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Advanced JIDE Property Grids

Posted By Yair Altman On April 21, 2010 | 54 Comments

Once again, I would like to welcome guest blogger Levente Hunyadi [1].

Non-standard property renderers and editors

Last week, I discussed JIDE’s property table and showed how we can add custom properties and present this table in our Matlab GUI. Today, I will extend the previous week’s example to include more sophisticated renderers and editors.
Cell renderers and editors [2] are the backbone of JTable implementations, JIDE’s property grid included. Each property is associated with a type, and a renderer and an editor may be registered for a type. The cell renderer controls how the property value is displayed, while the editor determines how it is edited. For example, flags (Java Booleans) are often both rendered and edited using a checkbox, but can also use a text renderer with a combo-box editor. PropertyTable automatically assigns a default renderer and editor to each property, based on its type: Flags are assigned a combo-box editor of true/false values, and similarly for other types.
Let us now modify the preassigned editor. First, let’s set a checkbox [3] editor (BooleanCheckBoxCellEditor [4]) for flags and a spinner [5] for numbers:

% Initialize JIDE's usage within Matlab
com.mathworks.mwswing.MJUtilities.initJIDE;
% Prepare the properties list:
% First two logical values (flags)
list = java.util.ArrayList();
prop1 = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
prop1.setName('mylogical');
prop1.setType(javaclass('logical'));
prop1.setValue(true);
list.add(prop1);
prop2 = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
prop2.setName('mycheckbox');
prop2.setType(javaclass('logical'));
prop2.setValue(true);
prop2.setEditorContext(com.jidesoft.grid.BooleanCheckBoxCellEditor.CONTEXT);
list.add(prop2);
% Now integers (note the different way to set property values):
prop3 = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
javatype = javaclass('int32');
set(prop3,'Name','myinteger','Type',javatype,'Value',int32(1));
list.add(prop3);
prop4 = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
set(prop4,'Name','myspinner','Type',javatype,'Value',int32(1));
set(prop4,'EditorContext',com.jidesoft.grid.SpinnerCellEditor.CONTEXT);
list.add(prop4);
% Prepare a properties table containing the list
model = com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyTableModel(list);
model.expandAll();
grid = com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyTable(model);
pane = com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyPane(grid);
% Display the properties pane onscreen
hFig = figure;
panel = uipanel(hFig);
javacomponent(pane, [0 0 200 200], panel);

A property grid with checkbox and spinner controls
A property grid with checkbox and spinner controls

Notice how the EditorContext is used to specify a non-standard renderer/editor for myspinner and mycheckbox: The mylogical flag displays as a string label, while mycheckbox displays as a checkbox; myinteger uses a regular integer editor that accepts whole numbers, while myspinner uses a spinner control to modify the value.
Note that instead of creating an entirely new properties list and table, we could have run last week’s example, modified list and then simply called model.refresh() to update the display.
Also note that Matlab types are automatically converted to Java types, but we must be careful that the results of the conversion should match our setType declaration. The logical value true converts to java.lang.Boolean, but 1 by default would be a double, which is the standard numeric type in Matlab. The int32 wrapper is needed to force a conversion to a java.lang.Integer.
Spinners with indefinite value bounds are seldom useful. The following shows how to register a new editor to restrict values to a fixed range. Remember to unregister the editor when it is no longer used:

javatype = javaclass('int32');
value  = int32(0);
minVal = int32(-2);
maxVal = int32(5);
step   = int32(1);
spinner = javax.swing.SpinnerNumberModel(value, minVal, maxVal, step);
editor = com.jidesoft.grid.SpinnerCellEditor(spinner);
context = com.jidesoft.grid.EditorContext('spinnereditor');
com.jidesoft.grid.CellEditorManager.registerEditor(javatype, editor, context);
prop = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
set(prop, 'Name','myspinner', 'Type',javatype, ...
          'Value',int32(1), 'EditorContext',context);
% [do something useful here...]
com.jidesoft.grid.CellEditorManager.unregisterEditor(javatype, context);

The principle is the same for combo-boxes [6]:

javatype = javaclass('char', 1);
options = {'spring', 'summer', 'fall', 'winter'};
editor = com.jidesoft.grid.ListComboBoxCellEditor(options);
context = com.jidesoft.grid.EditorContext('comboboxeditor');
com.jidesoft.grid.CellEditorManager.registerEditor(javatype, editor, context);
prop = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
set(prop, 'Name','season', 'Type',javatype, ...
          'Value','spring', 'EditorContext',context);
% [do something useful here...]
com.jidesoft.grid.CellEditorManager.unregisterEditor(javatype, context);

A property grid with a combobox control
A property grid with a combobox control

Nested properties

Properties can act as a parent node for other properties. A typical example is an object’s dimensions: a parent node value may be edited as a 2-by-1 matrix, but width and height may also be exposed individually. Nested properties are created as regular properties. However, rather than adding them directly to a PropertyTableModel, they are added under a Property instance using its addChild method:

propdimensions = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
propdimensions.setName('dimensions');
propdimensions.setEditable(false);
propwidth = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
propwidth.setName('width');
propwidth.setType(javaclass('int32'));
propwidth.setValue(int32(100));
propdimensions.addChild(propwidth);
propheight = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
propheight.setName('height');
propheight.setType(javaclass('int32'));
propheight.setValue(int32(100));
propdimensions.addChild(propheight);

A property grid with nested property
A property grid with nested property

PropertyTableModel accesses properties in a hierarchical naming scheme. This means that the parts of nested properties are separated with a dot (.). In the above example, these two fully-qualified names are dimensions.width and dimensions.height.

