Add ActionListener to Column Header of JTable

Question

Is it possible to add an ActionListener to a column header for JTable.

Here is my table

Now, I want to add an ActionListener to the column headers (e.g. WQE, SDM) I would like to be able to show the column description in another window.

Utham

See also this Q&A. – Barriebarrientos

Answer 1

See fully working example below

• add a MouseListener to the column header
• use table.columnAtPoint() to find out which column header was clicked

Code:

// example table with 2 cols
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
final JTable table = new JTable(new DefaultTableModel(new String[] {
        "foo", "bar" }, 2));
frame.getContentPane().setLayout(
        new BoxLayout(frame.getContentPane(), BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
frame.getContentPane().add(table.getTableHeader());
frame.getContentPane().add(table);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);

// listener
table.getTableHeader().addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter() {
    @Override
    public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
        int col = table.columnAtPoint(e.getPoint());
        String name = table.getColumnName(col);
        System.out.println("Column index selected " + col + " " + name);
    }
});

Marrs

+1 This is the approach suggested in the tutorial and illustrated here. – Barriebarrientos

great! i never realized that the event mouseclicked on header is better than the events on table.:D – Erose

Answer 2

Yes it is Possible. You can add Mouse Event Both on the Column headers and cells Like this:

private class MyMouseAdapter extends MouseAdapter {

    public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {

        if (table.equals(e.getSource())) {

            int colIdx = table.columnAtPoint(e.getPoint());
            int rowIdx = table.rowAtPoint(e.getPoint());
Object obj = table.getModel().getValueAt(rowIdx, colIdx) ;//This gets the value in the cells
           String str = obj.toString();//This converts that Value to String
           JTextField somefield = new JTextField();//Choose a JTextField
           somefield.setText(str);//Populates the Clicked value to the JTextField

            System.out.println("Row: " + rowIdx + " " + "Colulmn: " + colIdx);
        }
        else if (header.equals(e.getSource())) {

            int selectedColumnIdx = header.columnAtPoint(e.getPoint());
            String colName = table.getColumnName(header.columnAtPoint(e.getPoint()));

            System.out.println("Column Name: " + colName);
            System.out.println("Selected Column: " + selectedColumnIdx);
        }
    }
}

Fix the Sample Code to Suit Your Taste and Preference;

Fanaticize

Better to use a ListSelectionListener on the table itself. The header listener repeats @Adam's much earlier answer. – Barriebarrientos