Is it possible to have hidden data for each item in the list?

Question

JComponents can obtain hidden data using setName() and getName(), right? What about JComboBox items? (I'm referring to the items in the JComboBox, NOT the JComboBox itself)

What if I have a JComboBox, and inside it I have a list of usernames (for example), now I want to have something like 'id' for each username in the list according to how they are ordered, what's the best way to do this?

Answer 1

Your object :

public class Item {

    private int id;
    private String name;

    public Item(int id, String name) {
        this.id = id;
        this.name = name;
    }

    public int getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(int id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public String toString(){
        return this.name;
    }
}

Add items to your JComboBox :

JComboBox combo;

combo.addItem(new Item(1, "Test"));
combo.addItem(new Item(15,"Test 2"));

And get Item :

Item selected_item = (Item) combo.getSelectedItem();

System.out.println(selected_item.getId());
System.out.println(selected_item.getName());

Answer 2

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.util.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.plaf.basic.*;

public class ComboBoxItem extends JFrame implements ActionListener
{
    public ComboBoxItem()
    {
        Vector model = new Vector();
        model.addElement( new Item(1, "car" ) );
        model.addElement( new Item(2, "plane" ) );
        model.addElement( new Item(3, "train" ) );
        model.addElement( new Item(4, "boat" ) );
        model.addElement( new Item(5, "boat aadf asfsdf a asd asd" ) );

        JComboBox comboBox;

        //  Easiest approach is to just override toString() method
        //  of the Item class

        comboBox = new JComboBox( model );
        comboBox.addActionListener( this );
        comboBox.putClientProperty("JComboBox.isTableCellEditor", Boolean.TRUE);
        getContentPane().add(comboBox, BorderLayout.NORTH );

        //  Most flexible approach is to create a custom render
        //  to diplay the Item data

        comboBox = new JComboBox( model );
        comboBox.setRenderer( new ItemRenderer() );
        comboBox.addActionListener( this );
        getContentPane().add(comboBox, BorderLayout.SOUTH );
    }

    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
    {
        JComboBox comboBox = (JComboBox)e.getSource();
        Item item = (Item)comboBox.getSelectedItem();
        System.out.println( item.getId() + " : " + item.getDescription() );
    }

    class ItemRenderer extends BasicComboBoxRenderer
    {
        public Component getListCellRendererComponent(
            JList list, Object value, int index,
            boolean isSelected, boolean cellHasFocus)
        {
            super.getListCellRendererComponent(list, value, index,
                isSelected, cellHasFocus);

            if (value != null)
            {
                Item item = (Item)value;
                setText( item.getDescription().toUpperCase() );
            }

            if (index == -1)
            {
                Item item = (Item)value;
                setText( "" + item.getId() );
            }


            return this;
        }
    }

    class Item
    {
        private int id;
        private String description;

        public Item(int id, String description)
        {
            this.id = id;
            this.description = description;
        }

        public int getId()
        {
            return id;
        }

        public String getDescription()
        {
            return description;
        }

        public String toString()
        {
            return description;
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        JFrame frame = new ComboBoxItem();
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation( EXIT_ON_CLOSE );
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible( true );
     }

}

Also check out: Combo Box With Hidden Data for more information on these approaches.

Answer 3

Create a User class which has the attributes username and id; return only username in .toString().