JFormattedTextField entering data without special chars

[Michelle Nicholes]

So I am tinkering with JFormattedTextField.
I have a test case which does Rates, Dollars, and Dates
They display the Data as desired.
However, when it comes to entering the data, it seems to require I enter the special chars for it to accept my input this is not desired.  When I google it, I get lots of posts on how to format how it looks but found nothing on the topic of modifying how you enter data.

I have data already entered at startup.
Edit any of the fields and clear the field
then enter just the numbers
for instance for the rate enter .2 and hit enter.
it does not accept it

or in the Dollar field
Type only 100.00
again, does not accept it.  

its like you must type in $100.00 for it to accept it.  Which is not what I want.

Hopefully someone here has delt with this and can point me in the right direction.

import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.math.BigDecimal;
import java.text.DateFormat;
import java.text.NumberFormat;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
import javax.swing.JFormattedTextField;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingConstants;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.UnsupportedLookAndFeelException;
import javax.swing.plaf.nimbus.NimbusLookAndFeel;
import javax.swing.text.DateFormatter;

public class TestFormattedText extends JPanel 
{
    private BigDecimal rate;
    private BigDecimal dollar;
    private Date date;
    
    //For Testing
    private final JFrame frame;

    public TestFormattedText(JFrame frame)
    {
        this.frame = frame;
        rate = BigDecimal.valueOf(.123);
        dollar = BigDecimal.valueOf(1000000.00);
        date = new Date();
        jbInit();
    }
    
    private void jbInit()
    {
        Font font = new Font("Verdana", Font.PLAIN, 24);
        setFont(font);
        setPreferredSize(new Dimension(350,150));
        setBackground( new Color(18, 30, 49));   

        NumberFormat rateFormat = NumberFormat.getPercentInstance();
        rateFormat.setMaximumFractionDigits(3);
        JFormattedTextField rateTF = new JFormattedTextField(rateFormat);
        rateTF.setColumns(10);
        rateTF.setFont(font);
        rateTF.setValue(rate);

        JLabel label1 = new JLabel("Rate");
        label1.setFont(font);
        label1.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.RIGHT);
        label1.setLabelFor(rateTF);
        add(label1);

        add(rateTF);

        NumberFormat dollarFormat = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance();
        dollarFormat.setMaximumFractionDigits(2);
        JFormattedTextField dollarTF = new JFormattedTextField(dollarFormat);
        dollarTF.setColumns(10);
        dollarTF.setFont(font);
        dollarTF.setValue(dollar);

        JLabel label2 = new JLabel("Dollar");
        label2.setFont(font);
        label2.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.RIGHT);
        label2.setLabelFor(dollarTF);
        add(label2);

        add(dollarTF);
        
        DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("MM-dd-yy");
        DateFormatter dateFormatter = new DateFormatter(dateFormat);
        JFormattedTextField dateTF = new JFormattedTextField(dateFormatter);
        dateTF.setFont(font);
        dateTF.setValue(date);

        JLabel label3 = new JLabel("Date");
        label3.setFont(font);
        label3.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.RIGHT);
        label3.setLabelFor(dateTF);
        add(label3);

        add(dateTF);
        
    }
        
    public static void makeUI() throws UnsupportedLookAndFeelException 
    {
        // Dark LAF
        UIManager.setLookAndFeel(new NimbusLookAndFeel());
        UIManager.put("control", new Color(128, 128, 128));
        UIManager.put("info", new Color(128, 128, 128));
        UIManager.put("nimbusBase", new Color(18, 30, 49));
        UIManager.put("nimbusAlertYellow", new Color(248, 187, 0));
        UIManager.put("nimbusDisabledText", new Color(128, 128, 128));
        UIManager.put("nimbusFocus", new Color(115, 164, 209));
        UIManager.put("nimbusGreen", new Color(176, 179, 50));
        UIManager.put("nimbusInfoBlue", new Color(66, 139, 221));
        UIManager.put("nimbusLightBackground", new Color(18, 30, 49));
        UIManager.put("nimbusOrange", new Color(191, 98, 4));
        UIManager.put("nimbusRed", new Color(169, 46, 34));
        UIManager.put("nimbusSelectedText", new Color(255, 255, 255));
        UIManager.put("nimbusSelectionBackground", new Color(104, 93, 156));
        UIManager.put("text", new Color(230, 230, 230));
        try 
        {
            for (javax.swing.UIManager.LookAndFeelInfo info : javax.swing.UIManager.getInstalledLookAndFeels()) 
            {
              if ("Nimbus".equals(info.getName())) {
                  javax.swing.UIManager.setLookAndFeel(info.getClassName());
                  break;
              }
            }
        } 
        catch (ClassNotFoundException | IllegalAccessException | InstantiationException | UnsupportedLookAndFeelException e) 
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } 
        
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Formatted Test");
        frame.setSize(40,40) ;
        
        Dimension screenSize = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize();
        Dimension frameSize = frame.getSize();
        if (frameSize.height > screenSize.height)
        {
           frameSize.height = screenSize.height;
        }
        if (frameSize.width > screenSize.width)
        {
           frameSize.width = screenSize.width;
        }
        frame.setLocation((screenSize.width - frameSize.width) / 2, (screenSize.height - frameSize.height) / 2);
        TestFormattedText form = new TestFormattedText( frame);
        frame.getContentPane().add(form);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {

        //UIManager.setLookAndFeel("com.sun.java.swing.plaf.windows.WindowsLookAndFeel");
        makeUI();
    }
}

[Paul Clapham]

I guess that's what the NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance() method gives you. Although I have to say, the API documentation for NumberFormat doesn't give you examples which would tell you that.

If you just want to format decimal numbers with a fixed number of decimal places then DecimalFormat is what you want. Although if you need your code to work in many countries, some of which don't have decimal places in their currency, you will have some extra work.

[Rob Camick]

for instance for the rate enter .2 and hit enter.

Seems to work in the Swing tutorial on How to Use Formatted Text Fields.

Formatting is done when focus leaves the field.

[Michelle Nicholes]

You statement is incorrect for what I asked.  The demo in the link you provided is not displaying the percentage with the percent symbol and allowing you to enter without the symbol as I stated in my question.  So no, its not working as I asked.

[Rob Camick]

Oops, my mistake, I understand the issue now.

As a workaround, add a FocusListner to the text field and manually add the special character when focus is lost.