Java Swing - Get object that the mouse hovers over

java, swing

Solution

In order to do that, you have to extend JList and expose the tooltip text method. Here is an example program I found sometime ago using Google:

import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;

// Custom class to extend our JList and expose tooltip functionality.
class MyList extends JList {

    public MyList() {
        super();

        // Attach a mouse motion adapter to let us know the mouse is over an item and to show the tip.
        addMouseMotionListener(new MouseMotionAdapter() {

            @Override
            public void mouseMoved(MouseEvent e) {
                MyList theList = (MyList) e.getSource();
                ListModel model = theList.getModel();
                int index = theList.locationToIndex(e.getPoint());
                if (index > -1) {
                    theList.setToolTipText(null);
                    String text = (String) model.getElementAt(index);
                    theList.setToolTipText(text);
                }
            }
        });
    }

    // Expose the getToolTipText event of our JList
    public String getToolTipText(MouseEvent e) {
        return super.getToolTipText();
    }
}

public class TestJList extends JFrame {

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

            @Override
            public void run() {
                TestJList myTest = new TestJList();
                myTest.setTitle("Example JList");
                myTest.setSize(300, 300);
                myTest.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

                MyList list = new MyList();

                // Create our model and add some items.
                DefaultListModel model = new DefaultListModel();

                model.addElement("one");
                model.addElement("two");
                model.addElement("three");
                model.addElement("four");

                // Set the model for our list
                list.setModel(model);

                ToolTipManager.sharedInstance().registerComponent(list);

                // Add our custom list and show the form.
                MyTest.add(list);
                MyTest.setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }
}

Hope this helps.

Problem

Original source