How to change Swing application's look and feel at runtime?

java, look-and-feel, swing, user-interface

Solution

Assuming that `value` is the class name of the new look-and-feel, here is the snippet to update all windows and sub-components:

public static void updateLAF(String value) {
    if (UIManager.getLookAndFeel().getClass().getName().equals(value)) {
        return;
    }
    try {
        UIManager.setLookAndFeel(value);
        for (Frame frame : Frame.getFrames()) {
            updateLAFRecursively(frame);
        }
    } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (InstantiationException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (UnsupportedLookAndFeelException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

public static void updateLAFRecursively(Window window) {
    for (Window childWindow : window.getOwnedWindows()) {
        updateLAFRecursively(childWindow);
    }
    SwingUtilities.updateComponentTreeUI(window);
}

Problem

I know that there's a `SwingUtilities.updateComponentTreeUI(Component c)` method but it doesn't work perfectly. For example, I have a `JFileChooser` and the current look and feel is Windows, then I change the look and feel to Nimbus with `SwingUtilities.updateComponentTreeUI(mainWindow)`, and the main window's style is changed correctly, but when I show the file chooser with the `JFileChooser.showOpenDialog(Component parent)` method, it's still in Windows look and feel. The same happens if I show a popup dialog with the `JPopupMenu.show(Component invoker, int x, int y)` method. Any solution to this issue?

Original source