Trapping property change events

Sometimes it is desirable to subscribe to the PropertyChange event. This event is fired by PropertyTableModel whenever any property value is updated. To expose Java events to Matlab, we use the two-parameter form of the handle function with the optional CallbackProperties parameter.

hModel = handle(model, 'CallbackProperties');
set(hModel, 'PropertyChangeCallback', @callback_onPropertyChange);

The callback function receives two input arguments: The first is the PropertyTableModel object that fired the event, the second is a PropertyChangeEvent object with properties PropertyName, OldValue and NewValue. The PropertyTableModel‘s getProperty(PropertyName) method may be used to fetch the Property instance that has changed.
Callbacks enable property value validation: OldValue can be used to restore the original property value, if NewValue fails to meet some criteria that cannot be programmed into the cell editor. We may, for instance, set the property type to a string; then, in our callback function, use str2num as a validator to try to convert NewValue to a numeric matrix. If the conversion fails, we restore the OldValue:

function callback_onPropertyChange(model, event)
   string = event.getNewValue();
   [value, isvalid] = str2num(string); %#ok
   prop = model.getProperty(event.getPropertyName());
   if isvalid  % standardize value entered
      string = mat2str(value);
   else  % restore previous value
      string = event.getOldValue();
   end
   prop.setValue(string);
   model.refresh();  % refresh value onscreen

The JIDE packages that are pre-bundled in Matlab contain numerous other useful classes. Some of these will be described in future articles.

Categories: Guest bloggers, GUI, Java, Medium risk of breaking in future versions, Undocumented feature


54 Comments (Open | Close)

54 Comments To "Advanced JIDE Property Grids"

#1 Comment By Jason McMains On April 28, 2010 @ 11:57

Levente,
Using your example with width and height, is there a way to reflect the change of one of those properties in the dimension field? for example, have the dimensions field read [100 100]?

Thanks
Jason

#2 Comment By Yair Altman On April 29, 2010 @ 00:49

@Jason – of course: First, set the parent property’s initial value:

propdimensions.setValue('[100,100]')

Next, set a callback on the model’s PropertyChange event:

hModel = handle(model, 'CallbackProperties');
set(hModel, 'PropertyChangeCallback', @onPropertyChangeFcn);

And in this callback function, update the parent’s value whenever one of its child values changes:

function onPropertyChangeFcn(model, event)
  propName = event.getPropertyName;
  switch propName
    case {'dimensions.width', 'dimensions.height'}
      newWidth   = model.getProperty('dimensions.width').getValue;
      newHeight  = model.getProperty('dimensions.height').getValue;
      parentProp = model.getProperty(propName).getParent;
      parentProp.setValue(sprintf('[%d,%d]',newWidth,newHeight));
    otherwise
      % Some other property has changed...
  end
  model.refresh();  % refresh value onscreen

-Yair

#3 Comment By Parminder Singh On September 22, 2010 @ 07:48

How do you remove the “Misc” category?

#4 Comment By Yair Altman On September 23, 2010 @ 13:42

@Praminder –
‘Misc’ is the default category. You can set a different category name using the Category property or the setCategory() method, as follows:

propdimensions.setCategory('My selected category name');

-Yair

#5 Comment By Baudilio Valecillos On February 9, 2011 @ 02:35

Hello! Yair, congratulation on your blog, the best Matlab resource I have seen.

I do not know if this tread is too old, but here goes nothing.

I am trying to create a property editor, I found that when I create a dropdown menu and register the editor it does so for every combobox so the dropdown menus are the same for all controls even if at first render the value shown is valid.
A small example: (inspired by your examples)

% JIDE Table Example

% Initialize JIDE's usage within Matlab
com.mathworks.mwswing.MJUtilities.initJIDE;

% Property list
list = java.util.ArrayList();

% Type, select Fruit
prop1 = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
javatype = javaclass('char', 1);
options1 = {'Apple', 'Pear', 'Banana', 'Orange'};
editor1 = com.jidesoft.grid.ListComboBoxCellEditor(options1);
context1 = com.jidesoft.grid.EditorContext('comboboxeditor');
com.jidesoft.grid.CellEditorManager.registerEditor(javatype, editor1,context1);
set(prop1, 'Name','Fruit Type', 'Type',javatype, ...
    'Value','Apple', 'EditorContext',context1);
prop1.setCategory('Fruits');
set(prop1,'Description','Select the desert fruit type')
list.add(prop1);
% com.jidesoft.grid.CellEditorManager.unregisterEditor(javatype, context1);

% Type, select Fruit
prop2 = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
javatype = javaclass('char', 1);
options2 = {'Potato', 'Carrot', 'Tomato'};
editor2 = com.jidesoft.grid.ListComboBoxCellEditor(options2);
context2 = com.jidesoft.grid.EditorContext('comboboxeditor');
com.jidesoft.grid.CellEditorManager.registerEditor(javatype, editor2,context2);
set(prop2, 'Name','Vegetable Type', 'Type',javatype, ...
    'Value','Potato', 'EditorContext',context1);
prop2.setCategory('Vegetable');
set(prop2,'Description','Select the todays menu vegetable type.')
list.add(prop2);
%  com.jidesoft.grid.CellEditorManager.unregisterEditor(javatype, context2);

