Limit number of cols in JTextArea

[berkeleybross]

Hi all,

I'd like to limit the number of columns in a JTextArea to 80characters (per line). I've been searching on google but no result.

So far, I've been extending a PlainDocument and overriding the insertString method. I've also got it to limit the first line to 80 characters.
You can start a new line (the second row), but you cannot type any characters at all. If you try to go to the third line, an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException occurs.

Thanks for reading,
Berkeleybross

private class myContentDocument extends PlainDocument {
    @Override
    public void insertString(int offs, String str, AttributeSet a) throws BadLocationException {
        String[] lines = getText( 0, getLength()).split("\r\n");
        boolean valid = true;
        int line = myContentArea.getLineOfOffset (offs);

        if (((lines[line].length()) + str.length()) <= 80 ) {
            super.insertString(offs, str, a);
        } else {
            Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().beep();
        }
    }
}

The following exception is at the line "if (((lines[line].length()) + str.length()) <= 80 ) {"

Im presuming lines[1] is out of range, but that shouldnt be the case because I split on the line break and the caret is on the second line.

Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 1
        at blogger.MainPanel$myContentDocument.insertString(MainPanel.java:490)
        at javax.swing.text.AbstractDocument.replace(AbstractDocument.java:655)
        at javax.swing.text.JTextComponent.replaceSelection(JTextComponent.java:1351)
        at javax.swing.text.DefaultEditorKit$InsertBreakAction.actionPerformed(DefaultEditorKit.java:952)
        at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTextUI$TextActionWrapper.actionPerformed(BasicTextUI.java:2066)
        at javax.swing.SwingUtilities.notifyAction(SwingUtilities.java:1633)
        at javax.swing.JComponent.processKeyBinding(JComponent.java:2839)
        at javax.swing.JComponent.processKeyBindings(JComponent.java:2874)
        at javax.swing.JComponent.processKeyEvent(JComponent.java:2802)
        at java.awt.Component.processEvent(Component.java:6040)
        at java.awt.Container.processEvent(Container.java:2041)
        at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Component.java:4630)
        at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2099)
        at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4460)
        at java.awt.KeyboardFocusManager.redispatchEvent(KeyboardFocusManager.java:1850)
        at java.awt.DefaultKeyboardFocusManager.dispatchKeyEvent(DefaultKeyboardFocusManager.java:712)
        at java.awt.DefaultKeyboardFocusManager.preDispatchKeyEvent(DefaultKeyboardFocusManager.java:990)
        at java.awt.DefaultKeyboardFocusManager.typeAheadAssertions(DefaultKeyboardFocusManager.java:855)
        at java.awt.DefaultKeyboardFocusManager.dispatchEvent(DefaultKeyboardFocusManager.java:676)
        at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Component.java:4502)
        at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2099)
        at java.awt.Window.dispatchEventImpl(Window.java:2475)
        at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4460)
        at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:599)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:269)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:184)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:174)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:169)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:161)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:122)

[Norm]

Im presuming lines[1] is out of range

Can you try debugging the code by using println() to show the values returned by getText() and what is in the lines[] array?

[JosAH]

Would letting the JTextArea do it itself help? See the API documentation for the setWrapStyleWord( ... ) and setLineWrap( ... ) methods.

kind regards,

Jos

[berkeleybross]

Thanks for replying so quickly!

@Norm: the line variable is set by the textArea.getLineOfOffset() method, which is returning the correct line. GetText() returns the right text, but lines[] only has one item in it. Not sure why, as getText() definatly shows \r\n in it so it should be making a second item.

@JosAH I tried using

myContentArea.setWrapStyleWord(true);
myContentArea.setLineWrap(true);
myContentArea.setColumns(80);

It wraps perfectly, but not necessarily at the 80th column - it wraps when it reaches the end of its size (which swing helpfully resizes for me).
Also, i want to manually insert \r\n in at the appropriate places as i want to put it into a database with a max col of 80.

Thanks,
Berkeleybross

[JosAH]

It wraps perfectly, but not necessarily at the 80th column - it wraps when it reaches the end of its size (which swing helpfully resizes for me).
Also, i want to manually insert \r\n in at the appropriate places as i want to put it into a database with a max col of 80.

Why don't you insert those end of line markers just before you write the text to the database? When you read it in later the JTextArea knows how to handle them ...

kind regards,

Jos

[berkeleybross]

ahem. Yeah I could do that.

Hadnt thought of it that way :P

Thanks!

Berkeleybross

[Norm]

GetText() returns the right text, but lines[] only has one item in it.

Can you show the "right text" that the split returns one item for vs the number you expect?