JavaFX TextArea get caret position from coordinate

Question

Is it possible to get the caret position (an int) at a screen coordinate (2 double) in JavaFX TextArea?

Answer 1

You can use the getInsertionPoint method of the TextAreaSkin in your drag handler:

TextAreaSkin skin = (TextAreaSkin) target.getSkin();
int insertionPoint = skin.getInsertionPoint(event.getX(),  event.getY());
target.positionCaret( insertionPoint);

However, the skin class is in com.sun.javafx.*, so with Java 9 coming out you'll probably have to do things differently then. Nobody knows what they'll break or what they provide as replacement. However, with Java 8 it works (for now).

Full example in which you can drag a Label's text into any position in the TextArea:

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.event.EventHandler;
import javafx.geometry.Insets;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.control.TextArea;
import javafx.scene.input.ClipboardContent;
import javafx.scene.input.DragEvent;
import javafx.scene.input.Dragboard;
import javafx.scene.input.MouseEvent;
import javafx.scene.input.TransferMode;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.scene.paint.Color;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

import com.sun.javafx.scene.control.skin.TextAreaSkin;

// Parts of this drag/drop example are from https://docs.oracle.com/javafx/2/drag_drop/HelloDragAndDrop.java.html
public class TextAreaDemo extends Application {

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

    @Override
    public void start(Stage primaryStage) {

        Label source = new Label( "Draggable Text");

        TextArea target = new TextArea();
        target.setPrefRowCount(10);
        target.setPrefColumnCount(100);
        target.setWrapText(true);
        target.setPrefWidth(150);

        String cssDefault = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, et bonorum pertinacia est, verear temporibus definitionem nam an, ius cu justo legimus philosophia. Adversarium complectitur at sit, his ex sumo nibh consequuntur. Et vim adhuc mnesarchum, eum in ignota integre tincidunt. Erant oblique alterum no eos.";

        target.setText(cssDefault);

        HBox root = new HBox();
        root.setSpacing(10);
        HBox.setMargin(source, new Insets(10,10,10,10));
        HBox.setMargin(target, new Insets(10,10,10,10));
        root.getChildren().addAll( source, target);

        Scene scene = new Scene(root, 600, 330, Color.WHITE);
        primaryStage.setScene(scene);
        primaryStage.show();

        source.setOnDragDetected(new EventHandler <MouseEvent>() {
            public void handle(MouseEvent event) {

                /* allow any transfer mode */
                Dragboard db = source.startDragAndDrop(TransferMode.ANY);

                /* put a string on dragboard */
                ClipboardContent content = new ClipboardContent();
                content.putString(source.getText());
                db.setContent(content);

                event.consume();
            }
        });

        target.setOnDragOver(new EventHandler <DragEvent>() {
            public void handle(DragEvent event) {

                /* accept it only if it is  not dragged from the same node 
                 * and if it has a string data */
                if (event.getGestureSource() != target &&
                        event.getDragboard().hasString()) {
                    /* allow for both copying and moving, whatever user chooses */
                    event.acceptTransferModes(TransferMode.COPY_OR_MOVE);

                    // position caret at drag coordinates 
                    TextAreaSkin skin = (TextAreaSkin) target.getSkin();
                    int insertionPoint = skin.getInsertionPoint(event.getX(),  event.getY());
                    target.positionCaret( insertionPoint);

                }

                event.consume();
            }
        });

        target.setOnDragDropped(new EventHandler <DragEvent>() {
            public void handle(DragEvent event) {

                /* if there is a string data on dragboard, read it and use it */
                Dragboard db = event.getDragboard();
                boolean success = false;
                if (db.hasString()) {
                    target.insertText( target.getCaretPosition(), db.getString());
                    success = true;
                }
                /* let the source know whether the string was successfully 
                 * transferred and used */
                event.setDropCompleted(success);
                event.consume();
            }
        });
    }
}

Answer 2

import com.sun.javafx.scene.control.skin.TextAreaSkin;
import com.sun.javafx.scene.text.HitInfo;
/****************************************************/

TextAreaSkin skin = (TextAreaSkin) target.getSkin();
HitInfo mouseHit = skin.getIndex(e.getX(), e.getY());
// Now you can position caret
skin.positionCaret(mouseHit, false, false);
// And/or get insertion index
int insertionPoint = mouseHit.getInsertionIndex();

For TextArea this method is equivalent to Roland’s answer. The practical difference of this method is its applicability to TextField (another subclass of TextInputControl):

TextFieldSkin skin = (TextFieldSkin) target.getSkin();
HitInfo mouseHit = skin.getIndex(e.getX(), e.getY());
skin.positionCaret(mouseHit, false);
int insertionPoint = mouseHit.getInsertionIndex();

Unfortunately, TextFieldSkin does not override the getInsertionPoint(...) and the parent's implementation returns 0 so the alternative solution does not work here.

Regarding Java 9, both Roland’s and my answers will still work. The packages com.sun.javafx.scene.control.skin and com.sun.javafx.scene.text (where HitInfo class is located) are moving to the public API in Java 9. Their locations will be javafx.scene.control.skin and javafx.scene.text, respectively. See Javadocs for JavaFX 9 here: http://download.java.net/java/jdk9/jfxdocs/index.html