Clear Selection in table view on clicking on empty rows in javafx

Question

I have a TableView with some rows. The user can select any row but when he clicks on empty rows or anywhere on the Stage, I want to clear his current selection of the TableView.

Answer 1

You can add a event filter to the Scene that uses the selection model of the TableView to clear the selection, if the click was on a empty row or anywhere outside of a TableView:

scene.addEventFilter(MouseEvent.MOUSE_CLICKED, evt -> {
    Node source = evt.getPickResult().getIntersectedNode();

    // move up through the node hierarchy until a TableRow or scene root is found 
    while (source != null && !(source instanceof TableRow)) {
        source = source.getParent();
    }


    // clear selection on click anywhere but on a filled row
    if (source == null || (source instanceof TableRow && ((TableRow) source).isEmpty())) {
        tableView.getSelectionModel().clearSelection();
    }
});