CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javafx
Grumblesaurus
Grumblesaurus

Reputation: 3119

JavaFX ComboBox - Make Control + A select all in text box while dropdown is visible

I'm making a combobox that is filtered by typed text, and shows the drop down whenever text is typed.

I found this example which works very well. I have modified it slightly so the dropdown appears when text is entered.

However, when I type a few letters and then press ctrl + A to select all text in the TextField, it does not select all of the text if the dropdown is visible. Something else is consuming that hotkey.

Here is the MCVE code: 

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

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.application.Platform;
import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
import javafx.collections.transformation.FilteredList;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.ComboBox;
import javafx.scene.control.TextField;
import javafx.scene.input.KeyCode;
import javafx.scene.input.KeyEvent;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

public class MCVE extends Application {
    public void start(Stage stage) {
        HBox root = new HBox();

        ComboBox<String> cb = new ComboBox<String>();
        cb.setEditable(true);

        ObservableList<String> items = FXCollections.observableArrayList("One", "Two", "Three", "Four", "Five", "Six",
                "Seven", "Eight", "Nine", "Ten");

        FilteredList<String> filteredItems = new FilteredList<String>(items, p -> true);

        cb.getEditor().textProperty().addListener((obs, oldValue, newValue) -> {
            final TextField editor = cb.getEditor();
            final String selected = cb.getSelectionModel().getSelectedItem();

            Platform.runLater(() -> {

                if ( !editor.getText().isEmpty() ) {
                    cb.show();
                } else {
                    cb.hide();
                }
                if (selected == null || !selected.equals(editor.getText())) {
                    filteredItems.setPredicate(item -> {
                        if (item.toUpperCase().startsWith(newValue.toUpperCase())) {
                            return true;
                        } else {
                            return false;
                        }
                    });
                }
            });
        });

        cb.setItems(filteredItems);

        root.getChildren().add(cb);

        Scene scene = new Scene(root);

        stage.setScene(scene);
        stage.show();

    }

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

Here are a few solutions I've tried. None of them work. It seems that the issue is that JavaFX has reserved the hotkey Ctrl + A and will not let me grab onto it.

(this one works if the key is D, but not A

((ComboBoxListViewSkin)cb.getSkin()).getDisplayNode().addEventFilter( KeyEvent.KEY_PRESSED, keyEvent -> {
    if ( keyEvent.isControlDown() && keyEvent.getCode() == KeyCode.A ) {
        cb.getEditor().selectAll();
    }
});

(this one also works if the key is D, but not A

cb.setOnKeyPressed( ( KeyEvent e ) -> {
    if ( e.isControlDown() && e.getCode() == KeyCode.D ) {
        cb.getEditor().selectAll();
    }
});

Upvotes: 2

Views: 860

Answers (1)

kleopatra
kleopatra

Reputation: 51525

The behaviour is the same for a plain combo (that is without any filtering) and looks like a bug: ctrl-A is eaten by the ListView in the dropDown. To work around, you can install the eventFilter on the list, f.i. in a onShown handler - at this time the skin is installed:

cb.setOnShown(e -> {
    ComboBoxListViewSkin<?> skin = (ComboBoxListViewSkin<?>) cb.getSkin();
    ListView<?> list = (ListView<?>) skin.getPopupContent();
    list.addEventFilter( KeyEvent.KEY_PRESSED, keyEvent -> {
        if (keyEvent.isControlDown() && keyEvent.getCode() == KeyCode.A ) {
            cb.getEditor().selectAll();
        }
    });
    cb.setOnShown(null);
});

This is working in all versions (8 and 9+). For 9+ the bug is worse in that all navigation inside the editor is disabled (aka: list eating left/right as well).

Upvotes: 2

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