JTable Edit Cell only on double click and F2 and Not on any key press

java, jtable

Solution

You need to create your own `TableCellEditor` and overwrite the method `isCellEditable`:

public class MyCellEditor extends AbstractCellEditor implements TableCellEditor {

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    JTextField textField = new JTextField("");

    @Override
    public boolean isCellEditable(EventObject e) {
        if (super.isCellEditable(e)) {
            if (e instanceof MouseEvent) {
                MouseEvent me = (MouseEvent) e;
                return me.getClickCount() >= 2;
            }
            if (e instanceof KeyEvent) {
                KeyEvent ke = (KeyEvent) e;
                return ke.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_F2;
            }
        }
        return false;
    }

    @Override
    public Object getCellEditorValue() {
        return this.textField.getText();
    }

    @Override
    public Component getTableCellEditorComponent(JTable table, Object value, boolean isSelected, int row, int column) {
        this.textField.setFont(table.getFont());
        this.textField.setText(value.toString());
        return this.textField;
    }
    return false;
}

In `isCellEditable`, I first call `super.isCellEditable` to check for all other reasons why a cell could be editable or not. Only if it is editable per se, we check on our conditions.

Problem

I Have a JTable with some editable columns. If a cell is selected and I start typing, the cell enters into edit mode. I don´t want that. I want to edit the cell only if I press F2 or double click it. I found some posts about key binding, but it didn´t help. I´m newbie in Java. please be patient and clear. Another thing I notice. If I start editing by typing in cell, it has a different behavior than when I start edit the cell by F2 or double click. Why is that?

Original source