JavaFX Tutorial - JavaFX ChoiceBox








JavaFX boxes allows users to quickly select between a few options.

Creating a Choice Box

We can use the consturctors from ChoiceBox to create ChoiceBox objects.

The following code shows how to create and populate a choice box by using its constructor. The list items are created from an observable list. 

ChoiceBox cb = new ChoiceBox(FXCollections.observableArrayList("A", "B", "C"));

We can also use an empty choice box using its its default constructor and set the list items by using the setItems method. 

ChoiceBox cb = new ChoiceBox();
cb.setItems(FXCollections.observableArrayList(
    "A", "B", new Separator(), "C", "D")
);

The code above also add a separator object to the choice box. A Separator control separates the items.





Example

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.beans.value.ChangeListener;
import javafx.beans.value.ObservableValue;
import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.geometry.Insets;
import javafx.geometry.Pos;
import javafx.scene.Group;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.ChoiceBox;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.control.Tooltip;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.scene.paint.Color;
import javafx.scene.shape.Rectangle;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
/*from w w w  .  java 2 s.  c o m*/
public class Main extends Application {

  Rectangle rect = new Rectangle(150, 30);
  final Label label = new Label("Hello");

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

  @Override
  public void start(Stage stage) {
    Scene scene = new Scene(new Group());
    scene.setFill(Color.ALICEBLUE);
    stage.setScene(scene);
    stage.show();

    stage.setWidth(300);
    stage.setHeight(200);

    label.setStyle("-fx-font: 25 arial;");
    label.setLayoutX(40);

    rect.setStroke(Color.BLUE);
    rect.setStrokeWidth(3);
    rect.setFill(Color.WHITE);

    final String[] greetings = new String[] { "A", "B", "C", "D", "E" };
    final ChoiceBox<String> cb = new ChoiceBox<String>(
        FXCollections.observableArrayList("a", "b", "c", "d", "e"));

    cb.getSelectionModel().selectedIndexProperty()
        .addListener(new ChangeListener<Number>() {
          public void changed(ObservableValue ov, Number value, Number new_value) {
            label.setText(greetings[new_value.intValue()]);
          }
        });

    cb.setTooltip(new Tooltip("Select the language"));
    cb.setValue("English");
    HBox hb = new HBox();
    hb.getChildren().addAll(cb, label);
    hb.setSpacing(30);
    hb.setAlignment(Pos.CENTER);
    hb.setPadding(new Insets(10, 0, 0, 10));

    ((Group) scene.getRoot()).getChildren().add(hb);

  }
}

The code above generates the following result.

null




Example 2

The following code shows how to fill data in ObservableList to ChoiceBox. 

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
import javafx.scene.Cursor;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.ChoiceBox;
import javafx.scene.control.ChoiceBoxBuilder;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.scene.text.Font;
import javafx.scene.text.Text;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.stage.StageStyle;
//from w w w .  j ava2 s.  com
public class Main extends Application {
  ObservableList cursors = FXCollections.observableArrayList(
      Cursor.DEFAULT,
      Cursor.CROSSHAIR,
      Cursor.WAIT,
      Cursor.TEXT,
      Cursor.HAND,
      Cursor.MOVE,
      Cursor.N_RESIZE,
      Cursor.NE_RESIZE,
      Cursor.E_RESIZE,
      Cursor.SE_RESIZE,
      Cursor.S_RESIZE,
      Cursor.SW_RESIZE,
      Cursor.W_RESIZE,
      Cursor.NW_RESIZE,
      Cursor.NONE
    ); 
    @Override
    public void start(Stage stage) {
      ChoiceBox choiceBoxRef = ChoiceBoxBuilder.create()
          .items(cursors)
          .build();
          
        VBox box = new VBox();
        box.getChildren().add(choiceBoxRef);
        final Scene scene = new Scene(box,300, 250);
        scene.setFill(null);
        stage.setScene(scene);
        stage.show();
        scene.cursorProperty().bind(choiceBoxRef.getSelectionModel()
            .selectedItemProperty());
        
    }

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

The code above generates the following result.

null