Using an empty column as a divider in a JTable

Question

I'm trying to use an empty column as a divider between pairs of columns in a JTable. Here's a picture and code for what I have so far. I know I can change the look using a custom TableCellRenderer. Before I go down that road, is there a better way to do this? Any ideas appreciated.

import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.table.*;

public class TablePanel extends JPanel {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                JFrame f = new JFrame("TablePanel");
                f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
                f.add(new TablePanel());
                f.pack();
                f.setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }

    public TablePanel() {
        TableModel dataModel = new MyModel();
        JTable table = new JTable(dataModel);
        table.getColumnModel().getColumn(MyModel.DIVIDER).setMaxWidth(0);
        JScrollPane jsp = new JScrollPane(table);
        jsp.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);
        this.add(jsp);
    }

    private static class MyModel extends AbstractTableModel {

        private static final int DIVIDER = 2;
        private final String[] names = { "A1", "A2", "", "B1", "B2" };

        @Override
        public int getRowCount() {
            return 32;
        }

        @Override
        public int getColumnCount() {
            return names.length;
        }

        @Override
        public String getColumnName(int col) {
            if (col == DIVIDER) return "";
            return names[col];
        }

        @Override
        public Object getValueAt(int row, int col) {
            if (col == DIVIDER) return "";
            return (row + 1) / 10.0;
        }

        @Override
        public Class<?> getColumnClass(int col) {
            if (col == DIVIDER) return String.class;
            return Number.class;
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

On problem with this approach it that the user will need to "tab over" the divider column. You could use the Table Tabbing suggestion to make it more user friendly.

Or if tabbing between the two tables isn't important, then maybe you can use use two tables and put whatever divider you want betweeen the two. The selection model can shared if required.

Edit:

As I suggested above sharing models is easier than writing custom listeners. To keep the scrolling in sync the code would be:

jspa.getVerticalScrollBar().setModel( jspb.getVerticalScrollBar().getModel() );

You can also do the same with the selection model so that highlighting of rows is in sync.