JTextArea new line on shift + enter

java, jtextarea

Solution

You may use the `InputMap` and `ActionMap` of the `JTextArea` to map the key strokes to actions:

private static final String TEXT_SUBMIT = "text-submit";
private static final String INSERT_BREAK = "insert-break";
...
private void initialize() {
    InputMap input = inputTextArea.getInputMap();
    KeyStroke enter = KeyStroke.getKeyStroke("ENTER");
    KeyStroke shiftEnter = KeyStroke.getKeyStroke("shift ENTER");
    input.put(shiftEnter, INSERT_BREAK);  // input.get(enter)) = "insert-break"
    input.put(enter, TEXT_SUBMIT);

    ActionMap actions = inputTextArea.getActionMap();
    actions.put(TEXT_SUBMIT, new AbstractAction() {
        @Override
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            submitText();
        }
    });
}
...
private void submitText() {
    // TODO
}

The original action for `ENTER` - "insert-break" - is used for `shift ENTER`.

Problem

I've added a keylistener to my JTextArea field, but it doesn't behave as I expected. ``` inputTextArea.addKeyListener(new KeyAdapter() { public void keyPressed(KeyEvent k) { //If the return button is hit, only set to a new line if shift is also down. if(k.getKeyChar() == KeyEvent.VK_ENTER) { if(k.isShiftDown()) { inputTextArea.append(" \n"); } else { //Send The Message... boolean cleanTextField = false; try { sendMessage(inputTextArea.getText()); cleanTextField = true; msgScrollPane.setAutoscrolls(true); JScrollBar vbar = msgScrollPane.getVerticalScrollBar(); if ((vbar.getValue() + vbar.getVisibleAmount()) == vbar.getMaximum()) { msgPane.setCaretPosition(msgDoc.getLength()); } } catch (Exception ex) { ex.printStackTrace(); cleanTextField = false; } finally { if(cleanTextField) { inputTextArea.setText(""); } } } } } }); ``` I want this: - If the return button is hit and shift is down: add a new line. - If the return button is hit and the shift button isn't down: no new line, but submit. Now it behaves like this: - If I hit the return button and shift is down: no line added. Nothing happens. - If I hit the return button and shift isn't down: submitted, but if I start typing again it begins on new line. Does someone know how to do what I want? EDIT: I tried some other code to detect if the shift button is down: ``` if((k.getModifiersEx() == KeyEvent.SHIFT_DOWN_MASK) || (k.getModifiers() == KeyEvent.SHIFT_DOWN_MASK)) { ``` This doesn't work as well

Original source