Dragging a JLabel with a TransferHandler (Drag and Drop)

Question

I am using a TransferHandler to pass data from a JPanel to a JTextArea as a JLabel (Click somewhere in the left panel to create the JLabel to drag)

The transfer of the data works fine, but I'd like to also "show" the JLabel as its being dragged along with the mouse pointer.

If you comment out

dropLabel.setTransferHandler(new TransferHandler("text"));

dropLabel.getTransferHandler().exportAsDrag(dropLabel, e,
            TransferHandler.COPY);

you will see how I want it to look. (but of course then the data won't be transferred).

How can I get both the transfer to work and the JLabel to follow the mouse cursor?

Here is the code:

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.datatransfer.Transferable;
import java.awt.event.*;

import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.Border;

public class DragTest extends JFrame implements MouseMotionListener,
        MouseListener {

    private JPanel leftPanel = new JPanel(null);
    private JPanel rightPanel = new JPanel(null);
    private JLabel dragLabel = new JLabel("drop");
    private final JWindow window = new JWindow();
    JLabel dropLabel;

    public DragTest() {
        this.setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 2));

        leftPanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.black));
        rightPanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.black));
        this.add(leftPanel);
        this.add(rightPanel);
        leftPanel.addMouseListener(this);
        leftPanel.addMouseMotionListener(this);

        JTextArea area = new JTextArea();

        rightPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 1));
        rightPanel.add(area);

        dragLabel.setFont(new Font("Serif", Font.BOLD, 48));
    }

    @Override
    public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {

        dropLabel = new JLabel("drop");

        Dimension labelSize = dropLabel.getPreferredSize();
        dropLabel.setSize(labelSize);
        int x = e.getX() - labelSize.width / 2;
        int y = e.getY() - labelSize.height / 2;
        dropLabel.setLocation(x, y);
        leftPanel.add(dropLabel);

        dropLabel.setTransferHandler(new TransferHandler("text"));

        dropLabel.getTransferHandler().exportAsDrag(dropLabel, e,
                TransferHandler.COPY);

        repaint();

    }

    @Override
    public void mouseDragged(MouseEvent me) {
        dragLabel = new JLabel("drop");
        dragLabel.setFont(new Font("Serif", Font.BOLD, 48));
        int x = me.getPoint().x;
        int y = me.getPoint().y;
        window.add(dragLabel);
        window.pack();
        Point pt = new Point(x, y);
        Component c = (Component) me.getSource();
        SwingUtilities.convertPointToScreen(pt, c);
        window.setLocation(pt);
        window.setVisible(true);
        repaint();
    }

    @Override
    public void mouseMoved(MouseEvent e) {
    }

    @Override
    public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {

    }

    @Override
    public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent e) {

//      leftPanel.remove(dropLabel);

        window.remove(dragLabel);
        window.setVisible(false);

        repaint();
    }

    @Override
    public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent e) {

    }

    @Override
    public void mouseExited(MouseEvent e) {

    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        DragTest frame = new DragTest();
        frame.setVisible(true);
        frame.setSize(600, 400);
        frame.setResizable(false);
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    }
}

Answer 1

Another example:

Edit: Fix a blinking cursor

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.datatransfer.*;
import java.awt.dnd.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import javax.activation.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.text.*;

public class DragTest3 {
  public JComponent makeUI() {
    DragPanel p1 = new DragPanel();
    p1.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.BLACK));
    p1.add(new JLabel(UIManager.getIcon("OptionPane.warningIcon")));
    p1.add(new JLabel(UIManager.getIcon("OptionPane.errorIcon")));
    p1.add(new JLabel("Label1"));
    p1.add(new JLabel("Label2"));
    MouseListener handler = new Handler();
    p1.addMouseListener(handler);
    LabelTransferHandler th = new LabelTransferHandler();
    p1.setTransferHandler(th);
    JPanel p = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1,2));
    p.add(p1);

    DragPanel p2 = new DragPanel();
    p2.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.BLACK));
    p2.addMouseListener(handler);
    p2.setTransferHandler(th);
    p.add(p2);

    JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(2,1));
    panel.add(p);
    panel.add(new JScrollPane(new JTextArea()));
    return panel;
  }
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
      @Override public void run() {
        createAndShowGUI();
      }
    });
  }
  public static void createAndShowGUI() {
    JFrame f = new JFrame();
    f.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    f.getContentPane().add(new DragTest3().makeUI());
    f.setSize(320, 240);
    f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
    f.setVisible(true);
  }
}
class DragPanel extends JPanel {
  public DragPanel() {
    super();
  }
  public JLabel draggingLabel;
}
class Handler extends MouseAdapter {
  @Override public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {
    DragPanel p = (DragPanel)e.getSource();
    Component c = SwingUtilities.getDeepestComponentAt(p, e.getX(), e.getY());
    if(c!=null && c instanceof JLabel) {
      p.draggingLabel = (JLabel)c;
      p.getTransferHandler().exportAsDrag(p, e, TransferHandler.MOVE);
    }
  }
}
class LabelTransferHandler extends TransferHandler {
  private final DataFlavor localObjectFlavor;
  private final JLabel label = new JLabel() {
    @Override public boolean contains(int x, int y) {
      return false;
    }
  };
  private final JWindow window = new JWindow();
  public LabelTransferHandler() {
    System.out.println("LabelTransferHandler");
    localObjectFlavor = new ActivationDataFlavor(
      DragPanel.class, DataFlavor.javaJVMLocalObjectMimeType, "JLabel");
    window.add(label);
    window.setAlwaysOnTop(true);
    window.setBackground(new Color(0,true));
    DragSource.getDefaultDragSource().addDragSourceMotionListener(
    new DragSourceMotionListener() {
      @Override public void dragMouseMoved(DragSourceDragEvent dsde) {
        Point pt = dsde.getLocation();
        pt.translate(5, 5); // offset
        window.setLocation(pt);
      }
    });
  }
  @Override protected Transferable createTransferable(JComponent c) {
    System.out.println("createTransferable");
    DragPanel p = (DragPanel)c;
    JLabel l = p.draggingLabel;
    String text = l.getText();
    //TEST
    //if(text==null) {
    //    text = l.getIcon().toString();
    //}
    //return new StringSelection(text+"\n");
    final DataHandler dh = new DataHandler(c, localObjectFlavor.getMimeType());
    if(text==null) return dh;
    final StringSelection ss = new StringSelection(text+"\n");
    return new Transferable() {
      @Override public DataFlavor[] getTransferDataFlavors() {
        ArrayList<DataFlavor> list = new ArrayList<>();
        for(DataFlavor f:ss.getTransferDataFlavors()) {
          list.add(f);
        }
        for(DataFlavor f:dh.getTransferDataFlavors()) {
          list.add(f);
        }
        return list.toArray(dh.getTransferDataFlavors());
      }
      public boolean isDataFlavorSupported(DataFlavor flavor) {
        for (DataFlavor f: getTransferDataFlavors()) {
          if (flavor.equals(f)) {
            return true;
          }
        }
        return false;
      }
      public Object getTransferData(DataFlavor flavor) throws UnsupportedFlavorException, IOException {
        if(flavor.equals(localObjectFlavor)) {
          return dh.getTransferData(flavor);
        } else {
          return ss.getTransferData(flavor);
        }
      }
    };
  }
  @Override public boolean canImport(TransferSupport support) {
    if(!support.isDrop()) {
      return false;
    }
    return true;
  }
  @Override public int getSourceActions(JComponent c) {
    System.out.println("getSourceActions");
    DragPanel p = (DragPanel)c;
    label.setIcon(p.draggingLabel.getIcon());
    label.setText(p.draggingLabel.getText());
    window.pack();
    Point pt = p.draggingLabel.getLocation();
    SwingUtilities.convertPointToScreen(pt, p);
    window.setLocation(pt);
    window.setVisible(true);
    return MOVE;
  }
  @Override public boolean importData(TransferSupport support) {
    System.out.println("importData");
    if(!canImport(support)) return false;
    DragPanel target = (DragPanel)support.getComponent();
    try {
      DragPanel src = (DragPanel)support.getTransferable().getTransferData(localObjectFlavor);
      JLabel l = new JLabel();
      l.setIcon(src.draggingLabel.getIcon());
      l.setText(src.draggingLabel.getText());
      target.add(l);
      target.revalidate();
      return true;
    } catch(UnsupportedFlavorException ufe) {
      ufe.printStackTrace();
    } catch(java.io.IOException ioe) {
      ioe.printStackTrace();
    }
    return false;
  }
  @Override protected void exportDone(JComponent c, Transferable data, int action) {
    System.out.println("exportDone");
    DragPanel src = (DragPanel)c;
    if(action == TransferHandler.MOVE) {
      src.remove(src.draggingLabel);
      src.revalidate();
      src.repaint();
    }
    src.draggingLabel = null;
    window.setVisible(false);
  }
}

Answer 2

UPDATE: Unfortunately, you're using a TransferHandler.

The last time I played around with the TransferHandler API (back around 6.10/6.12) there was a bug in the code which ignored the transfer image. It actually set it to null. This may have been fixed in later updates, but I've not checked recently.

After much digging, I've found that the default implementation of the TransferHandler ignores the "getVisualRepresentation(Transferable t)" method. Great isn't it.

I did some digging and the class makes use of a bunch of "private" inner classes to handle the workings of the DnD process, making it next to near impossible to simply change the implementation without having to rewrite the whole thing.

Basically, the DragSource allows you to pass in a image it can use (as to if this works is another question), but it's hidden inside a private DragHandler class. Thanks Sun.