JavaFX ComboBox setItems triggers onAction event

Question

I have an editor in FXML and a controller which sets the domain object upon selection in a treeview. So every time a new object is selected in the treeview, the controller unbinds all controls in the editor from the previous object and binds to the properties of the new domain object. That includes setting values from the domain object in a ComboBox using setItems. The trouble is that setItems triggers the onAction event handler of the ComboBox for every item in the item list. To my understanding onAction should define the code triggered when the user selects an entry from the ComboBox and not when the ComboBox is loaded?!
I could fix this issue with either using something like a mouse release event or a boolean semaphore that disables the actionevent during setItems. However, since I couldn't find somebody else asking for this, I wonder whether something is wrong in more general and I better ask the community.
I created an Exception in my OnAction event handler to print the stacktrace - which helped me to understand what I explained above. Maybe this stacktrace helps you understand what is going on/wrong. The first line is the method which is linked in the FXML to the onActionEvent and the last line in the stacktrace is the setItems call of the ComboBox:

at com.agiletunes.EditorCtrl.versionSelection(EditorCtrl.java:173)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.misc.Trampoline.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor1.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.misc.MethodUtil.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader$MethodHandler.invoke(FXMLLoader.java:1769)
    at javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader$ControllerMethodEventHandler.handle(FXMLLoader.java:1657)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventHandler.dispatchBubblingEvent(CompositeEventHandler.java:86)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventHandlerManager.dispatchBubblingEvent(EventHandlerManager.java:238)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventHandlerManager.dispatchBubblingEvent(EventHandlerManager.java:191)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.CompositeEventDispatcher.dispatchBubblingEvent(CompositeEventDispatcher.java:59)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:58)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.BasicEventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(BasicEventDispatcher.java:56)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventDispatchChainImpl.dispatchEvent(EventDispatchChainImpl.java:114)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventUtil.fireEventImpl(EventUtil.java:74)
    at com.sun.javafx.event.EventUtil.fireEvent(EventUtil.java:49)
    at javafx.event.Event.fireEvent(Event.java:198)
    at javafx.scene.Node.fireEvent(Node.java:8413)
    at com.sun.javafx.scene.control.skin.ComboBoxListViewSkin.handleControlPropertyChanged(ComboBoxListViewSkin.java:179)
    at com.sun.javafx.scene.control.skin.BehaviorSkinBase.lambda$registerChangeListener$61(BehaviorSkinBase.java:197)
    at com.sun.javafx.scene.control.MultiplePropertyChangeListenerHandler$1.changed(MultiplePropertyChangeListenerHandler.java:55)
    at javafx.beans.value.WeakChangeListener.changed(WeakChangeListener.java:89)
    at com.sun.javafx.binding.ExpressionHelper$Generic.fireValueChangedEvent(ExpressionHelper.java:361)
    at com.sun.javafx.binding.ExpressionHelper.fireValueChangedEvent(ExpressionHelper.java:81)
    at javafx.beans.property.ObjectPropertyBase.fireValueChangedEvent(ObjectPropertyBase.java:105)
    at javafx.beans.property.ObjectPropertyBase.markInvalid(ObjectPropertyBase.java:112)
    at javafx.beans.property.ObjectPropertyBase.set(ObjectPropertyBase.java:146)
    at javafx.scene.control.ComboBoxBase.setValue(ComboBoxBase.java:150)
    at javafx.scene.control.ComboBox.updateValue(ComboBox.java:463)
    at javafx.scene.control.ComboBox.access$200(ComboBox.java:192)
    at javafx.scene.control.ComboBox$3.changed(ComboBox.java:446)
    at com.sun.javafx.binding.ExpressionHelper$Generic.fireValueChangedEvent(ExpressionHelper.java:361)
    at com.sun.javafx.binding.ExpressionHelper.fireValueChangedEvent(ExpressionHelper.java:81)
    at javafx.beans.property.ReadOnlyObjectPropertyBase.fireValueChangedEvent(ReadOnlyObjectPropertyBase.java:74)
    at javafx.beans.property.ReadOnlyObjectWrapper.fireValueChangedEvent(ReadOnlyObjectWrapper.java:102)
    at javafx.beans.property.ObjectPropertyBase.markInvalid(ObjectPropertyBase.java:112)
    at javafx.beans.property.ObjectPropertyBase.set(ObjectPropertyBase.java:146)
    at javafx.scene.control.SelectionModel.setSelectedItem(SelectionModel.java:102)
    at javafx.scene.control.ComboBox$ComboBoxSelectionModel.lambda$new$154(ComboBox.java:494)
