Google Style Button - Has it been done before?

[SilentSoul]

Hello,

I hope this question hasn't been answered yet, I'm kind of uncertain as to how to search for what I want.

Everyone using gmail has probably noticed those nice buttons that enable you to select/deselect all/some emails. Now my question is, is there a Swing component that behaves like that?

For those of you without a gmail account, here a short description of what this button should do:

After a click of the button a drop-down list opens and the user can make a selection. Other than in regular drop-down menus, there is no TextField where the selection is shown (just a plain button).

Admittedly, I could probably just create my own implementation of JComboBox to achieve something similar than that, but I'm kind of stuck on how to remove the TextField from this component.

Any Ideas? I'll be glad for any suggestions.

~Clemens

[JavaForums]

I did not understand the unique property of the component you are trying to describe. But Google web services use GWT. Check GWT components. You might find your answer there. But i guess it is not possible to use GWT in a swing application. In that case you can try SWT :) In the worst case, you can implement it in Swing starting from the lowest level as you described...

[SilentSoul]

Sorry for my bad description, I just noticed that this behaviour is very similar to some buttons on this very forum - for example the 'Forum Actions' and 'Quick Links' Buttons at the top navigation bar. How would I do this in Java (without going from the bottom up if possible)?

[JavaForums]

I didnt think it is a bad description...

In swing, if you cant obtain what you are looking for by customizing an existing component with its own methods, you should develop your own component or find one that is already developed somewhere else.

Check following page for third-party swing components:

Swing Depot: Component Suites

[Tolls]

They're JMenus (or equivalent) aren't they?
Here's the tutorial.

[DarrylBurke]

Drop Down Buttons in Swing: A New Alternative | Javalobby

db

[SilentSoul]

Thanks that put me on the right track, I'm gonna take a look at Jidesoft's components.

Appreciate all the help,

cheers,
C

[Tolls]

I still don't see why a bog standard JMenu doesn't work for you:

    private static JMenuBar createMenuBar() {
        JMenuBar bar = new JMenuBar();
        JMenu menu = new JMenu();
        bar.add(menu);
        menu.setIcon(new ImageIcon("arrow_down_blue.gif"));
        JMenuItem menuItem = new JMenuItem("Something");
        menu.add(menuItem);
        return bar;
    }

That will create a menu bar, with a menu in it that is identified solely by that graphic, with a text menu item.

[SilentSoul]

Hi,

Admittedly that works just as the button I described, but the 'look and feel' would be different. Anyways, I decided to use NetBeans DropDownButton, which looks exactly like I expected.

~C.

[jbk]

Hi,

I think I need exactly what is discribed here. Could someone provide me with the code snippet ??

~JBK