.textProperty().bind(itemProperty());

Programmatically change the TableView row appearance

After doing a Oracle tutorial about the TableView, I was wondering if there's a way to programmatically apply different CSS style to the selected TableView row. For example, user selects a certain row, clicks the "Highlight" button and the selected row gets brown background, white text fill, etc. I've read the JavaFX tableview colors, Updating TableView row appearance and Background with 2 colors in JavaFX?, but to no avail =/
Here's the source:
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleStringProperty;
import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
import javafx.event.ActionEvent;
import javafx.event.EventHandler;
import javafx.geometry.Insets;
import javafx.scene.Group;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.control.TableColumn;
import javafx.scene.control.TableView;
import javafx.scene.control.cell.PropertyValueFactory;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.scene.text.Font;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class TableViewSample extends Application {
private TableView<Person> table = new TableView<Person>();
private final ObservableList<Person> data =
FXCollections.observableArrayList(
new Person("Jacob", "Smith", "jacob.smith#example.com"),
new Person("Isabella", "Johnson", "isabella.johnson#example.com"),
new Person("Ethan", "Williams", "ethan.williams#example.com"),
new Person("Emma", "Jones", "emma.jones#example.com"),
new Person("Michael", "Brown", "michael.brown#example.com")
);
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
#Override
public void start(Stage stage) {
Scene scene = new Scene(new Group());
stage.setTitle("Table View Sample");
stage.setWidth(450);
stage.setHeight(600);
final Label label = new Label("Address Book");
label.setFont(new Font("Arial", 20));
TableColumn firstNameCol = new TableColumn("First Name");
firstNameCol.setMinWidth(100);
firstNameCol.setCellValueFactory(
new PropertyValueFactory<Person, String>("firstName"));
TableColumn lastNameCol = new TableColumn("Last Name");
lastNameCol.setMinWidth(100);
lastNameCol.setCellValueFactory(
new PropertyValueFactory<Person, String>("lastName"));
TableColumn emailCol = new TableColumn("Email");
emailCol.setMinWidth(200);
emailCol.setCellValueFactory(
new PropertyValueFactory<Person, String>("email"));
table.setItems(data);
table.getColumns().addAll(firstNameCol, lastNameCol, emailCol);
final Button btnHighlight = new Button("Highlight selected row");
btnHighlight.setMaxWidth(Double.MAX_VALUE);
btnHighlight.setPrefHeight(30);
btnHighlight.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>(){
public void handle(ActionEvent e){
// this is where the CSS should be applied
}
});
final VBox vbox = new VBox();
vbox.setSpacing(5);
vbox.setPadding(new Insets(10, 0, 0, 10));
vbox.getChildren().addAll(label, table, btnHighlight);
((Group) scene.getRoot()).getChildren().addAll(vbox);
stage.setScene(scene);
stage.show();
}
public static class Person {
private final SimpleStringProperty firstName;
private final SimpleStringProperty lastName;
private final SimpleStringProperty email;
private Person(String fName, String lName, String email) {
this.firstName = new SimpleStringProperty(fName);
this.lastName = new SimpleStringProperty(lName);
this.email = new SimpleStringProperty(email);
}
public String getFirstName() {
return firstName.get();
}
public void setFirstName(String fName) {
firstName.set(fName);
}
public String getLastName() {
return lastName.get();
}
public void setLastName(String fName) {
lastName.set(fName);
}
public String getEmail() {
return email.get();
}
public void setEmail(String fName) {
email.set(fName);
}
}
}
And the application.css from which the "Highlight selected row" button applies the highlightedRow class to the selected table row:
.highlightedRow {
-fx-background-color: brown;
-fx-background-insets: 0, 1, 2;
-fx-background: -fx-accent;
-fx-text-fill: -fx-selection-bar-text;
}
Edit:
After several hours of trying, the best thing I could come up is this using the code below:
firstNameCol.setCellFactory(new Callback<TableColumn<Person, String>, TableCell<Person, String>>() {
#Override
public TableCell<Person, String> call(TableColumn<Person, String> personStringTableColumn) {
return new TableCell<Person, String>() {
#Override
protected void updateItem(String name, boolean empty) {
super.updateItem(name, empty);
if (!empty) {
if (name.toLowerCase().startsWith("e") || name.toLowerCase().startsWith("i")) {
getStyleClass().add("highlightedRow");
}
setText(name);
} else {
setText("empty"); // for debugging purposes
}
}
};
}
});
The part I don't really understand is why I can't do that from inside the setOnAction method of the btnHighlight? I also tried refreshing the table afterwards (described here), but it didn't seem to work. Also, my "solution" only works for the firstNameCol column, so does one have to set new cell factory for each column in order to apply a certain style, or is there a smarter solution?

