JavaFX - ListView Item with an Image Button

Question

I'd like to know if there's possible to add an Image Button after every ListView Item. For example:

where those red squares should have a button instead. If it's possible, how can I handle item's button's click event?

EDIT: if there's another control that can do it, please let me know. I'm testing TableView.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

I was testing this recently. My solution:

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
import javafx.event.ActionEvent;
import javafx.event.EventHandler;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.control.ListCell;
import javafx.scene.control.ListView;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.scene.layout.Pane;
import javafx.scene.layout.Priority;
import javafx.scene.layout.StackPane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.util.Callback;

public class SO extends Application {
    static class XCell extends ListCell<String> {
        HBox hbox = new HBox();
        Label label = new Label("(empty)");
        Pane pane = new Pane();
        Button button = new Button("(>)");
        String lastItem;

        public XCell() {
            super();
            hbox.getChildren().addAll(label, pane, button);
            HBox.setHgrow(pane, Priority.ALWAYS);
            button.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
                @Override
                public void handle(ActionEvent event) {
                    System.out.println(lastItem + " : " + event);
                }
            });
        }

        @Override
        protected void updateItem(String item, boolean empty) {
            super.updateItem(item, empty);
            setText(null);  // No text in label of super class
            if (empty) {
                lastItem = null;
                setGraphic(null);
            } else {
                lastItem = item;
                label.setText(item!=null ? item : "<null>");
                setGraphic(hbox);
            }
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void start(Stage primaryStage) throws Exception {
        StackPane pane = new StackPane();
        Scene scene = new Scene(pane, 300, 150);
        primaryStage.setScene(scene);
        ObservableList<String> list = FXCollections.observableArrayList(
                "Item 1", "Item 2", "Item 3", "Item 4");
        ListView<String> lv = new ListView<>(list);
        lv.setCellFactory(new Callback<ListView<String>, ListCell<String>>() {
            @Override
            public ListCell<String> call(ListView<String> param) {
                return new XCell();
            }
        });
        pane.getChildren().add(lv);
        primaryStage.show();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        launch(args);
    }
}

The cells will look like this:

The relevant part is the XCell.updateItem method and the setGraphic call. With setGraphic() usually an icon shall be set for a label, but it works equally well to set a complex Node - in this case the HBox with label and button.

You need to make sure, that the Button's event handler refers to the correct item in the list. In the first link below, it is mentioned, that the currently selected item might be sufficient for now. So fetch the currently selected index in the list when handling the button's event.

You might like to look at these:

• http://fxexperience.com/2012/05/listview-custom-cell-factories-and-context-menus/
• http://docs.oracle.com/javafx/2/ui_controls/list-view.htm

Answer 2

You can also use List of custom HBox objects. Example below shows the use of such custom HBox inner class and process of nesting list of such objects into ListView control.

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
import javafx.scene.Parent;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.control.ListView;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.scene.layout.Priority;
import javafx.stage.Stage;


public class ListViewDemo extends Application {

     public static class HBoxCell extends HBox {
          Label label = new Label();
          Button button = new Button();

          HBoxCell(String labelText, String buttonText) {
               super();

               label.setText(labelText);
               label.setMaxWidth(Double.MAX_VALUE);
               HBox.setHgrow(label, Priority.ALWAYS);

               button.setText(buttonText);

               this.getChildren().addAll(label, button);
          }
     }

     public Parent createContent() {
          BorderPane layout = new BorderPane();

          List<HBoxCell> list = new ArrayList<>();
          for (int i = 0; i < 12; i++) {
               list.add(new HBoxCell("Item " + i, "Button " + i));
          }

          ListView<HBoxCell> listView = new ListView<HBoxCell>();
          ObservableList<HBoxCell> myObservableList = FXCollections.observableList(list);
          listView.setItems(myObservableList);

          layout.setCenter(listView);

          return layout;
     }

     @Override
     public void start(Stage stage) throws Exception {
          stage.setScene(new Scene(createContent()));
          stage.setWidth(300);
          stage.setHeight(200);
          stage.show();
     }

     public static void main(String args[]) {
          launch(args);
     }
}

The result of this implementation will look like this:

However, in order to efficacy manage Buttons events, you should consider in adding additional custom Button object into HBoxCustom constructor method, and create a proper method, which will allow you to control buttons click-events.