    at com.sun.javafx.binding.ExpressionHelper$SingleInvalidation.fireValueChangedEvent(ExpressionHelper.java:137)
    at com.sun.javafx.binding.ExpressionHelper.fireValueChangedEvent(ExpressionHelper.java:81)
    at javafx.beans.property.ReadOnlyIntegerPropertyBase.fireValueChangedEvent(ReadOnlyIntegerPropertyBase.java:72)
    at javafx.beans.property.ReadOnlyIntegerWrapper.fireValueChangedEvent(ReadOnlyIntegerWrapper.java:102)
    at javafx.beans.property.IntegerPropertyBase.markInvalid(IntegerPropertyBase.java:113)
    at javafx.beans.property.IntegerPropertyBase.set(IntegerPropertyBase.java:147)
    at javafx.scene.control.SelectionModel.setSelectedIndex(SelectionModel.java:68)
    at javafx.scene.control.SingleSelectionModel.updateSelectedIndex(SingleSelectionModel.java:215)
    at javafx.scene.control.SingleSelectionModel.clearSelection(SingleSelectionModel.java:68)
    at javafx.scene.control.SingleSelectionModel.select(SingleSelectionModel.java:144)
    at com.sun.javafx.scene.control.skin.ComboBoxListViewSkin.lambda$createListView$323(ComboBoxListViewSkin.java:484)
    at com.sun.javafx.binding.ExpressionHelper$Generic.fireValueChangedEvent(ExpressionHelper.java:349)
    at com.sun.javafx.binding.ExpressionHelper.fireValueChangedEvent(ExpressionHelper.java:81)
    at javafx.beans.property.ReadOnlyIntegerPropertyBase.fireValueChangedEvent(ReadOnlyIntegerPropertyBase.java:72)
    at javafx.beans.property.ReadOnlyIntegerWrapper.fireValueChangedEvent(ReadOnlyIntegerWrapper.java:102)
    at javafx.beans.property.IntegerPropertyBase.markInvalid(IntegerPropertyBase.java:113)
    at javafx.beans.property.IntegerPropertyBase.set(IntegerPropertyBase.java:147)
    at javafx.scene.control.SelectionModel.setSelectedIndex(SelectionModel.java:68)
    at javafx.scene.control.MultipleSelectionModelBase.clearSelection(MultipleSelectionModelBase.java:682)
    at javafx.scene.control.ListView$ListViewBitSetSelectionModel.updateDefaultSelection(ListView.java:1481)
    at javafx.scene.control.ListView$ListViewBitSetSelectionModel.updateItemsObserver(ListView.java:1459)
    at javafx.scene.control.ListView$ListViewBitSetSelectionModel.access$1200(ListView.java:1167)
    at javafx.scene.control.ListView$ListViewBitSetSelectionModel$1.invalidated(ListView.java:1197)
    at javafx.beans.WeakInvalidationListener.invalidated(WeakInvalidationListener.java:83)
    at com.sun.javafx.binding.ExpressionHelper$Generic.fireValueChangedEvent(ExpressionHelper.java:349)
    at com.sun.javafx.binding.ExpressionHelper.fireValueChangedEvent(ExpressionHelper.java:81)
    at javafx.beans.property.ObjectPropertyBase.fireValueChangedEvent(ObjectPropertyBase.java:105)
    at javafx.beans.property.ObjectPropertyBase.markInvalid(ObjectPropertyBase.java:112)
    at javafx.beans.property.ObjectPropertyBase.set(ObjectPropertyBase.java:146)
    at javafx.scene.control.ListView.setItems(ListView.java:390)
    at com.sun.javafx.scene.control.skin.ComboBoxListViewSkin.updateListViewItems(ComboBoxListViewSkin.java:222)
    at com.sun.javafx.scene.control.skin.ComboBoxListViewSkin.lambda$new$322(ComboBoxListViewSkin.java:119)
    at javafx.beans.WeakInvalidationListener.invalidated(WeakInvalidationListener.java:83)
    at com.sun.javafx.binding.ExpressionHelper$Generic.fireValueChangedEvent(ExpressionHelper.java:349)
    at com.sun.javafx.binding.ExpressionHelper.fireValueChangedEvent(ExpressionHelper.java:81)
    at javafx.beans.property.ObjectPropertyBase.fireValueChangedEvent(ObjectPropertyBase.java:105)
    at javafx.beans.property.ObjectPropertyBase.markInvalid(ObjectPropertyBase.java:112)
    at javafx.beans.property.ObjectPropertyBase.set(ObjectPropertyBase.java:146)
    at javafx.scene.control.ComboBox.setItems(ComboBox.java:286)
    at com.agiletunes.EditorCtrl.setHierarchicalElement(EditorCtrl.java:120)

Thank you in advance!

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 12 '16 at 10:52

From the Javadoc of onAction

The ComboBox action, which is invoked whenever the ComboBox value property is changed. This may be due to the value property being programmatically changed [or ...]

Replacing the items leads to the value being set to null which may lead to onAction being triggered.

You could simply remove the onAction event handler when you replace the items to prevent it from being triggered or use one of your approach with the boolean.

EventHandler<ActionEvent> handler = comboBox.getOnAction();
comboBox.setOnAction(null);
comboBox.setItems(FXCollections.observableArrayList("4", "5", "6"));
comboBox.setOnAction(handler);

@fabian Do you know another event that is called only when value is changed from the interface, not programatically? Or how I could differentiate between the two cases? — Laura, Nov 17 '17 at 13:01

JavaFX ComboBox setItems triggers onAction event

1 Answers1