Package org.jdesktop.swingx.autocomplete

Contains classes to enable automatic completion for JComboBox and other components.

See:
Description

Class Summary

AbstractAutoCompleteAdaptor	This is the interface that binds the mechanism for automatic completion to a data model, a selection model (e.g. those used by JList, JComboBox and JTable) and the JTextComponent for which the automatic completion should happen.
AutoCompleteDecorator	This class contains only static utility methods that can be used to set up automatic completion for some Swing components.
AutoCompleteDocument	A document that can be plugged into any JTextComponent to enable automatic completion.
ComboBoxAdaptor	An implementation of the AbstractAutoCompleteAdaptor that is suitable for JComboBox.
ComboBoxCellEditor	This is a cell editor that can be used when a combo box (that has been set up for automatic completion) is to be used in a JTable.
ListAdaptor	An implementation of the AbstractAutoCompleteAdaptor that is suitable for a JList in conjunction with a JTextComponent.

Package org.jdesktop.swingx.autocomplete Description

Contains classes to enable automatic completion for JComboBox and other components.

The automatic completion feature allows the user to enter a few characters using the keyboard - meanwhile, the computer "guesses" what the user intents to enter. Take a look at the example below to get an idea of the resulting user experience. Suppose the user types 'J','O','R' and 'G'...

The easiest way to get automatic completion for a component is to use the AutoCompleteDecorator.

Enabling automatic completion for e.g. a JComboBox is only one line of code:

import org.jdesktop.swingx.autocomplete.AutoCompleteDecorator;
[...]
JComboBox comboBox = [...];
AutoCompleteDecorator.decorate(comboBox);

When the combo box is not editable when calling decorate, the automatic completion will be strict (only allowing items contained in the combo box). When the combo box is editable it will also be possible to enter items that are not contained in the combo box.

Take care when enabling automatic completion for a JComboBox that is used as the cell editor for a JTable. You need to use the special ComboBoxCellEditor instead of the standard DefaultCellEditor:

JTable table = [...];
JComboBox comboBox = [...];
[...]
TableColumn column = table.getColumnModel().getColumn([...]);
column.setCellEditor(new ComboBoxCellEditor(comboBox));

If you want to enable automatic completion for a component that is not supported by the AutoCompleteDecorator, you need to implement AbstractAutoCompleteAdaptor. For an example see ComboBoxAdaptor and ListAdaptor.

The automatic completion works only for subclasses of JTextComponent. So you either use a component that contains a JTextComponent (e.g. JComboBox) or you connect a JTextComponent with another component (e.g. a JTextField and a JList). Of course, it's also possible to enable automatic completion for a JTextComponent without another visual component.

Once you have a custom implementation of AbstractAutoCompleteAdaptor, you normally would only have to make three more calls:

AbstractAutoCompleteAdaptor adaptor = new YourAdaptor([...]);
AutoCompleteDocument document = new AutoCompleteDocument(adaptor, true); // or false if you need non-strict matching
AutoCompleteDecorator.decorate(yourTextComponent, document, adaptor);