Edit: Updated version of this (old) post is at https://stackoverflow.com/a/73764770/2189127
If you don't want the reusability of the solution I posted here, this is really the same thing but using an anonymous inner class for the row factory instead of a standalone class. Perhaps the code is easier to follow as it's all in one place. It's kind of a hybrid between Jonathan's solution and mine, but will automatically update the highlights without forcing it with a sort.
I used a list of integers so it supports multiple selection, but if you don't need that you could obviously just use an IntegerProperty instead.
Here's the row factory:
final ObservableList<Integer> highlightRows = FXCollections.observableArrayList();
table.setRowFactory(new Callback<TableView<Person>, TableRow<Person>>() {
#Override
public TableRow<Person> call(TableView<Person> tableView) {
final TableRow<Person> row = new TableRow<Person>() {
#Override
protected void updateItem(Person person, boolean empty){
super.updateItem(person, empty);
if (highlightRows.contains(getIndex())) {
if (! getStyleClass().contains("highlightedRow")) {
getStyleClass().add("highlightedRow");
}
} else {
getStyleClass().removeAll(Collections.singleton("highlightedRow"));
}
}
};
highlightRows.addListener(new ListChangeListener<Integer>() {
#Override
public void onChanged(Change<? extends Integer> change) {
if (highlightRows.contains(row.getIndex())) {
if (! row.getStyleClass().contains("highlightedRow")) {
row.getStyleClass().add("highlightedRow");
}
} else {
row.getStyleClass().removeAll(Collections.singleton("highlightedRow"));
}
}
});
return row;
}
});
And here are what some buttons might look like:
final Button btnHighlight = new Button("Highlight");
btnHighlight.disableProperty().bind(Bindings.isEmpty(table.getSelectionModel().getSelectedIndices()));
btnHighlight.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
#Override
public void handle(ActionEvent event) {
highlightRows.setAll(table.getSelectionModel().getSelectedIndices());
}
});
final Button btnClearHighlight = new Button("Clear Highlights");
btnClearHighlight.disableProperty().bind(Bindings.isEmpty(highlightRows));
btnClearHighlight.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
#Override
public void handle(ActionEvent event) {
highlightRows.clear();
}
});

How about creating a row factory which exposes an observable list of the indexes of table rows which are to be highlighted? That way you can simply update the list with the indexes you need to highlight: for example by calling the getSelectedIndices() on the selection model and passing it to the list's setAll(...) method.
This could look something like:
import java.util.Collections;
import javafx.beans.value.ChangeListener;
import javafx.beans.value.ObservableValue;
import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.collections.ListChangeListener;
import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
import javafx.scene.control.TableRow;
import javafx.scene.control.TableView;
import javafx.util.Callback;
public class StyleChangingRowFactory<T> implements
Callback<TableView<T>, TableRow<T>> {
private final String styleClass ;
private final ObservableList<Integer> styledRowIndices ;
private final Callback<TableView<T>, TableRow<T>> baseFactory ;
public StyleChangingRowFactory(String styleClass, Callback<TableView<T>, TableRow<T>> baseFactory) {
this.styleClass = styleClass ;
this.baseFactory = baseFactory ;
this.styledRowIndices = FXCollections.observableArrayList();
}
public StyleChangingRowFactory(String styleClass) {
this(styleClass, null);
}
#Override
public TableRow<T> call(TableView<T> tableView) {
final TableRow<T> row ;
if (baseFactory == null) {
row = new TableRow<>();
} else {
row = baseFactory.call(tableView);
}
row.indexProperty().addListener(new ChangeListener<Number>() {
#Override
public void changed(ObservableValue<? extends Number> obs,
Number oldValue, Number newValue) {
updateStyleClass(row);
}
});
styledRowIndices.addListener(new ListChangeListener<Integer>() {
#Override
public void onChanged(Change<? extends Integer> change) {
updateStyleClass(row);
}
});
return row;
}
public ObservableList<Integer> getStyledRowIndices() {
return styledRowIndices ;
}
private void updateStyleClass(TableRow<T> row) {
final ObservableList<String> rowStyleClasses = row.getStyleClass();
if (styledRowIndices.contains(row.getIndex()) ) {
if (! rowStyleClasses.contains(styleClass)) {
rowStyleClasses.add(styleClass);
}
} else {
// remove all occurrences of styleClass:
rowStyleClasses.removeAll(Collections.singleton(styleClass));
}
}
}
Now you can do
final StyleChangingRowFactory<Person> rowFactory = new StyleChangingRowFactory<>("highlightedRow");
table.setRowFactory(rowFactory);
And in your button's action handler do
rowFactory.getStyledRowIndices().setAll(table.getSelectionModel().getSelectedIndices());
Because StyleChangingRowFactory wraps another row factory, you can still use it if you already have a custom row factory implementation you want to use. For example:
final StyleChangingRowFactory<Person> rowFactory = new StyleChangingRowFactory<Person>(
"highlightedRow",
new Callback<TableView<Person>, TableRow<Person>>() {
#Override
public TableRow<Person> call(TableView<Person> tableView) {
final TableRow<Person> row = new TableRow<Person>();
ContextMenu menu = new ContextMenu();
MenuItem removeMenuItem = new MenuItem("Remove");
removeMenuItem.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
#Override
public void handle(ActionEvent event) {
table.getItems().remove(row.getItem());
}
});
menu.getItems().add(removeMenuItem);
row.contextMenuProperty().bind(
Bindings.when(row.emptyProperty())
.then((ContextMenu) null)
.otherwise(menu));
return row;
}
});
table.setRowFactory(rowFactory);
Here is a complete code example.

