How do I customize a JSplitPane divider and maintain one-touch arrow functionality?

Question

So, my problem boils down to this... The default dividers are kind of ugly, plus I would like to add a label to it (in the I-want-text-on-it sense, not in the "adding a JLabel to its layout" sense). I see that you can change the border on the split pane divider, but when I do that, it removes the one-touch arrows, which I want to keep around.

Any thoughts on how I can have both?

Here's a SSCCE that demonstrates both the default behavior and what happens when I change the divider border:

import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicSplitPaneDivider;
import javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicSplitPaneUI;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

public class SplitPaneFun {
public static void main(String[] args) {

        //Here I'm messing around with the divider look. This seems to remove the one-touch arrows.  These blocked-out lines illustrate
        // what I'm doing to modify the divider's border.  Does this look right?:
    //------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    JSplitPane withCustomDivider = new JSplitPane(JSplitPane.VERTICAL_SPLIT, new JPanel(), new JPanel());
    BasicSplitPaneDivider divider = ( (BasicSplitPaneUI) withCustomDivider.getUI()).getDivider();
    withCustomDivider.setOneTouchExpandable(true);
    divider.setDividerSize(15);
    divider.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder(divider.getBorder(), "Custom border title -- gets rid of the one-touch arrows!"));
    //------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

        //build a different splitpane with the default look and behavior just for comparison
    JSplitPane withDefaultDivider = new JSplitPane(JSplitPane.VERTICAL_SPLIT, new JPanel(), new JPanel());
    withDefaultDivider.setOneTouchExpandable(true);

        //slap it all together and show it...
    CardLayout splitsLayout = new CardLayout();
    final JPanel splits = new JPanel(splitsLayout);
    splits.add(withCustomDivider, "custom");
    splits.add(withDefaultDivider,"default");

    JButton toggle = new JButton( "click to see the other split pane");
    toggle.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
        @Override
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            ((CardLayout)splits.getLayout()).next(splits);
        }
    });

    JFrame frame = new JFrame("Split Pane Divider Comparison");
     frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
    frame.add(splits, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    frame.add(toggle, BorderLayout.PAGE_END);
    frame.setSize(600,500);
    frame.setVisible(true);
}
}

Botulin

+1 for sscce. – Bumbledom

Can you put the titled border in the split pane's content? – Bumbledom

Yeah, in regards to the label, I could. I'd still like a way to change the way the divider looks without getting rid of the one-touch arrows though. – Botulin

Ah, you want the label to be visible when either pane is one-touch closed. As @mKorbel notes, that will require a new BasicSplitPaneDivider. It's not a solution, but setDividerSize(50) lets the one-touch controls show. You can add(new Label(...)), too. – Bumbledom

aaach if you want to Big Fun then you can to use SwingUtils by Darryl Burke, all visible elements could be accessible, but again you have to know from which (J)Components are built concrete visual element – Alcala

Answer 1

I see that you can change the border on the split pane divider, but when I do that, it removes the one-touch arrows, which I want to keep around.

• all these methods is possible to override the events from Mouse(Xxx)Listener, PropertyChangeListener and ButtonModel, nothing better around as Substance SubstanceSplitPaneDivider

• part of Custom Look and Feels override these methods too

Alcala

+1 for considering the UI delegate; nothing easier comes to mind. – Bumbledom

@Bumbledom thanks Fridays_Flame_War why bothering with Custom L&F, for example (crazy) Nimbus very well to override output to the screen from big three dinosauruses JTabbedPane, JSlider and JSplitPane :-) – Alcala

I've seen some user resistance to forcing a particular L&F, but Nimbus is generally well accepted. – Bumbledom