How to set selected index JComboBox by value

Question

I want to set the selected index in a JComboBox by the value not the index. How to do that? Example

public class ComboItem {

    private String value;
    private String label;

    public ComboItem(String value, String label) {
        this.value = value;
        this.label = label;
    }

    public String getValue() {
        return this.value;
    }

    public String getLabel() {
        return this.label;
    }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return label;
    }
}

JComboBox test = new JComboBox();
test.addItem(new ComboItem(0, "orange"));
test.addItem(new ComboItem(1, "pear"));
test.addItem(new ComboItem(2, "apple"));
test.addItem(new ComboItem(3, "banana"));
test.setSelectedItem("banana");

Ok, I have modified my question a bit. I forgot that i have a custom item inside my JComboBox that makes it a bit more difficult. i cant do setSelectedItem as i have a ComboItem inside each item. So still, how do i get this done?

Balaton

dont use wrapper items. Instead implement a custom ListCellRenderer which does the mapping of the component to its string representation – Gallipot

Answer 1

setSelectedItem("banana"). You could have found it yourself by just reading the javadoc.

Edit: since you changed the question, I'll change my answer.

If you want to select the item having the "banana" label, then you have two solutions:

1. Iterate through the items to find the one (or the index of the one) which has the given label, and then call setSelectedItem(theFoundItem) (or setSelectedIndex(theFoundIndex))
2. Override equals and hashCode in ComboItem so that two ComboItem instances having the same name are equal, and simply use setSelectedItem(new ComboItem(anyNumber, "banana"));

Purcell

Im sorry that i missed that obvious function, but i have updated my question as I forgot that i dont have "normal" items in my combobox – Balaton

Answer 2

You should use model

comboBox.getModel().setSelectedItem(object);

Exclosure

this is the correct answer. it also obviates the looping construct others have suggested. – Swainson

Answer 3

public static void setSelectedValue(JComboBox comboBox, int value)
    {
        ComboItem item;
        for (int i = 0; i < comboBox.getItemCount(); i++)
        {
            item = (ComboItem)comboBox.getItemAt(i);
            if (item.getValue().equalsIgnoreCase(value))
            {
                comboBox.setSelectedIndex(i);
                break;
            }
        }
    }

Hope this help :)

Alfreda

Helps a lot! Thanks! – Cassowary

Answer 4

Why not take a collection, likely a Map such as a HashMap, and use it as the nucleus of your own combo box model class that implements the ComboBoxModel interface? Then you could access your combo box's items easily via their key Strings rather than ints.

For instance...

import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

import javax.swing.ComboBoxModel;
import javax.swing.event.ListDataListener;

public class MyComboModel<K, V>   implements ComboBoxModel {
   private Map<K, V> nucleus = new HashMap<K, V>();

   // ... any constructors that you want would go here

   public void put(K key, V value) {
      nucleus.put(key, value);
   }

   public V get(K key) {
      return nucleus.get(key);
   }

   @Override
   public void addListDataListener(ListDataListener arg0) {
      // TODO Auto-generated method stub

   }

   // ... plus all the other methods required by the interface
}

Martijn

Answer 5

for example

import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JComboBox;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;

public class ComboboxExample {

    private JFrame frame = new JFrame("Test");
    private JComboBox comboBox = new JComboBox();

    public ComboboxExample() {
        createGui();
    }

    private void createGui() {
        comboBox.addItem("One");
        comboBox.addItem("Two");
        comboBox.addItem("Three");
        JButton button = new JButton("Show Selected");
        button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {

            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frame, "Selected item: " + comboBox.getSelectedItem());
                javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

                    @Override
                    public void run() {
                        comboBox.requestFocus();
                        comboBox.requestFocusInWindow();
                    }
                });
            }
        });
        JButton button1 = new JButton("Append Items");
        button1.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {

            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                appendCbItem();
            }
        });
        JButton button2 = new JButton("Reduce Items");
        button2.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {

            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                reduceCbItem();
            }
        });
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setLayout(new GridLayout(4, 1));
        frame.add(comboBox);
        frame.add(button);
        frame.add(button1);
        frame.add(button2);
        frame.setLocation(200, 200);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
        selectFirstItem();
    }

    public void appendCbItem() {
        javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                comboBox.addItem("Four");
                comboBox.addItem("Five");
                comboBox.addItem("Six");
                comboBox.setSelectedItem("Six");
                requestCbFocus();
            }
        });
    }

    public void reduceCbItem() {
        javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                comboBox.removeItem("Four");
                comboBox.removeItem("Five");
                comboBox.removeItem("Six");
                selectFirstItem();
            }
        });
    }

    public void selectFirstItem() {
        javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                comboBox.setSelectedIndex(0);
                requestCbFocus();
            }
        });
    }

    public void requestCbFocus() {
        javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                comboBox.requestFocus();
                comboBox.requestFocusInWindow();
            }
        });
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                ComboboxExample comboboxExample = new ComboboxExample();
            }
        });
    }
}

Tiffin

Answer 6

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/javax/swing/JComboBox.html#setSelectedItem(java.lang.Object)

test.setSelectedItem("banana");

There are some caveats or potentially unexpected behavior as explained in the javadoc. Make sure to read that.

Crites

Answer 7

The right way to set an item selected when the combobox is populated by some class' constructor (as @milosz posted):

combobox.getModel().setSelectedItem(new ClassName(parameter1, parameter2));

In your case the code would be:

test.getModel().setSelectedItem(new ComboItem(3, "banana"));

Diver

Answer 8

Just call comboBox.updateUI() after doing comboBox.setSelectedItem or comboBox.setSelectedIndex or comboModel.setSelectedItem

Waddell

Could you please elaborate more your answer adding a little more description about the solution you provide? – Sundown

Answer 9

public boolean  preencherjTextCombox (){
       int x = Integer.parseInt(TableModelo.getModel().getValueAt(TableModelo.getSelectedRow(),0).toString());

       modeloobj = modelosDAO.pesquisar(x);
       Combmarcass.getModel().setSelectedItem(modeloobj.getMarca());  
       txtCodigo.setText(String.valueOf(modeloobj.getCodigo()));
       txtDescricao.setText(String.valueOf(modeloobj.getDescricao()));
       txtPotencia.setText(String.valueOf(modeloobj.getPotencia()));  

       return true;
   }

Qualm

Answer 10

In my case build class Item(key, value) as item of combobox

SanPhamDTO currentProd = prodDao.getDetailById(id);
Item item = new Item(currentProd.getCategory().getId(), 
currentProd.getCategory().getName());
cbdanhmuc.getModel().setSelectedItem(item)

Muggy