JCheckboxMenuItem won't change selection color

[Stefan Cosma]

Hey guy,

Am I doing something wrong or what? I want to change the color for the selection background of the JCheckboxMenuItem and it doesn't change at all. This is what I have, what am i doing wrong?

UIManager.put( "CheckBoxMenuItem.acceleratorForeground", Crawler.color_black);
		UIManager.put( "CheckBoxMenuItem.acceleratorSelectionForeground", Crawler.color_black);
		UIManager.put( "CheckBoxMenuItem.background", Crawler.color_white);
		UIManager.put( "CheckBoxMenuItem.border",BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Crawler.color_white, 1));
		UIManager.put( "CheckBoxMenuItem.disabledBackground", Crawler.color_white);
		UIManager.put( "CheckBoxMenuItem.disabledForeground", Crawler.color_white);
		UIManager.put( "CheckBoxMenuItem.foreground", Crawler.color_black);
		UIManager.put( "CheckBoxMenuItem.selectionBackground", Crawler.color_blue);
		UIManager.put( "CheckBoxMenuItem.selectionForeground", Crawler.color_black);

[Darryl Burke]

You left out one very important piece of information: which Look and Feel?

edit Works for me with the default Metal look and feel.

[Stefan Cosma]

Yes, sorry about that! I guess the default one, which I believe is - this - .

[Darryl Burke]

Yes, that's the same one. To get better help sooner, post a SSCCE (Short, Self Contained, Compilable and Executable) example that demonstrates the problem. Note: Short. Not all your code.

[Stefan Cosma]

Yes, well I figured out the actual problem, the UIManager can't apply the selectionBackground color on a static component. I made a simple window with just a menu and a checkbox inside it and what do you know it worked perfectly. So the problem now, is how to make the UIManager work on a static component.

[Darryl Burke]

Stefan Cosma wrote:the UIManager can't apply the selectionBackground color on a static component.

That's gibberish. Where's that SSCCE?

[Stefan Cosma]

If you go on the first JCheckboxMenuItem, the selectionBackground should be the same color as the second one.

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

public class MenuSelectionManagerDemo implements ActionListener, ItemListener {
	JTextArea output;
	JScrollPane scrollPane;
	String newline = "\n";
	static JCheckBoxMenuItem cbMenuItem = new JCheckBoxMenuItem("A check box menu item");

	public JMenuBar createMenuBar() {
		JMenuBar menuBar;
		JMenu menu;
		JMenuItem menuItem;

		menuBar = new JMenuBar();

		menu = new JMenu("A Menu");
		menu.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_A);
		menu.getAccessibleContext().setAccessibleDescription(
				"The only menu in this program that has menu items");
		menuBar.add(menu);

		menuItem = new JMenuItem("A text-only menu item", KeyEvent.VK_T);
		menuItem.setAccelerator(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_1,
				ActionEvent.ALT_MASK));
		menuItem.getAccessibleContext().setAccessibleDescription(
				"This doesn't really do anything");
		menuItem.addActionListener(this);
		menu.add(menuItem);

		menu.addSeparator();
		
		cbMenuItem.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_C);
		cbMenuItem.addItemListener(this);
		menu.add(cbMenuItem);

		cbMenuItem = new JCheckBoxMenuItem("Another one");
		cbMenuItem.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_H);
		cbMenuItem.addItemListener(this);
		menu.add(cbMenuItem);

		return menuBar;
	}

	public Container createContentPane() {
		JPanel contentPane = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
		contentPane.setOpaque(true);

		output = new JTextArea(5, 30);
		output.setEditable(false);
		scrollPane = new JScrollPane(output);

		contentPane.add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);

		return contentPane;
	}

	public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
		JMenuItem source = (JMenuItem) (e.getSource());
		String s = "Action event detected." + newline + "    Event source: "
				+ source.getText() + " (an instance of " + getClassName(source)
				+ ")";
		output.append(s + newline);
		output.setCaretPosition(output.getDocument().getLength());
	}

	public void itemStateChanged(ItemEvent e) {
		JMenuItem source = (JMenuItem) (e.getSource());
		String s = "Item event detected."
				+ newline
				+ "    Event source: "
				+ source.getText()
				+ " (an instance of "
				+ getClassName(source)
				+ ")"
				+ newline
				+ "    New state: "
				+ ((e.getStateChange() == ItemEvent.SELECTED) ? "selected"
						: "unselected");
		output.append(s + newline);
		output.setCaretPosition(output.getDocument().getLength());
	}

	protected String getClassName(Object o) {
		String classString = o.getClass().getName();
		int dotIndex = classString.lastIndexOf(".");
		return classString.substring(dotIndex + 1);
	}

	private static void createAndShowGUI() {
		JFrame frame = new JFrame("MenuSelectionManagerDemo");
		frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

		MenuSelectionManagerDemo demo = new MenuSelectionManagerDemo();
		frame.setJMenuBar(demo.createMenuBar());
		frame.setContentPane(demo.createContentPane());

		frame.setSize(450, 260);
		frame.setVisible(true);
	}

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
			public void run() {
				UIManager.put("CheckBoxMenuItem.selectionBackground",
						new Color(0x33b5e5));
				createAndShowGUI();
			}
		});
	}
}

[Darryl Burke]

That's expected. Changing LaF properties doesn't automagically affect components that have already been constructed. Make this change and report back:

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                UIManager.put("CheckBoxMenuItem.selectionBackground",
                        new Color(0x33b5e5));
                cbMenuItem.updateUI(); // add this line
                createAndShowGUI();
            }
        });
    }

edit And please go through the SSCCE link. Your posted code is mostly irrelevant to the stated problem.

[Stefan Cosma]

It worked perfectly on this example now I just have to try it on the main project. Thank you very much.

Edit: It worked on the main project as well. Thank you again for your help.

[Stefan Cosma]

I have another question. How can I change the selected icon for the CheckBoxMenuItem?

I tried this but it shows only the normal state. When I click, it doesn't change to the checked state.

UIManager.put( "CheckBoxMenuItem.checkIcon", normal);
UIManager.put( "CheckBoxMenuItem[Selected].checkIcon", checked);

[Darryl Burke]

Inventing stuff rarely works. I can't see what led you to believe that "CheckBoxMenuItem[Selected].checkIcon" would be recognized by JCheckBoxMenuItem as a relevant UIDefaults key.

You could read the source of the private static class javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalIconFactory.CheckBoxMenuItemIcon to see how the Swing designers approached the issue.

As I see it, you have two primary options, with several variations possible:
1. Set the selected icon for each item in code, or create and use a custom subclass that does that in its constructor. You may need to experiment to determine which Icon of selected/pressed/rollover is used for the state in which you are interested.
2. Write an Icon implementation that wraps the two icons and decides which to paint based on the state of the component, queried after appropriate casting.

For your future reference, one way you can identify valid UIManager / UIDefaults keys is by using Rob Camick's UIManager Defaults.

[Stefan Cosma]

I solved the issue. It was actually real easy. I replaced JCheckboxMenuItem with JToggleButton and set the Icon and the selected Icon on each of the elements, and it worked.

This is where I found the solution.

Thank you Darryl for all your help so far.

[Darryl Burke]

Stefan Cosma wrote:I ... set the Icon and the selected Icon on each of the elements

That was my suggestion at No. 1, two posts up.