FocusTraversalPolicy.getFirstComponent(Container aContainer) has the following syntax.
public abstract Component getFirstComponent(Container aContainer)
In the following code shows how to use FocusTraversalPolicy.getFirstComponent(Container aContainer) method.
// ww w . j a va 2s. c om import java.awt.Component; import java.awt.Container; import java.awt.FocusTraversalPolicy; import java.awt.GridLayout; import java.util.Map; import java.util.SortedMap; import java.util.TreeMap; import javax.swing.JButton; import javax.swing.JFrame; import javax.swing.JPanel; public class Main extends JPanel { public Main() { setLayout(new GridLayout(6, 1)); add(new JButton("A")); add(new JButton("D")); add(new JButton("C")); add(new JButton("E")); add(new JButton("B")); add(new JButton("F")); } public static void main(String[] args) { JFrame frame = new JFrame(); frame.setFocusTraversalPolicy(new AlphaButtonPolicy()); frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); frame.setContentPane(new Main()); frame.setSize(400, 300); frame.setVisible(true); } } class AlphaButtonPolicy extends FocusTraversalPolicy { private SortedMap getSortedButtons(Container focusCycleRoot) { if (focusCycleRoot == null) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("focusCycleRoot can't be null"); } SortedMap result = new TreeMap(); // Will sort all buttons by text. sortRecursive(result, focusCycleRoot); return result; } private void sortRecursive(Map buttons, Container container) { for (int i = 0; i < container.getComponentCount(); i++) { Component c = container.getComponent(i); if (c instanceof JButton) { // Found another button to sort. buttons.put(((JButton) c).getText(), c); } if (c instanceof Container) { // Found a container to search. sortRecursive(buttons, (Container) c); } } } // The rest of the code implements the FocusTraversalPolicy interface. public Component getFirstComponent(Container focusCycleRoot) { SortedMap buttons = getSortedButtons(focusCycleRoot); if (buttons.isEmpty()) { return null; } return (Component) buttons.get(buttons.firstKey()); } public Component getLastComponent(Container focusCycleRoot) { SortedMap buttons = getSortedButtons(focusCycleRoot); if (buttons.isEmpty()) { return null; } return (Component) buttons.get(buttons.lastKey()); } public Component getDefaultComponent(Container focusCycleRoot) { return getFirstComponent(focusCycleRoot); } public Component getComponentAfter(Container focusCycleRoot, Component aComponent) { if (!(aComponent instanceof JButton)) { return null; } SortedMap buttons = getSortedButtons(focusCycleRoot); // Find all buttons after the current one. String nextName = ((JButton) aComponent).getText() + "\0"; SortedMap nextButtons = buttons.tailMap(nextName); if (nextButtons.isEmpty()) { // Wrapped back to beginning if (!buttons.isEmpty()) { return (Component) buttons.get(buttons.firstKey()); } return null; // Degenerate case of no buttons. } return (Component) nextButtons.get(nextButtons.firstKey()); } public Component getComponentBefore(Container focusCycleRoot, Component aComponent) { if (!(aComponent instanceof JButton)) { return null; } SortedMap buttons = getSortedButtons(focusCycleRoot); SortedMap prevButtons = // Find all buttons before this one. buttons.headMap(((JButton) aComponent).getText()); if (prevButtons.isEmpty()) { // Wrapped back to end. if (!buttons.isEmpty()) { return (Component) buttons.get(buttons.lastKey()); } return null; // Degenerate case of no buttons. } return (Component) prevButtons.get(prevButtons.lastKey()); } }