% Prepare a properties table containing the list
model = com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyTableModel(list);
model.expandAll();
grid = com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyTable(model);
pane = com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyPane(grid);

% Display on-screen
globalPanel = JPanel(BorderLayout);
globalPanel.add(pane, BorderLayout.CENTER);

% Placed on a java component panel so it can be dinamicaly resized.
Label = 'Property Inspector Table';
hFig = figure;   % existing uiinspector for this object not found - create a new figure
set(hFig, 'Name',Label, 'NumberTitle','off', 'units','pixel', 'menubar','none', 'toolbar','none');

pos = get(hFig,'position');
[obj, hcontainer] = javacomponent(globalPanel, [0,0,pos(3:4)], hFig);
set(hcontainer,'units','normalized');
drawnow;

The question is: how to have a proper dropdown list for each property?

Thanks Baudilio

#6 Comment By Baudilio Valecillos On February 9, 2011 @ 03:23

@everyone
Ok, problem solved. The name of the editor context is the one that determines which editor is used…
Fixed code:

% JIDE Table Example

% Initialize JIDE's usage within Matlab
com.mathworks.mwswing.MJUtilities.initJIDE;

% Property list
list = java.util.ArrayList();

% Type, select Fruit
prop1 = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
javatype = javaclass('char', 1);
options = {'Apple', 'Pear', 'Banana', 'Orange'};
editor = com.jidesoft.grid.ListComboBoxCellEditor(options);
context = com.jidesoft.grid.EditorContext('comboboxeditor1');
com.jidesoft.grid.CellEditorManager.registerEditor(javatype, editor,context);
set(prop1, 'Name','Fruit Type', 'Type',javatype, ...
    'Value','Apple', 'EditorContext',context);
prop1.setCategory('Fruits');
set(prop1,'Description','Select the desert fruit type')
list.add(prop1);
% com.jidesoft.grid.CellEditorManager.unregisterEditor(javatype, context1);

% Type, select Fruit
prop2 = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
javatype = javaclass('char', 1);
options = {'Potato', 'Carrot', 'Tomato'};
editor = com.jidesoft.grid.ListComboBoxCellEditor(options);
context = com.jidesoft.grid.EditorContext('comboboxeditor2');
com.jidesoft.grid.CellEditorManager.registerEditor(javatype, editor,context);
set(prop2, 'Name','Vegetable Type', 'Type',javatype, ...
    'Value','Potato', 'EditorContext',context);
prop2.setCategory('Vegetable');
set(prop2,'Description','Select the todays menu vegetable type.')
list.add(prop2);
%  com.jidesoft.grid.CellEditorManager.unregisterEditor(javatype, context2);
 
% Prepare a properties table containing the list
model = com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyTableModel(list);
model.expandAll();
grid = com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyTable(model);
pane = com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyPane(grid);

% Display on-screen
globalPanel = JPanel(BorderLayout);
globalPanel.add(pane, BorderLayout.CENTER);

% Placed on a java component panel so it can be dinamicaly resized.
Label = 'Property Inspector Table';
hFig = figure;   % existing uiinspector for this object not found - create a new figure
set(hFig, 'Name',Label, 'NumberTitle','off', 'units','pixel', 'menubar','none', 'toolbar','none'); %

pos = get(hFig,'position');
[obj, hcontainer] = javacomponent(globalPanel, [0,0,pos(3:4)], hFig);
set(hcontainer,'units','normalized');
drawnow;

#7 Comment By Dmitr Bashkin On April 29, 2011 @ 07:54

Is there any of complete removing “Misc” category, to receive table without categories?

#8 Comment By Yair Altman On April 29, 2011 @ 08:20

@Dmitr – yes there is a way:

pane.setOrder(0);  % categorized
pane.setOrder(1);  % uncategorized, sorted
pane.setOrder(2);  % uncategorized, unsorted

If you only need uncategorized view, you will probably wish to remove the categorization toolbar above the grid:

pane.setShowToolBar(false);

#9 Comment By Jose On May 4, 2011 @ 15:09

@Yair: I’m trying to validate data input in my propertygrid, using “onPropertyChange” callback.
All values of my data is interlinked, so even if a single value can be ok, if the relation between some properties is not the right one, that value is not valid anymore. i.e, let’s suppose I have 3 properties, A, B, C, and always A+B=C. You can set any value to A and B, but if C is not A+B, then you have to change A, B or C to have valid data.

My idea is to highlight wrong values with red background, so i tried to change TableCellRenderer color. My problem is that it changes all cells color and not just the cell(s) i want to highlight. I’m not too good using java, so most probably there’s another way. Maybe i should use different TableCellRenderers for valid/invalid cells? Or do i need to use other java object to handle my propertygrid cells background?

Thanks

#10 Comment By Yair Altman On May 5, 2011 @ 10:40

@Jose – the easiest solution is to use HTML colors for cells where you wish to have a non-default color. This can be done by setting the cell’s string to something like '<html><font color="red">123.456'.

