com.jidesoft.swing
Class AutoCompletion

java.lang.Object
  com.jidesoft.swing.AutoCompletion

public class AutoCompletion
extends Object

AutoCompletion is a helper class to make JTextComponent or JComboBox auto-complete based on a list of known items.

There are three constructors. The simplest one is AutoCompletion(javax.swing.JComboBox). It takes any combobox and make it auto completion. If you are looking for an auto-complete combobox solution, this is all you need. However AutoCompletion can do more than that. There are two more constructors. One is AutoCompletion(javax.swing.text.JTextComponent,Searchable). It will use Searchable which is another component available in JIDE to make the JTextCompoent auto-complete. We used Searchable here because it provides a common interface to access the element in JTree, JList or JTable. In the other word, the known list item we used to auto-complete can be got from JTree or JList or even JTable or any other component as long as it has Searchable interface implemented. The last constructor takes any java.util.List and use it as auto completion list.

The only option available on AutoCompletion is setStrict(boolean). If it's true, it will not allow user to type in anything that is not in the known item list. If false, user can type in whatever he/she wants. If the text can match with a item in the known item list, it will still auto-complete.

Author:

Thomas Bierhance, JIDE Software, Inc.

Nested Class Summary

protected class

AutoCompletion.AutoCompletionDocument The document class used by AutoCompletion.

Field Summary

static String

CLIENT_PROPERTY_AUTO_COMPLETION The client property for AutoCompletion instance.

Constructor Summary

AutoCompletion(JComboBox comboBox)

AutoCompletion(JComboBox comboBox, Searchable searchable)

AutoCompletion(JTextComponent textComponent, List list)

AutoCompletion(JTextComponent textComponent, Object[] array)

AutoCompletion(JTextComponent textComponent, Searchable searchable)

Method Summary

protected AutoCompletion.AutoCompletionDocument	createDocument() Creates AutoCompletionDocument.
static AutoCompletion	getAutoCompletion(JComponent component) When auto-completion is enabled on a text component, we will set a client property on it.
Searchable	getSearchable() Gets the underlying Searchable.
protected JTextComponent	getTextComponent() Gets the underlying text component which auto-completes.
void	installListeners() Installs the listeners needed for auto-completion feature.
boolean	isStrict() Gets the strict property.
boolean	isStrictCompletion() Gets the strict completion property.
void	setStrict(boolean strict) Sets the strict property.
void	setStrictCompletion(boolean strictCompletion) Sets the strict completion property.
void	uninstallListeners() Uninstalls the listeners so that the component is not auto-completion anymore.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

CLIENT_PROPERTY_AUTO_COMPLETION

public static final String CLIENT_PROPERTY_AUTO_COMPLETION

The client property for AutoCompletion instance. When AutoCompletion is installed on a text component, this client property has the AutoCompletion.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Constructor Detail

AutoCompletion

public AutoCompletion(JComboBox comboBox)

AutoCompletion

public AutoCompletion(JComboBox comboBox,
                      Searchable searchable)

AutoCompletion

public AutoCompletion(JTextComponent textComponent,
                      Searchable searchable)

AutoCompletion

public AutoCompletion(JTextComponent textComponent,
                      List list)

AutoCompletion

public AutoCompletion(JTextComponent textComponent,
                      Object[] array)

Method Detail

uninstallListeners

public void uninstallListeners()

Uninstalls the listeners so that the component is not auto-completion anymore.

installListeners

public void installListeners()

Installs the listeners needed for auto-completion feature. Please note, this method is already called when you create AutoCompletion. Unless you called uninstallListeners(), there is no need to call this method yourself.

createDocument

protected AutoCompletion.AutoCompletionDocument createDocument()

Creates AutoCompletionDocument.

Returns:

the AutoCompletionDocument.

isStrict

public boolean isStrict()

Gets the strict property.

Returns:

the value of strict property.

setStrict

public void setStrict(boolean strict)

Sets the strict property. If true, it will not allow user to type in anything that is not in the known item list. If false, user can type in whatever he/she wants. If the text can match with a item in the known item list, it will still auto-complete.

Parameters:

strict -

isStrictCompletion

public boolean isStrictCompletion()

Gets the strict completion property.

Returns:

the value of strict completion property.

See Also:

setStrictCompletion(boolean)

setStrictCompletion

public void setStrictCompletion(boolean strictCompletion)

Sets the strict completion property. If true, in case insensitive searching, it will always use the exact item in the Searchable to replace whatever user types. For example, when Searchable has an item "Arial" and user types in "AR", if this flag is true, it will auto-completed as "Arial". If false, it will be auto-completed as "ARial". Of course, this flag will only make a difference if Searchable is case insensitive.

Parameters:

strictCompletion -

getTextComponent

protected JTextComponent getTextComponent()

Gets the underlying text component which auto-completes.

Returns:

the underlying text component.

getSearchable

public Searchable getSearchable()

Gets the underlying Searchable. If you use the constructor AutoCompletion(javax.swing.text.JTextComponent,Searchable), the return value will be the Searchable you passed in. If you use the other twoconstructorss, internally we will still create a Searchable. If so, this Searchable will be returned.

Returns:

the Searchable.

getAutoCompletion

public static AutoCompletion getAutoCompletion(JComponent component)

When auto-completion is enabled on a text component, we will set a client property on it. This method will look for this client property and return you the instance of the AutoCompletion that is installed on the component.

Parameters:

component - the component.

Returns:

the AutoCompletion. If null, it means there is no AutoCompletion installed.