Here's an ugly hack solution. Firstly, define an int field called highlightedRow. Then set a row factory on the TableView:
table.setRowFactory(new Callback<TableView<Person>, TableRow<Person>>() {
#Override public TableRow<Person> call(TableView<Person> param) {
return new TableRow<Person>() {
#Override protected void updateItem(Person item, boolean empty) {
super.updateItem(item, empty);
if (getIndex() == highlightedRow) {
getStyleClass().add("highlightedRow");
} else {
getStyleClass().remove("highlightedRow");
}
}
};
}
});
Then add the following code in your button on action (and this is where the ugly hack comes into play):
btnHighlight.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>(){
public void handle(ActionEvent e){
// set the highlightedRow integer to the selection index
highlightedRow = table.getSelectionModel().getSelectedIndex();
// force a tableview refresh - HACK
List<Person> items = new ArrayList<>(table.getItems());
table.getItems().setAll(items);
}
});
Once that is done, you get the brown highlight on the selected row. You could of course easily support multiple brown highlights by replacing the int with a list of itns.

The best way I find to do this:
In my CSS
.table-row-cell:feederChecked{
-fx-background-color: #06FF00;
}
In my table initialization with a SimpleBooleanProperty of an Object content in my ObservableList:
// The pseudo classes feederChecked that were defined in the css file.
PseudoClass feederChecked = PseudoClass.getPseudoClass("feederChecked");
// Set a rowFactory for the table view.
tableView.setRowFactory(tableView -> {
TableRow<Feeder> row = new TableRow<>();
ChangeListener<Boolean> changeListener = (obs, oldFeeder, newFeeder) -> {
row.pseudoClassStateChanged(feederChecked, newFeeder);
};
row.itemProperty().addListener((obs, previousFeeder, currentFeeder) -> {
if (previousFeeder != null) {
previousFeeder.feederCheckedProperty().removeListener(changeListener);
}
if (currentFeeder != null) {
currentFeeder.feederCheckedProperty().addListener(changeListener);
row.pseudoClassStateChanged(feederChecked, currentFeeder.getFeederChecked());
} else {
row.pseudoClassStateChanged(feederChecked, false);
}
});
return row;
});
Code adapting from this complete exemple

I might have found something that works:
With this code added, if you press the button the highlighted row changes color, when you select a different row the color changes back to default, when you press the button again, it changes the color of the new row to brown.
final String css = getClass().getResource("style.css").toExternalForm();
final Scene scene = new Scene(new Group());
btnHighlight.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
#Override
public void handle(ActionEvent e) {
scene.getStylesheets().add(css);
}
});
table.getSelectionModel().selectedIndexProperty()
.addListener(new ChangeListener<Number>() {
#Override
public void changed(ObservableValue<? extends Number> ov, Number t, Number t1) {
scene.getStylesheets().remove(css);
}
});
css:
.table-row-cell:selected
{
-fx-background-color: brown;
-fx-text-inner-color: white;
}
Only problem with this solution is that if you press the button twice in a row, your next row selected is already brown. You would have to use a seperate css file for this, else at startup of the application no css rules would be applied untill you press the button.

I found that the best solution would be to listen for row.itemProperty() changes because when you sort for example the rows change indexes, so rows get notified automatically.