How to use Map element as text of a JComboBox

Question

I am populating a JComboBox (using addItem()) with all the elements of a collection. Each element in the collection is a HashMap (so its a ComboBox of Hashmaps..).

My question is - Given that I need each item to be a HashMap how do I set the text to apear in the combobox on the GUI? It needs to be the value of a certain key in the map. Normally if I am populating a combobox with my own type, I would just overide the toString() method...but I am not sure how to acheive this since I am using a Java HashMap.

Any ideas (if possible, without implementing my own HashMap)?

Update: It seems like there isn't anyway to avoid having the object int the JComboBox overide toString() if I want custom functionality..I wish there was a way to (1) specify the objects to be loaded into the JComboBox and (2) specify how these objects are to appear in the GUI.

Answer 1

(2) specify how these objects are to appear in the GUI.

You can add any Object to the model and then create a custom renderer to display the object any way you want. Simple example that shows the toString() approach and custom renderer approach:

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.util.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.plaf.basic.*;

public class ComboBoxItem extends JFrame implements ActionListener
{
    public ComboBoxItem()
    {
        Vector model = new Vector();
        model.addElement( new Item(1, "car" ) );
        model.addElement( new Item(2, "plane" ) );
        model.addElement( new Item(3, "train" ) );
        model.addElement( new Item(4, "boat" ) );

        JComboBox comboBox;

        //  Easiest approach is to just override toString() method
        //  of the Item class

        comboBox = new JComboBox( model );
        comboBox.setDragEnabled(true);
        comboBox.addActionListener( this );
        getContentPane().add(comboBox, BorderLayout.NORTH );

        //  Most flexible approach is to create a custom render
        //  to diplay the Item data

        comboBox = new JComboBox( model );
        comboBox.setDragEnabled(true);
        comboBox.setRenderer( new ItemRenderer() );
        comboBox.addActionListener( this );
        getContentPane().add(comboBox, BorderLayout.SOUTH );
    }

    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
    {
        JComboBox comboBox = (JComboBox)e.getSource();
        Item item = (Item)comboBox.getSelectedItem();
        System.out.println( item.getId() + " : " + item.getDescription() );
    }

    class ItemRenderer extends BasicComboBoxRenderer
    {
        public Component getListCellRendererComponent(
            JList list, Object value, int index,
            boolean isSelected, boolean cellHasFocus)
        {
            super.getListCellRendererComponent(list, value, index,
                isSelected, cellHasFocus);

            if (value != null)
            {
                Item item = (Item)value;
                setText( item.getDescription().toUpperCase() );
            }

            if (index == -1)
            {
                Item item = (Item)value;
                setText( "" + item.getId() );
            }


            return this;
        }
    }

    class Item
    {
        private int id;
        private String description;

        public Item(int id, String description)
        {
            this.id = id;
            this.description = description;
        }

        public int getId()
        {
            return id;
        }

        public String getDescription()
        {
            return description;
        }

        public String toString()
        {
            return description;
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        JFrame frame = new ComboBoxItem();
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation( EXIT_ON_CLOSE );
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible( true );
     }

}

Answer 2

If you want to override the toString() method you could just create a decorator class that implements Map and uses a HashMap to implemented the needed methods and give your own implementation of toString().

Answer 3

If you have a hashmap, you will want to do something like:

JComboBox box = new JComboBox(hashMap.getValues().toArray());

Of course, you have to override the toString method of the object you have in the HashMap