How to enable commit on focusLost for TableView/TreeTableView?

Question

Is there any simple approach to let the TreeTableView (or TableView) try to commit values on focus lost?

Unfortunatly I didn't succed with any default-implementations of javafx TableCellFactories, which is why I tried my own TreeTableCell implementations and also some different tableCell implementations like the one from Graham Smith, which seemed the most straight forward, since it already implemented a hook for focus lost, but nevertheless the value is never committed and the userchanges are resetted to the original value.

My guess is, whenever focus is lost, the editingProperty of the affected Cell is always already false which causes the Cell never to commit a value on focusLost. Here the relevant part from the original (oracle-)TreeTableCell Implementation (8u20ea), which causes my approaches to fail:

 @Override public void commitEdit(T newValue) {
        if (! isEditing()) return; // <-- here my approaches are blocked, because on focus lost its not editing anymore.

        final TreeTableView<S> table = getTreeTableView();
        if (table != null) {
            @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
            TreeTablePosition<S,T> editingCell = (TreeTablePosition<S,T>) table.getEditingCell();

            // Inform the TableView of the edit being ready to be committed.
            CellEditEvent<S,T> editEvent = new CellEditEvent<S,T>(
                table,
                editingCell,
                TreeTableColumn.<S,T>editCommitEvent(),
                newValue
            );

            Event.fireEvent(getTableColumn(), editEvent);
        }

        // inform parent classes of the commit, so that they can switch us
        // out of the editing state.
        // This MUST come before the updateItem call below, otherwise it will
        // call cancelEdit(), resulting in both commit and cancel events being
        // fired (as identified in RT-29650)
        super.commitEdit(newValue);

        // update the item within this cell, so that it represents the new value
        updateItem(newValue, false);

        if (table != null) {
            // reset the editing cell on the TableView
            table.edit(-1, null);

            // request focus back onto the table, only if the current focus
            // owner has the table as a parent (otherwise the user might have
            // clicked out of the table entirely and given focus to something else.
            // It would be rude of us to request it back again.
            ControlUtils.requestFocusOnControlOnlyIfCurrentFocusOwnerIsChild(table);
        }
    }

I succeded with overriding this method and commiting the value "by hand" before the original commitEdit() method is called, but this causes the commit on keys like enter to commit the value twice (on key + on focus lost). Moreover I dont really like my approach at all, so I wonder, if anyone else has solved this in a "nicer" way?

Answer 1

After some digging, turned out that the culprit (aka: the collaborator that cancels the edit before the textField looses focus) is the TableCellBehaviour/Base in its processing of a mousePressed:

• mousePressed calls simpleSelect(..)
• on detecting a single click it calls edit(-1, null)
• which calls the same method on TableView
• which sets its editingCell property to null
• a tableCell listens to that property and reacts by canceling its own edit

Unfortunately, a hackaround requires 3 collaborators

• a TableView with additional api to terminate an edit
• a TableCellBehaviour with overridden simpleSelect(...) that calls the additional api (instead of edit(-1..)) before calling super
• a TableCell that is configured with the extended behaviour and is aware of table's extended properties

Some code snippets (full code) :

// on XTableView:
public void terminateEdit() {
    if (!isEditing()) return;
    // terminatingCell is a property that supporting TableCells can listen to
    setTerminatingCell(getEditingCell());
    if (isEditing()) throw new IllegalStateException(
          "expected editing to be terminated but was " + getEditingCell());
    setTerminatingCell(null);
}

// on XTableCellBehaviour: override simpleSelect
@Override
protected void simpleSelect(MouseEvent e) {
    TableCell<S, T> cell = getControl();
    TableView<S> table = cell.getTableColumn().getTableView();
    if (table instanceof XTableView) {
        ((XTableView<S>) table).terminateEdit();
    }
    super.simpleSelect(e);
}

// on XTextFieldTableCell - this method is called from listener
// to table's terminatingCell property
protected void terminateEdit(TablePosition<S, ?> newPosition) {
    if (!isEditing() || !match(newPosition)) return;
    commitEdit();
}

protected void commitEdit() {
    T edited = getConverter().fromString(myTextField.getText());
    commitEdit(edited);
}

/**
 * Implemented to create XTableCellSkin which supports terminating edits.
 */
@Override
protected Skin<?> createDefaultSkin() {
    return new XTableCellSkin<S, T>(this);
}

Note: the implementation of TableCellBehaviour changed massively between jdk8u5 and jdk8u20 (joys of hacking - not fit for production use ;-) - the method to override in the latter is handleClicks(..)

BTW: massive votingfor JDK-8089514 (was RT-18492 in old jira) might speed up a core fix. Unfortunately, at least the author role is needed to vote/comment bugs in the new tracker.