Unfortunately, HTML processing in Java table cells is relatively CPU intensive and slow, so it is not advisable for use in numerous cells together, and/or for fast-changing cell values. A better alternative is to use a dedicated TableCellRenderer Java class that enables cell-specific colors. But this requires more advanced Java knowledge and is a subject for a dedicated blog article all on its own (one day I’ll write about it… – it’s somewhere on my [13] list)

#11 Comment By Jose On May 5, 2011 @ 11:39

Thanks for your input, Yair.

I will use the HTML trick as first method (i already use it for tree nodes somewhere else), but i will still try to learn and use the TableCellRenderer Java class. I’m more a C++/Qt guy, but… 🙂

I will share my results if i get a solution.

#12 Comment By Yair Altman On May 5, 2011 @ 15:11

@Jose – you can start to learn about JTable cell renderers with this link: [14]

#13 Comment By Elia On October 29, 2012 @ 06:29

Hello!

A rapid way to apply a format to a specific cell:

GrayRightCellRenderer = javaObjectEDT( javax.swing.table.DefaultTableCellRenderer() );
GrayRightCellRenderer.setBackground( javax.swing.plaf.ColorUIResource(.9, .9, .9) );
GrayRightCellRenderer.setHorizontalAlignment( GrayRightCellRenderer.RIGHT ); 

prop = javaObjectEDT( com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty() );
prop.setTableCellRenderer( GrayRightCellRenderer );

Elia.

#14 Comment By Jason D. On May 6, 2011 @ 12:20

I’m trying to mimic part of the Lineseries Property Editor in a custom configuration dialog. This property editor is a great start. I’m looking forward to more details on how to customize the rendering of the controls, such as showing color pickers, line styles, etc.

Alternatively, I would be interested in forgoing the property editor, if I could just directly access the MATLAB controls used to change lineseries properties.

Hopefully, it’s clear what I’m trying to do…

Thanks for the great blog!

#15 Comment By Yair Altman On May 7, 2011 @ 10:23

Why don’t you simply use inspect(hLine)?

#16 Comment By Jason D. On May 9, 2011 @ 10:35

It’s a configuration dialog for a much larger plotting application I’ve built, so I want complete control over the interface. The end users don’t want to see a list of dozens of options, just the basic few properties for changing the line and marker styles.

#17 Comment By Yair Altman On May 11, 2011 @ 10:29

I just posted another possible solution: [15]

#18 Pingback By Using spinners in Matlab GUI | Undocumented Matlab On January 25, 2012 @ 14:39

[…] JIDE’s DateSpinnerComboBox can be used as the cell-editor component in tables. An example of this was shown in the article about Advanced JIDE Property Grids (and section 5.7.5 in the book). […]

#19 Comment By Philipp On February 13, 2012 @ 03:33

I have tried to run your code with the nested properties.

propdimensions = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
propdimensions.setName('dimensions');
propdimensions.setEditable(false);
 
propwidth = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
propwidth.setName('width');
propwidth.setType(javaclass('int32'));%ERROR
propwidth.setValue(int32(100));
propdimensions.addChild(propwidth);
 
propheight = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
propheight.setName('height');
propheight.setType(javaclass('int32'));
propheight.setValue(int32(100));
propdimensions.addChild(propheight);

The error message:
??? Undefined function or method ‘javaclass’ for input arguments of type ‘char’.
Error in ==> nestedprop at 13
propwidth.setType(javaclass(‘int32’));

Do I have to install any java api?

Thanks a lot!

#20 Comment By Yair Altman On February 13, 2012 @ 03:46

@Philip – no: you just need to download the javaclass function. See the [16] in this series for details.

#21 Comment By Philipp On February 13, 2012 @ 06:47

@Yair

I’ve downloaded the code, the error does not occur anymore.
But also there is no figure displayed!?
I am a total beginner with emmbedded java in matlab, I just can’t figure out whats wrong with my system.

#22 Comment By Yair Altman On February 13, 2012 @ 18:07

@Philip – the component should appear onscreen when the code reaches the javacomponent function call at the bottom of the code snippet. Use the Matlab debugger to discover why it doesn’t reach that point.

#23 Comment By Jonathan Roy On July 24, 2012 @ 11:46

Anybody succeeded at adding a dialog to choose a file or a folder?
I’ve try using FileChooserExComboBox as briefly described in [17] but I still have NullPointerException error when I click the button to popup the file dialog (ex:

 
at com.jidesoft.combobox.FileNameChooserPanel.setCurrentDirectory(Unknown Source)
at com.jidesoft.combobox.FileNameChooserComboBox.createPopupComponent(Unknown Source)

#24 Comment By Yair Altman On July 24, 2012 @ 12:04

@Jonathan – try using a com.jidesoft.grid.FileCellEditor, in a similar way to the SpinnerCellEditor and BooleanCheckBoxCellEditor shown in the article.

#25 Comment By Jonathan Roy On July 25, 2012 @ 08:27

Thanks, it worked.

#26 Comment By Elia On August 30, 2012 @ 06:39

I appreciate Propertytables very much and am using it to build a Matlab GUI. Thanks Yair to investigate these functionalities and for sharing your findings with the rest of the world! Of course I cross fingers that the undocumented functionality will not disappear in future Matlab releases 😉

How could I add two buttons into a property cell? I guess there might be a fitting CellEditor. I’d love to see an example on how this is commonly done.

