Create Auto-suggestion on JComboBox

There is some library you can use such as SwingX or JIDE.

<dependency>
	<groupId>org.swinglabs</groupId>
	<artifactId>swingx</artifactId>
	<version>1.6.1</version>
</dependency>

<dependency>
	<groupId>com.jidesoft</groupId>
	<artifactId>jide-oss</artifactId>
	<version>3.5.13</version>
</dependency>

Or you can create it by learn this approach: http://www.orbital-computer.de/JComboBox/.

But all solution above, is Auto-complete. Like this:

Auto-copmlete

Auto-complete will suggest item that start with some text.

But what I am try to discuss here, how to create Auto-suggestion JComboBox that suggest any item that start or end with some text. For example:

Auto-suggestion

And how to create that one? We can’t just modified some library huh? Can we modified example from link http://www.orbital-computer.de/JComboBox/ above?  May be you can modified from there but that example are too complicated for me.

While I’m googling, I found another approach here: http://www.badkernel.com/2011/06/java-swing-dynamic-combo-box/. Basically you can use this approach to create Auto-complete JComboBox. But if we took a look on method updateModel:

public void updateModel(String in) {
	data.clear();
	// lets find any items which start with the string the user typed, and
	// add it to the popup list
	// here you would usually get your items from a database, or some other
	// storage...
	for (String s : db)
		if (s.startsWith(in))
			data.add(s);

	super.fireContentsChanged(this, 0, data.size());

	// this is a hack to get around redraw problems when changing the list
	// length of the displayed popups
	cb.hidePopup();
	cb.showPopup();
	if (data.size() != 0)
		cb.setSelectedIndex(0);
}

On line 8, we see that if s start with in, then we add s to data. To create Auto-suggestion JComboBox, you can modify this line to:

if (s.contains(in))

So now you can use that class for Auto-suggestion JComboBox. Here a complete SearchBoxModel class that I’ve modified:

import java.awt.event.ItemEvent;
import java.awt.event.ItemListener;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyListener;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import javax.swing.AbstractListModel;
import javax.swing.ComboBoxEditor;
import javax.swing.ComboBoxModel;
import javax.swing.JComboBox;
import javax.swing.JTextField;

public class SearchBoxModel extends AbstractListModel implements ComboBoxModel,
		KeyListener, ItemListener {
	ArrayList<String> db = new ArrayList<String>();
	ArrayList<String> data = new ArrayList<String>();
	String selection;
	JComboBox cb;
	ComboBoxEditor cbe;
	int currPos = 0;

	public SearchBoxModel(JComboBox jcb) {

		cb = jcb;
		cbe = jcb.getEditor();
		// here we add the key listener to the text field that the combobox is
		// wrapped around
		cbe.getEditorComponent().addKeyListener(this);

		// set up our "database" of items - in practice you will usuallu have a
		// proper db.
		db.add("aluminium");
		db.add("iron");
		db.add("iron oxide (2+)");
		db.add("iron oxide (3+)");
		db.add("sodium");
		db.add("sodium chloride");
		db.add("titanium");
		db.add("selenium");
		db.add("potassium");
		db.add("polonium");
		db.add("aluminium chloride");
	}

	public void updateModel(String in) {
		data.clear();
		// lets find any items which start with the string the user typed, and
		// add it to the popup list
		// here you would usually get your items from a database, or some other
		// storage...
		for (String s : db)
			if (s.contains(in))
				data.add(s);

		super.fireContentsChanged(this, 0, data.size());

		// this is a hack to get around redraw problems when changing the list
		// length of the displayed popups
		cb.hidePopup();
		cb.showPopup();
		if (data.size() != 0)
			cb.setSelectedIndex(0);
	}

	public int getSize() {
		return data.size();
	}

	public Object getElementAt(int index) {
		return data.get(index);
	}

	public void setSelectedItem(Object anItem) {
		selection = (String) anItem;
	}

	public Object getSelectedItem() {
		return selection;
	}

	public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e) {
	}

	public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) {
	}

	public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e) {
		String str = cbe.getItem().toString();
		JTextField jtf = (JTextField) cbe.getEditorComponent();
		currPos = jtf.getCaretPosition();

		if (e.getKeyChar() == KeyEvent.CHAR_UNDEFINED) {
			if (e.getKeyCode() != KeyEvent.VK_ENTER) {
				cbe.setItem(str);
				jtf.setCaretPosition(currPos);
			}
		} else if (e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_ENTER){
			cb.setSelectedIndex(cb.getSelectedIndex());
		} else {
			updateModel(cb.getEditor().getItem().toString());
			cbe.setItem(str);
			jtf.setCaretPosition(currPos);
		}
	}

	public void itemStateChanged(ItemEvent e) {
		cbe.setItem(e.getItem().toString());
		cb.setSelectedItem(e.getItem());
	}

}

And how to use it? For example:

JComboBox cmbBox = new JComboBox();
cmbBox = new JComboBox();
cmbBox.setEditable(true);
cmbBox.setBounds(140, 170, 180, 20);
SearchBoxModel sbm = new SearchBoxModel(cmbBox);
cmbBox.setModel(sbm);
cmbBox.addItemListener(sbm);
add(cmbBox);

And that how it works 🙂

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