Answer 2

I also needed this functionality and did some study. I faced some stability issues with XTableView hacking mentioned above.

As problem seems to be commitEdit() won't take effect when focus is lost, why you don't just call your own commit callback from TableCell as follows:

public class SimpleEditingTextTableCell extends TableCell {
    private TextArea textArea;
    Callback commitChange;

    public SimpleEditingTextTableCell(Callback commitChange) {
        this.commitChange = commitChange;
    }

    @Override
    public void startEdit() {
         ...

        getTextArea().focusedProperty().addListener(new ChangeListener<Boolean>() {
            @Override
            public void changed(ObservableValue<? extends Boolean> arg0, Boolean arg1, Boolean arg2) {
                if (!arg2) {
                    //commitEdit is replaced with own callback
                    //commitEdit(getTextArea().getText());

                    //Update item now since otherwise, it won't get refreshed
                    setItem(getTextArea().getText());
                    //Example, provide TableRow and index to get Object of TableView in callback implementation
                    commitChange.call(new TableCellChangeInfo(getTableRow(), getTableRow().getIndex(), getTextArea().getText()));
                }
            }
        });
       ...
    }
    ...
}

In cell factory, you just store committed value to the object or do whatever necessary to make it permanent:

col.setCellFactory(new Callback<TableColumn<Object, String>, TableCell<Object, String>>() {
            @Override
            public TableCell<Object, String> call(TableColumn<Object, String> p) {
                return new SimpleEditingTextTableCell(cellChange -> {
                            TableCellChangeInfo changeInfo = (TableCellChangeInfo)cellChange;
                            Object obj = myTableView.getItems().get(changeInfo.getRowIndex());
                            //Save committed value to the object in tableview (and maybe to DB)
                            obj.field = changeInfo.getChangedObj().toString();
                            return true;
                        });
            }
        });

So far, I have not been able to find any problems with this workaround. On the other hand, I haven't been yet done extensive testing on this either.

EDIT: Well, after some testing noticed, the workaround was working well with big data in tableview but with empty tableview cell was not getting updated after focus lost, only when double clicking it again. There would be ways to refresh table view but that too much hacking for me...

EDIT2: Added setItem(getTextArea().getText()); before calling callback -> works with empty tableview as well.

Answer 3

With reservation of this being a dumb suggestion. Seems too easy. But why don't you just override TableCell#cancelEdit() and save the values manually when it is invoked? When the cell loses focus, cancelEdit() is always invoked to cancel the edit.

class EditableCell extends TableCell<ObservableList<StringProperty>, String> {

    private TextField textfield = new TextField();
    private int colIndex;
    private String originalValue = null;

    public EditableCell(int colIndex) {
        this.colIndex = colIndex;
        textfield.prefHeightProperty().bind(heightProperty().subtract(2.0d));
        this.setPadding(new Insets(0));
        this.setAlignment(Pos.CENTER);

        textfield.setOnAction(e -> {
            cancelEdit();
        });

        textfield.setOnKeyPressed(e -> {
            if (e.getCode().equals(KeyCode.ESCAPE)) {
                textfield.setText(originalValue);
            }
        });
    }

    @Override
    public void updateItem(String item, boolean empty) {
        super.updateItem(item, empty);
        if (isEmpty()) {
            setText(null);
            setGraphic(null);
        } else {
            if (isEditing()) {
                textfield.setText(item);
                setGraphic(textfield);
                setText(null);
            } else {
                setText(item);
                setGraphic(null);
            }
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void startEdit() {
        super.startEdit();
        originalValue = getItem();
        textfield.setText(getItem());
        setGraphic(textfield);
        setText(null);
    }

    @Override
    public void cancelEdit() {
        super.cancelEdit();
        setGraphic(null);
        setText(textfield.getText());
        ObservableList<StringProperty> row = getTableView().getItems().get(getIndex());
        row.get(colIndex).set(getText());
    }
}

I don't know. Maybe I'm missing something. But it seems to work for me.

Update: Added cancel edit functionality. You can now cancel the edit by pressing escape while focusing the text field. Also added so that you can save the edit by pressing enter while focusing the textfield.

