Disable JList Cell Selection Property

Question

I am attempting to display an array of strings in a JList , which is then added to a JPanel using Java Swing . I am not having a problem displaying the data in the Jlists , however I would like to remove the default property that allows a user to select items in the Jlist . I am attempting to simply display the data to the user. Unfortunately I am unable to locate the property that would allow me to disable this feature. A example of the selection property that I am referring to can be seen here in 1 .

Perhaps I am using the wrong Java Swing component to display this data, but I have research JTextArea , JTable , etc., and the JList seems to fit my needs. Any help is much appreciated.

public static JComponent createList(ArrayList inputData) {

    JPanel panel = new JPanel(false);
    panel.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT));
    panel.setBackground(Color.white);

    String[] displayData= {Data.get(0),Data.get(1),Data.get(2),Data.get(3)};
    JList<String> displayDataList= new JList<String>(displayData);
    displayDataList.setFont(sysDataList.getFont().deriveFont(Font.PLAIN)); 
    panel.add(displayDataList);

    return panel;
}   

Answer 1

I achived this by implementing a NoSelection SelectionModel. SelectionModels are responsible for handling selection events, see ListSelectionModel Example:

public final class Main {

 public static void main(String[] args) {
   SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
     public void run() {
       JFrame frame = new JFrame();
       frame.setSize(500, 500);
       frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
       JList<Object> view = new JList<Object>();
       view.setSelectionModel(new NoSelectionModel());
       view.setListData(new Object[] {"String 1 ", "String 2"});
       frame.getContentPane().add(new JScrollPane(view));

       frame.setVisible(true);
     }
   });
 }

 private static class NoSelectionModel extends DefaultListSelectionModel {

   @Override
   public void setAnchorSelectionIndex(final int anchorIndex) {}

   @Override
   public void setLeadAnchorNotificationEnabled(final boolean flag) {}

   @Override
   public void setLeadSelectionIndex(final int leadIndex) {}

   @Override
   public void setSelectionInterval(final int index0, final int index1) { }
 }
} 

You have to remember: If the user cannot select anything he can also not copy paste anything. Furthermore, the keyboard scroll behavior is little strange.

Answer 2

JList is supposed to be selectable. Note the absence of NO_SELECTION in ListSelectionModel interface.

If you want to just display the items, the best option is to display a list of JLabel s in a panel rather than using JList .

Answer 3

In newer versions of Java, the selection is also blocked when setEnabled() is set to false . Although there is a particularity when you have a JList inside a panel ( JScrollPane ) and you try to recursively disable all elements inside of it. Here is a method that will help you with that:

public void setComponentStatus(JComponent panel, Boolean status) {
        try {
            panel.setEnabled(status);
            Component[] components = panel.getComponents();
            
            for (Component component : components) {
                if (component instanceof JPanel) {
                    setComponentStatus((JComponent) component, status);
                } else {
                    if (component instanceof JScrollPane)
                        ((JScrollPane) component).getViewport().getView().setEnabled(status);
                    component.setEnabled(status);
                }
            }
            
        } catch (Exception e) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Impossible to complete change the status of the panel: " + panel + " or one of its components to status:" + status, e);
        }
    }

The core feature I'm trying to point out is this:

((JScrollPane) component).getViewport().getView().setEnabled(status);