Thanks in advance!
Elia.

#27 Comment By Yair Altman On August 30, 2012 @ 06:42

@Elia – I’m afraid that I do not have an example or reference for you. Your best bet would be to search/ask on the JIDE forum, or on StackOverflow.

#28 Comment By Elia On September 17, 2012 @ 04:30

Hi,

actually I found out that the Jide solution to implement buttons in Propertytable cells turns around the Editor/Renderer HyperLinkTableCellEditorRenderer as demonstrated in the Jide HyperlinkCellDemo. Unfortunately that class does not seem to be included in the Matlab Jide package.

I wonder how Mathworks implemented the buttons in the property inspector.

Best regards!
Elia.

#29 Comment By Yair Altman On September 18, 2012 @ 12:17

@Elia – MathWorks probably created a custom renderer that included a JPanel with a JButton. I’m guessing that if you take a look at the JIDE renderers you could relatively easily adapt them to do the same. Alternately, you could perhaps use Matlab’s renderers.

#30 Comment By Elia On August 30, 2012 @ 09:06

Hello! New query: Did anyone succeed in making a context menu appear related to the PropertyTableModel? I tried to set the UIContextMenu value of the PropertyTableModel value to a uicontextmenu handle, but nothing happens when I right-click anywhere on the Property table.

thanks in advance!

#31 Comment By Reza On February 28, 2013 @ 14:00

Hi dear Yair
I create a combobox with some item like below:
comboBox = javax.swing.JComboBox({‘?’,’?’});
But after load data I have to update combobox with numeric data
data = [20.2;30.3;15.22;-5.65;0.365;10.00];
I tried like below:
comboBox.add({num2str(A)});
but it is not work…
what should I do?

#32 Comment By isoboy On May 8, 2013 @ 01:55

Greetings Yair,

The default column width is 50:50, but I need to set it to 75:25. How can I resize the columns in the property panel? I found that there is autoResizeAllColumns(), but nothing on setting the column widths programmatically.

Thanks in advance!
isoboy

#33 Comment By Gustaf On June 26, 2013 @ 00:51

I don’t know if you already found a solution for your problem, but using setPreferredWidth on the column following worked for me:

grid.getColumn(grid.getColumnName(0)).setPreferredWidth(150);

Gustaf

#34 Comment By Scott Koch On August 20, 2013 @ 14:21

Like several other posters, I have wanted to dynamically add my own controls to a property grid cell. For example, I want to add a small Save button on each property so a user can permanently save a particular property as a default. Or, I’d like to open a custom dialog box with a button.

I’m having some luck with the following approach (hack). I’m not an expert in Java/Swing or the implications this approach could have on memory or performance in Matlab so please comment if you have any guidance.

As noted by Yair, you’ll need a JPanel to start with so I made a simple cell renderer/editor class in Java

 

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.table.*;
 
public class CustomPanelCellEditor extends AbstractCellEditor implements TableCellEditor, TableCellRenderer{
  JPanel panel;
 
  public CustomPanelCellEditor() {
 
    panel = new JPanel();
    panel.setBackground(Color.WHITE);
  }
 
  public Component getTableCellEditorComponent(JTable table, Object value,
      boolean isSelected, int row, int column) {
    return panel;
  }
 
  public Object getCellEditorValue() {
    return null;
  }
 
  public Component getTableCellRendererComponent(JTable table, Object value,
      boolean isSelected, boolean hasFocus, int row, int column) {
 
    return panel;
  }
  public Component getPanel(){
    return panel;
  }
}

There’s a lot of overhead but I add renderer and editor components for each row. So for one row where I want a combo box and save button I add a renderer panel and editor panel. On the renderer panel I add a JTextField and JButton. On the editor panel I add a JComboBox and JButton. Then register each with CellRendererManager and CellEditorManager respectively.

 
function customgriddemo
%CUSTOMGRIDDEMO 
 
com.mathworks.mwswing.MJUtilities.initJIDE;
import com.jidesoft.grid.*
 
%Property list.
mylist = java.util.ArrayList;
 
%Get custom cell editor and renderer jpanels.
mycelleditor   = javaObjectEDT('CustomPanelCellEditor');
mycellrenderer = javaObjectEDT('CustomPanelCellEditor');
 
%Make renderer controls.
render_txt = javaObjectEDT('javax.swing.JTextField', '');
render_txt.setBorder(javax.swing.BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder());%Remove border for improved looks.
render_btn = javaObjectEDT('javax.swing.JButton', '...');
render_btn.setPreferredSize(java.awt.Dimension(15,15));%Lock size.
render_btn.setMaximumSize(java.awt.Dimension(15,15));
 
%Make editor controls.
edit_cmb = javaObjectEDT('javax.swing.JComboBox', {'Select 1' 'Select 2'});
edit_btn = javaObjectEDT('javax.swing.JButton', '...');
edit_btn.setPreferredSize(java.awt.Dimension(15,15));
edit_btn.setMaximumSize(java.awt.Dimension(15,15));
 
%Give editor button a callback.
edit_btnh = handle(edit_btn,'CallbackProperties');
set(edit_btnh,'ActionPerformedCallback',{@button_callback,edit_cmb});
 