Answer 4

I prefer building as much as possible on the existing code, and since this behaviour is still not fixed w/ Java 10, here's a more general approach based on J. Duke's solution from bug: JDK-8089311.

public class TextFieldTableCellAutoCmt<S, T> extends TextFieldTableCell<S, T> {

    protected TextField txtFldRef;
    protected boolean isEdit;

    public TextFieldTableCellAutoCmt() {
        this(null);
    }

    public TextFieldTableCellAutoCmt(final StringConverter<T> conv) {
        super(conv);
    }

    public static <S> Callback<TableColumn<S, String>, TableCell<S, String>> forTableColumn() {
        return forTableColumn(new DefaultStringConverter());
    }

    public static <S, T> Callback<TableColumn<S, T>, TableCell<S, T>> forTableColumn(final StringConverter<T> conv) {
        return list -> new TextFieldTableCellAutoCmt<S, T>(conv);
    }

    @Override
    public void startEdit() {
        super.startEdit();
        isEdit = true;
        if (updTxtFldRef()) {
            txtFldRef.focusedProperty().addListener(this::onFocusChg);
            txtFldRef.setOnKeyPressed(this::onKeyPrs);
        }
    }

    /**
     * @return whether {@link #txtFldRef} has been changed
     */
    protected boolean updTxtFldRef() {
        final Node g = getGraphic();
        final boolean isUpd = g != null && txtFldRef != g;
        if (isUpd) {
            txtFldRef = g instanceof TextField ? (TextField) g : null;
        }
        return isUpd;
    }

    @Override
    public void commitEdit(final T valNew) {
        if (isEditing()) {
            super.commitEdit(valNew);
        } else {
            final TableView<S> tbl = getTableView();
            if (tbl != null) {
                final TablePosition<S, T> pos = new TablePosition<>(tbl, getTableRow().getIndex(), getTableColumn()); // instead of tbl.getEditingCell()
                final CellEditEvent<S, T> ev  = new CellEditEvent<>(tbl, pos, TableColumn.editCommitEvent(), valNew);
                Event.fireEvent(getTableColumn(), ev);
            }
            updateItem(valNew, false);
            if (tbl != null) {
                tbl.edit(-1, null);
            }
            // TODO ControlUtils.requestFocusOnControlOnlyIfCurrentFocusOwnerIsChild(tbl);
        }
    }

    public void onFocusChg(final ObservableValue<? extends Boolean> obs, final boolean v0, final boolean v1) {
        if (isEdit && !v1) {
            commitEdit(getConverter().fromString(txtFldRef.getText()));
        }
    }

    protected void onKeyPrs(final KeyEvent e) {
        switch (e.getCode()) {
        case ESCAPE:
            isEdit = false;
            cancelEdit(); // see CellUtils#createTextField(...)
            e.consume();
            break;
        case TAB:
            if (e.isShiftDown()) {
                getTableView().getSelectionModel().selectPrevious();
            } else {
                getTableView().getSelectionModel().selectNext();
            }
            e.consume();
            break;
        case UP:
            getTableView().getSelectionModel().selectAboveCell();
            e.consume();
            break;
        case DOWN:
            getTableView().getSelectionModel().selectBelowCell();
            e.consume();
            break;
        default:
            break;
        }
    }
}

Answer 5

Since TextFieldTableCell is missing functionality (as reckoned in the JDK bug tracker), an alternative solution may work. Forget about TextFieldTableCell and use a custom TableCell class with a TextField in it. The custom TableCell:

public class CommentCell extends TableCell<ListItem, String> {

    private final TextField comment = new TextField();

    public CommentCell() {
        this.comment.setMaxWidth( Integer.MAX_VALUE );
        this.comment.setDisable( true );
        this.comment.focusedProperty().addListener( new ChangeListener<Boolean>() {
            @Override
            public void changed( ObservableValue<? extends Boolean> arg0, Boolean oldPropertyValue,
                    Boolean newPropertyValue ) {
                if ( !newPropertyValue ) {
                    // Binding the TextField text to the model
                    MainController.getInstance().setComment( getTableRow().getIndex(), comment.getText() );
                }
            }
        } );
        this.setGraphic( this.comment );
    }

    @Override
    protected void updateItem( String s, boolean empty ) {
        // Checking if the TextField should be editable (based on model condition)
        if ( MainController.getInstance().isDependency( getTableRow().getIndex() ) ) {
            this.comment.setDisable( false );
            this.comment.setEditable( true );
        }
        // Setting the model value as the text for the TextField
        if ( s != null && !s.isEmpty() ) {
            this.comment.setText( s );
        }
    }
}

The UI display might differ from a TextFieldTableCell but at least, it allows for better usability:

UI Display

Answer 6

I found a simple solution to this, one just needs to provide the commit function to column specific to data type:

TableColumn msgstr = new TableColumn("msgstr");
msgstr.setMinWidth(100);
msgstr.prefWidthProperty().bind(widthProperty().divide(3));
msgstr.setCellValueFactory(
        new PropertyValueFactory<>("msgstr")
);
msgstr.setOnEditCommit(new EventHandler<CellEditEvent<PoEntry, String>>() {
@Override
public void handle(CellEditEvent<PoEntry, String> t) {
    ((PoEntry)t.getTableView().getItems().get(t.getTablePosition().getRow())).setMsgstr(t.getNewValue());
}
});

Answer 7

You'll need:

• a CellEditor;
• a TableCell or TreeCell subclass; and
• a cell factory method.

