Java Foundation Classes in a Nutshell

Instead of displaying a generic JColorChooser with the static showDialog()

method, you can create your own instance of the JColorChooser class. You can

then set properties on the color chooser object and display it in any way you

want. The static

JColorChooser.createDialog() method is useful here. It creates a

dialog box to hold your

JColorChooser pane and allows you to specify two

ActionListener objects that are invoked in response to the OK and Cancel but-

tons in the dialog box.

You can customize a

JColorChooser by adding a new color selection panel or a

new color preview panel. To add a new color selection panel (for example, a

panel that allows the user to select a grayscale color or a CMYK color), implement

a subclass of

AbstractColorChooserPanel (fr om the javax.swing.colorchooser

package) and pass it to the addChooserPanel() method of your JColorChooser.

Your custom panel contains a

ColorSelectionModel that serves as the interface

between your pane and the

JColorChooser. All your pane needs to do is update

the selected color of its

ColorSelectionModel (ColorSelectionModel is also part

of the

javax.swing.colorchooser package).

You can use any

JComponent as a custom preview panel for your JColorChooser.

Simply pass the component to

setPreviewPanel(). The preview component has to

track the currently selected color by listening for

ChangeEvent events generated by

the

ColorSelectionModel of the JColorChooser ...