%Give editor combobox a callback.
edit_cmbh = handle(edit_cmb,'CallbackProperties');
set(edit_cmbh,'ActionPerformedCallback',{@combo_callback,render_txt});
 
%Get editor/renderer underlying panel.
render_panel = mycellrenderer.getPanel;
edit_panel   = mycelleditor.getPanel;
 
%Set layout and add main control to renderer panel.
render_panel.setLayout(javax.swing.BoxLayout(render_panel, javax.swing.BoxLayout.X_AXIS));
render_panel.add(render_txt);
render_panel.add(javax.swing.Box.createHorizontalGlue());
render_panel.add(render_btn);
 
%Set layout and add main control to editor panel.
edit_panel.setLayout(javax.swing.BoxLayout(edit_panel, javax.swing.BoxLayout.X_AXIS));
edit_panel.add(edit_cmb);
edit_panel.add(javax.swing.Box.createHorizontalGlue());
edit_panel.add(edit_btn);
 
%Register renderer.
context  = EditorContext('CustomEditor_1');
CellRendererManager.registerRenderer(javaclass('char',1), mycellrenderer, context);
 
%Register editor.
CellEditorManager.registerEditor(javaclass('char',1), mycelleditor, context);
 
%Make property.
field = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty;
field.setType(javaclass('char',1))
field.setEditorContext(context);
field.setValue('')
 
field.setCategory('Category A');
field.setDisplayName('Custom Cell');
field.setName('customcell');  % JIDE automatically uses a hierarchical naming scheme
field.setDescription('This is a custom cell.');
 
mylist.add(field);
 
%Make grid.
% Prepare a properties table containing the list
model = com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyTableModel(mylist);
model.expandAll();
grid = com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyTable(model);
pane = com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyPane(grid);
 
% Display the properties pane onscreen
hFig = figure;
panel = uipanel(hFig);
javacomponent(pane, [0 0 400 400], panel);
 
 
function combo_callback(varargin)
%Combobox callback.
newval = varargin{1}.getSelectedItem;
varargin{3}.setText(newval);
 
 
function button_callback(varargin)
%Editor button callback.
 
newval = inputdlg('New Combo Value:','Add New Value');
 
if ~isempty(newval)
  varargin{3}.addItem(newval{1});
  varargin{3}.setSelectedItem(newval{1})
end

One drawback is you don’t get a PropertyChangeCallback. I use focus lost/gained to check values (validate) dynamically. I wonder if there’s a cleaver way to use a hidden control.

Anyhow, I hope this is useful to someone and please post feedback.

Scott

#35 Comment By Jan On February 16, 2014 @ 11:23

Hi Yair,

is there a callback whenever I select a property, not just if it changed? I want to create a kind of an “own” description field that updates everytime another property is focused.

Thanks,
Jan

#36 Comment By Yair Altman On February 16, 2014 @ 11:42

@Jan – take a look at the SelectionModel. A sample usage is in my treeTable utility [18].

Also take a look at the PropertyPane‘s ShowDescription property, which could be much simpler in your case.

#37 Comment By Jan On February 17, 2014 @ 10:25

Hi Yair,

thanks for your quick reply.

I managed to get the ‘ValueChangedCallback’ as you suggested. But unfortunately, I only get the actual java ID of the selected component. So, having 8 properties in 3 categories, the ID I get goes from 0 to 10. The components are all stored in a java.util.ArrayList (just like in your example above), which goes from 0 to 7 (for 8 components). Is there a way to get the ‘complete’ list of the property grid, where also the categories are stored in?

Unfortunately, I have no knowledge of java (yet), so I can’t figure it out myself …

Best wishes,
Jan

#38 Comment By Jan On February 18, 2014 @ 03:14

Oh, nevermind. it was not as difficult as I thought it would be:

grid = com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyTable(model);
hGrid = handle(grid.getSelectionModel, 'CallbackProperties');
set(hGrid, 'ValueChangedCallback', {@onValueChange, model});

… and

function onValueChange(jHandle, ~, model)
  mHandle = handle(jHandle, 'CallbackProperties');
  id = get(mHandle, 'MinSelectionIndex'); % 'MaxSelectionIndex' would do as well ...
  
  prop = model.getPropertyAt(id);
  
  disp(prop.getName());
end % fcn

… actually works fine.

Thanks, for everything! This blog is helping a lot …
Jan

#39 Comment By CitizenInsane On March 6, 2014 @ 04:04

Hi! This is great and inspirative work.

Is it possible to perform a ‘reset property value to default’ with jide grid controls?. I was thinking of using .NET PropertyGrid instead which allows this behaviour. Following sample code works great:

 
NET.addAssembly('System.Windows.Forms');
import System.Windows.Forms.*;
f = Form();
g = PropertyGrid();
g.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
g.SelectedObject = f;
f.Controls.Add(g);
f.Show();

But then i don’t know how to embed resulting “.NET form” inside a “matlab figure/panel” (+ Need a workaround to add/remove properties on the fly because .NET grids work from attributes ==> [19])

#40 Comment By Yair Altman On March 10, 2014 @ 10:12

I do not know of a way to integrate .NET controls in Matlab figures, but I’m guessing that this may be a solved problem in the Java world. So if you find a way to integrate a .NET control in a Java container, it should be pretty straight-forward to extend this to Matlab figures.

