Is it possible to use a JXBusyLabel as a cell rendered in a JTable?

Question

I would like to use the JXBusyLabel in a cell to notify the user that an event is currently taking place for the row where the JXBusyLabel is. For example, double clicking a row to open it would trigger the anymation of the JXBusyLabel.

Does this make sense?

In case you are wondering what a JXBusyLabel is, please look here.

Thanks!

[EDIT] Solution based on @kleopatra answer:

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.Timer;
import javax.swing.table.DefaultTableModel;

import org.jdesktop.swingx.JXTable;
import org.jdesktop.swingx.decorator.AbstractHighlighter;
import org.jdesktop.swingx.decorator.HighlightPredicate;
import org.jdesktop.swingx.decorator.PainterHighlighter;
import org.jdesktop.swingx.painter.BusyPainter;

public class TableBusyLabelTest {

    private JFrame frame;
    private JXTable table;
    private JButton button;

    private BusyPainter busyPainter;
    private AbstractHighlighter highlighter;
    private Timer timer;

    private boolean on = false;

    /**
     * Launch the application.
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                try {
                    TableBusyLabelTest window = new TableBusyLabelTest();
                    window.frame.setVisible(true);
                } catch (Exception e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            }
        });
    }

    /**
     * Create the application.
     */
    public TableBusyLabelTest() {
        initialize();
    }

    /**
     * Initialize the contents of the frame.
     */
    private void initialize() {
        frame = new JFrame();
        frame.setBounds(100, 100, 450, 300);
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        busyPainter = new BusyPainter(15);

        timer = new Timer(100, getTimerActionListener());

        highlighter = new PainterHighlighter(HighlightPredicate.NEVER,
                busyPainter);

        table = new JXTable();
        table.setModel(getTableExampleModel());
        // Tell which column will use the highlighter
        table.getColumnExt(0).addHighlighter(highlighter);

        button = new JButton("Start / Stop busy thing");
        button.addActionListener(getButtonActionListener());

        frame.getContentPane().add(table, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        frame.getContentPane().add(button, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
    }

    private DefaultTableModel getTableExampleModel() {
        return new DefaultTableModel(new Object[][] { { null, "Test1" },
                { null, "Test2" }, }, new String[] { "busy", "Name" });
    }

    private ActionListener getTimerActionListener() {
        return new ActionListener() {
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                int frame = busyPainter.getFrame();
                frame = (frame + 1) % busyPainter.getPoints();
                busyPainter.setFrame(frame);
            }

        };
    }

    private ActionListener getButtonActionListener() {
        return new ActionListener() {
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {

                if (on) {
                    on = false;
                } else {
                    on = true;
                }

                // on a change that should toggle the busy-ness on/off
                if (on) {
                    highlighter
                            .setHighlightPredicate(HighlightPredicate.ALWAYS);
                    timer.start();
                } else {
                    highlighter.setHighlightPredicate(HighlightPredicate.NEVER);
                    timer.stop();
                }
            }
        };
    }

}

Answer 1

Depending on your exact use case, you wouldn't want to use the JXBusyLabel as the rendering component (you wouldn't get the anitmation, as it's a renderer), all you need is a PainterHighlighter configured with a BusyPainter whose frame property is controlled by a timer. Whether or not the painter is visible should be bound to some property of your data which triggers the on/off of the highlighters HighlightPredicate.

For an example, please see PainterVisualCheck interactiveAnimatedBusyPainterHighlight in the swingx test hierarchy, package renderer. Something like:

    BusyPainter painter = new BusyPainter();
    ActionListener l = new ActionListener() {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            int frame = busyPainter.getFrame();
            frame = (frame+1)%busyPainter.getPoints();
            busyPainter.setFrame(frame);
        }

    };
    Timer timer = new Timer(delay, l);
    AbstractHighlighter hl = new PainterHighlighter(HighlightPredicate.NEVER, painter);
    table.getColumnExt().addHighlighter(hl);

    // on a change that should toggle the busy-ness on/off
    if (on) {
         hl.setHighlightPredicate(HighlightPredicate.ALWAYS);
         timer.start();
    } else {
         hl.setHighlightPredicate(HighlightPredicate.NEVER);
         timer.stop(); 
    }

Edit (answering the extended question):

to activate the busy-highlighter only for a particular condition, implement a custom HighlightPredicate and set that instead of the ALWAYS. F.i. a specific row in the column:

    HighlightPredicate predicate = new HighlightPredicate() {

        @Override
        public boolean isHighlighted(Component renderer,
                ComponentAdapter adapter) {

            return 
               adapter.convertRowIndexToModel(adapter.row) == mySpecialRow;
        }

    };

Answer 2

Yes, it is possible. I used this in my table, too. Looks very cool for lazy loading.

private class YourCellRenderer implements TableCellRenderer {
private final JLabel okLabel;
private final JXBusyLabel busyLabel;

public YourCellRenderer() {
  busyLabel = new JXBusyLabel(new Dimension(50, 50));
  busyLabel.setHorizontalAlignment(JXLabel.CENTER);
  busyLabel.setBusy(true);

  okLabel = new JLabel();
}

@Override
public Component getTableCellRendererComponent(final JTable table,
    final Object value, final boolean isSelected, final boolean hasFocus,
    final int row, final int column) {

  if (((YourClass)value).isBusy()) {
    return busyLabel;
  } else {
    okLabel.set(((YourClass)value).getText());
    return okLabel;
  }

  return null;
}

Set the new renderer as default renderer for YourClass:

table.setDefaultRenderer(YourClass.class, new YourCellRenderer());

Your table model needs to return instances of YourClass, of course.