For more details on the classes shown below, see:

• CellEditor
• AltTableCell
• AltTreeCell

CellEditor

The CellEditor is responsible for handling the Esc and Enter, as well as focus loss:

import javafx.beans.property.ObjectProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.Property;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleStringProperty;
import javafx.beans.value.ChangeListener;
import javafx.beans.value.ObservableValue;
import javafx.event.EventHandler;
import javafx.scene.Node;
import javafx.scene.control.TableCell;
import javafx.scene.control.TextField;
import javafx.scene.control.TreeCell;
import javafx.scene.input.KeyEvent;

import java.util.function.Consumer;

import static javafx.application.Platform.runLater;
import static javafx.scene.input.KeyCode.ENTER;
import static javafx.scene.input.KeyCode.TAB;
import static javafx.scene.input.KeyEvent.KEY_RELEASED;

public class CellEditor {
  private FocusListener mFocusListener;
  private final Property<String> mInputText = new SimpleStringProperty();
  private final Consumer<String> mConsumer;

  /**
   * Responsible for accepting the text when users press the Enter or Tab key.
   */
  private class KeyHandler implements EventHandler<KeyEvent> {
    @Override
    public void handle( final KeyEvent event ) {
      if( event.getCode() == ENTER || event.getCode() == TAB ) {
        commitEdit();
        event.consume();
      }
    }
  }

  /**
   * Responsible for committing edits when focus is lost. This will also
   * deselect the input field when focus is gained so that typing text won't
   * overwrite the entire existing text.
   */
  private class FocusListener implements ChangeListener<Boolean> {
    private final TextField mInput;

    private FocusListener( final TextField input ) {
      mInput = input;
    }

    @Override
    public void changed(
      final ObservableValue<? extends Boolean> c,
      final Boolean endedFocus, final Boolean beganFocus ) {

      if( beganFocus ) {
        runLater( mInput::deselect );
      }
      else if( endedFocus ) {
        commitEdit();
      }
    }
  }

  /**
   * Generalized cell editor suitable for use with {@link TableCell} or
   * {@link TreeCell} instances.
   *
   * @param consumer        Converts the field input text to the required
   *                        data type.
   * @param graphicProperty Defines the graphical user input field.
   */
  public CellEditor(
    final Consumer<String> consumer,
    final ObjectProperty<Node> graphicProperty ) {
    assert consumer != null;
    mConsumer = consumer;

    init( graphicProperty );
  }

  private void init( final ObjectProperty<Node> graphicProperty ) {
    final var keyHandler = new KeyHandler();

    // When the text field is added as the graphics context, we hook into
    // the changed value to get a handle on the text field. From there it is
    // possible to add change the keyboard and focus behaviours.
    graphicProperty.addListener( ( c, o, n ) -> {
      if( o instanceof TextField ) {
        o.removeEventHandler( KEY_RELEASED, keyHandler );
        o.focusedProperty().removeListener( mFocusListener );
      }

      if( n instanceof final TextField input ) {
        n.addEventFilter( KEY_RELEASED, keyHandler );
        mInputText.bind( input.textProperty() );
        mFocusListener = new FocusListener( input );
        n.focusedProperty().addListener( mFocusListener );
      }
    } );
  }

  private void commitEdit() {
    mConsumer.accept( mInputText.getValue() );
  }
}

AltTableCell

The only difference between an AltTableCell and an AltTreeCell is the inheritance hierarchy. They are otherwise identical:

public class AltTableCell<S, T> extends TextFieldTableCell<S, T> {
  public AltTableCell( final StringConverter<T> converter ) {
    super( converter );

    assert converter != null;

    new CellEditor(
      input -> commitEdit( getConverter().fromString( input ) ),
      graphicProperty()
    );
  }
}

To be concrete, the AltTreeCell would begin:

public class AltTreeCell<T> extends TextFieldTreeCell<T>

Cell factory method

Assign the alternate table cell to the table column's cell factory:

final var column = new TableColumn<Entry<K, V>, T>( label );

column.setEditable( true );
column.setCellFactory(
  tableColumn -> new AltTableCell<>(
    new StringConverter<>() {
      @Override
      public String toString( final T object ) {
        return object.toString();
      }

      @Override
      public T fromString( final String string ) {
        return (T) string;
      }
    }
  )
);

For a tree cell, it's fairly similar:

final var view = new TreeView<>(); // ...

view.setEditable( true );
view.setCellFactory( treeView -> new AltTreeCell<>( converter ) );