#41 Comment By CitizenInsane On March 17, 2014 @ 03:45

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I gave up using a .NET grid to be able to reset edited field to default values (too complex). Anyway, as I dived much into your code, I updated it to accept a ‘callback’ as input argument so as to get more control on how fields are edited (editor type, field description, field name, category, etc…). See ‘uipropedit.m’ and ‘DemoCallback.m’ routines here:

[20]

Contribution is not perfect but it’s a first try to get more control on how values are edited. Additionally, the new routine manages for n-dimensional fields (or n-dimensional objects themselves!) using ‘ind2sub’ instead of ‘reshape’ to 3D at max; this is a litle more appealing when editing n-d data.

#42 Comment By Crux On April 1, 2014 @ 13:02

Dear Yair,

I’ve been using your inspiring hints smoothly up to R2012b. Since R2013a – and including R2014a – I receive a Java NullPointerException when I click with the mouse pointer on a CheckBoxListCombo in a grid table. Any suggestions on a fix?

For example:

data = {'1A','2B','3C','4D'};
selected = [2 4];
com.mathworks.mwswing.MJUtilities.initJIDE;
list = java.util.ArrayList();

javatype = javaclass('char',1);
editor = com.jidesoft.grid.CheckBoxListComboBoxCellEditor(data);
renderer = com.jidesoft.grid.MultilineTableCellRenderer;
context = com.jidesoft.grid.EditorContext('con1');
com.jidesoft.grid.CellEditorManager.registerEditor(javatype, editor, context);
com.jidesoft.grid.CellRendererManager.registerRenderer(javatype, renderer, context);
prop = com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty();
set(prop,'Value',data(selected),'Type',javatype,'EditorContext',context);
list.add(prop);

model = com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyTableModel(list);
model.expandAll();
grid = com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyTable(model);
pane = com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyPane(grid);
javacomponent(pane, [50 050 400 300], gcf);
pause(0.05);
hJavaModel = handle(model, 'CallbackProperties');

#43 Comment By GimmeFive On October 14, 2014 @ 03:33

I get the same issue as above using jide grids on r2014b. The com.jidesoft.grid.ListComboBoxCellEditor editor seems to trigger the exception. Anybody has a hint?

#44 Comment By 4000er On February 24, 2015 @ 01:15

Hello

Does anybody know how to add another column to the property grid?
I’m displaying some physical values in a property grid.
Now I would be happy to have a third column to display the units of values.

Thank you in advance

#45 Comment By Suk On September 6, 2015 @ 07:57

Dear Yair

I’m trying to make own property inspector. i try step by step on your code. but there are some errors. it’s in combo-box and logical value. making combo-box, logic works well but when i choose other options (ex. your script combo-box spring, summer, fall, winter) i can’t see other options (summer, fall, winter). the error in java , grid . how can i solve the problem..

------error
Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.NullPointerException
	at java.lang.reflect.Array.newArray(Native Method)
	at java.lang.reflect.Array.newInstance(Array.java:75)
	at com.jidesoft.combobox.MultiSelectListExComboBox.convertArrayType(Unknown Source)
	at com.jidesoft.combobox.MultiSelectListExComboBox.getSelectedItem(Unknown Source)
	at com.jidesoft.combobox.ExComboBox.setConverterContext(Unknown Source)
	at com.jidesoft.grid.ExComboBoxCellEditor.getTableCellEditorComponent(Unknown Source)
	at javax.swing.JTable.prepareEditor(JTable.java:5778)
	at com.jidesoft.grid.JideTable.prepareEditor(Unknown Source)
	at com.jidesoft.grid.ContextSensitiveTable.prepareEditor(Unknown Source)
	at com.jidesoft.grid.CellStyleTable.prepareEditor(Unknown Source)
	at com.jidesoft.grid.CellSpanTable.prepareEditor(Unknown Source)
	at com.jidesoft.grid.PropertyTable.prepareEditor(Unknown Source)
	at com.jidesoft.grid.JideTable.editCellAt(Unknown Source)
	at com.jidesoft.grid.CellSpanTable.editCellAt(Unknown Source)
	at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTableUI$Handler.adjustSelection(BasicTableUI.java:1108)
	at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTableUI$Handler.mousePressed(BasicTableUI.java:1038)
	at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTableUI$MouseInputHandler.mousePressed(BasicTableUI.java:798)
	at com.jidesoft.swing.DelegateMouseInputListener.mousePressed(Unknown Source)
	at java.awt.AWTEventMulticaster.mousePressed(AWTEventMulticaster.java:280)
	at java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Component.java:6522)
	at javax.swing.JComponent.processMouseEvent(JComponent.java:3324)
...

Thanks

#46 Comment By Yair Altman On September 6, 2015 @ 08:47

@Suk – you are probably configuring your cell-array of options incorrectly. Read my blog examples carefully and/or read my book on Matlab-Java programming to see how to configure Java components in Matlab.

#47 Comment By Suk On October 12, 2015 @ 02:03

Dear Yair~

I solved problem that java error. Matlab & Java version is not same on my laptop…

i have more question!

your example is greatly work..
is there methods to align property value , and change heights of description zone?

Thanks..

#48 Comment By Cho On October 28, 2015 @ 02:21

Hello ~

is there editor style like inspector background / foreground ?
there are color in value section and have colour picker front.
i want make inspector in color picker & background

thanks.

#49 Comment By Yair Altman On October 28, 2015 @ 03:20

@Cho – my article on color-selection components might help you: [21]

#50 Comment By Sarah On November 24, 2015 @ 08:24

Hi, I tried your code but I get the following error:

??? Undefined variable "com" or class "com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty".

I’m a newbiew and would appreciate ideas.

Thanks!

#51 Comment By amir On December 20, 2016 @ 23:14

hi

how can make live searchable in jtable ?

#52 Comment By Philip On August 5, 2019 @ 10:31

Yair,

Using the example above, I created a ML custom class called a ‘project’ which has certain public properties of class com.jidesoft.grid.DefaultProperty so that the properties of the project can be edited from the PropertyTable. The default properties are added to a list of class java.util.ArrayList, which is also a property of the custom project class. I then created a tree that lists all the projects. I adapted the mousePressedCallback you wrote in [22], so that when each project node is double clicked its properties are displayed in the PropertyTable using:

obj.ProjModel.setOriginalProperties( project.list );
obj.ProjModel.refresh();

I thought that each instance of project would control its list and the UI would simply load the list when I double click on the project node, but it appears as though my current implementation of Arraylist is not localized to the instance of project that called it. It seems that the same list continues to be updated with every new call to project and when I double click on each project node, I get a concatenated grid of the project properties from all projects.

Any help you can give with this would be greatly appreciated.

#53 Comment By Yair Altman On August 5, 2019 @ 11:15

@Philip – you probably have a bug in your code, for example reusing the same ArrayList object for all projects, rather than using a new ArrayList instance for each project instance. For example: [23]

#54 Comment By Philip On August 8, 2019 @ 06:36

Yair,

This is with reference to your response to my post on August 5, 2019. Thank you for the response. The problem I was facing was directly related to the link in your comment. The problem was fixed by simply programmatically setting the property’s default value (of class java.util.ArrayList) in the class constructor for an instance of custom class project, as opposed to setting the default value in the properties declaration.

Philip

#55 Comment By Philip On October 21, 2019 @ 09:09

Yair,

Could you please shed some more insight on how to use color choosers (specifically the ColorComboBox / JideColorSplitButton / or com.mathworks.mlwidgets.graphics.ColorPicker) in JIDE Property Grids? I’ve been referencing the notes you outlined in this post as well as the following two posts on your undocumented site ( [21] and [24] ), however my efforts to insert the component into the grid were unsuccessful.

#56 Comment By Yair Altman On October 21, 2019 @ 20:21

Philip – you cannot directly use a Java control inside Java tables, such as a Property Grid. Inside a table you should use a Cell-Editor and Cell-Renderer. Showing how to integrate them inside a JIDE Property Grid is well outside the scope of this blog. You can search in Java forums, or the code within my [25].

A description of how to integrate color cell renderers and editors in Java-based Matlab uitables can be found in my [26] (note: this is related, but not directly applicable, to property-grids).


Article printed from Undocumented Matlab: https://undocumentedmatlab.com

URL to article: https://undocumentedmatlab.com/articles/advanced-jide-property-grids

URLs in this post:

[1] Levente Hunyadi: http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/authors/60898

[2] Cell renderers and editors: http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/components/table.html#editrender

[3] checkbox: http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/components/button.html#checkbox

[4] BooleanCheckBoxCellEditor: http://www.jidesoft.com/javadoc/com/jidesoft/grid/BooleanCheckBoxCellEditor.html

[5] spinner: http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/components/spinner.html

[6] combo-boxes: http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/components/combobox.html

[7] JIDE Property Grids : https://undocumentedmatlab.com/articles/jide-property-grids

[8] Using JIDE combo-boxes : https://undocumentedmatlab.com/articles/using-jide-combo-boxes

[9] Setting class property types : https://undocumentedmatlab.com/articles/setting-class-property-types

[10] Simple GUI Tabs for Advanced Matlab Trading App : https://undocumentedmatlab.com/articles/simple-gui-tabs-for-advanced-matlab-trading-app

[11] Property value change listeners : https://undocumentedmatlab.com/articles/property-value-change-listeners

[12] Getting default HG property values : https://undocumentedmatlab.com/articles/getting-default-hg-property-values

[13] : https://undocumentedmatlab.com/todo/

[14] : http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/components/table.html#renderer

[15] : https://undocumentedmatlab.com/blog/borderless-button-used-for-plot-properties/

[16] : https://undocumentedmatlab.com/blog/jide-property-grids/

[17] : http://www.jidesoft.com/products/JIDE_Grids_Developer_Guide.pdf

[18] : https://undocumentedmatlab.com/blog/treetable/#Callbacks

[19] : http://stackoverflow.com/q/313822/684399

[20] : https://gist.github.com/CitizenInsane/3ce1755bf0901f0bae38

[21] : https://undocumentedmatlab.com/blog/color-selection-components

[22] : https://undocumentedmatlab.com/blog/customizing-uitree-nodes-2

[23] : https://undocumentedmatlab.com/blog/handle-object-as-default-class-property-value

[24] : https://undocumentedmatlab.com/using-jide-combo-boxes

[25] : https://undocumentedmatlab.com/blog/propertiesGUI

[26] : https://undocumentedmatlab.com/blog/uitable-customization-report

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