How to act upon hitting "Enter" when on "Cancel" button in JFileChooser?

Question

I have a JFileChooser in a JFrame. I've added an ActionListener to the JFileChooser so that the "Cancel" button works when clicked. I can also tab to the "Cancel" button, but when I then hit the "Enter" key, nothing happens (i.e., the ActionListener isn't called with the event command JFileChooser.CANCEL_SELECTION). What must I do with the JFileChooser so that hitting the "Enter" key when on the "Cancel" button is equivalent to clicking on the "Cancel" button?

Here's a simple example of the (mis)behavior I'm seeing:

import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

import javax.swing.JFileChooser;
import javax.swing.JFrame;

public final class TestApp {
    public static void main(final String[] args) {
        javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                try {
                    final JFileChooser chooser = new JFileChooser();
                    chooser.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
                        public void actionPerformed(final ActionEvent e) {
                            System.exit(0);
                        }
                    });
                    final JFrame frame = new JFrame();
                    frame.add(chooser);
                    frame.pack();
                    frame.setVisible(true);
                }
                catch (final Throwable t) {
                    t.printStackTrace();
                }
            }
        });
    }
}

To see the (mis)behavior, execute the program, tab to "Cancel", and then hit the "Enter" key. The program doesn't terminate on my platform -- although it does when I click on the "Cancel" button.

Extending JFileChooser and overriding cancelSelection() also doesn't work (apparently, that function isn't called when the "Enter" key is hit while on the "Cancel" button).

The (mis)behavior occurs on my Fedora 10 x86_64 system with Java 5, 6, and 7.

ADDENDUM: The following adds a KeyEventPostProcessor to the current KeyboardFocusManager and appears to do what I want:

import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.KeyEventPostProcessor;
import java.awt.KeyboardFocusManager;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;

import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFileChooser;
import javax.swing.JFrame;

public final class TestApp {
    public static void main(final String[] args) {
        javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                try {
                    final JFileChooser chooser = new JFileChooser();
                    chooser.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
                        public void actionPerformed(final ActionEvent e) {
                            System.out.println(e.paramString());
                            System.exit(0);
                        }
                    });
                    final KeyboardFocusManager kfm = KeyboardFocusManager
                            .getCurrentKeyboardFocusManager();
                    kfm.addKeyEventPostProcessor(new KeyEventPostProcessor() {
                        @Override
                        public boolean postProcessKeyEvent(final KeyEvent e) {
                            if (e.getID() == KeyEvent.KEY_RELEASED
                                    && e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_ENTER) {
                                final Component comp = e.getComponent();
                                if (chooser.isAncestorOf(comp)) {
                                    if (!(comp instanceof JButton)) {
                                        chooser.approveSelection();
                                    }
                                    else {
                                        final JButton button = (JButton) comp;
                                        if ("Cancel".equals(button.getText())) {
                                            chooser.cancelSelection();
                                        }
                                        else {
                                            chooser.approveSelection();
                                        }
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                            return false;
                        }
                    });
                    final JFrame frame = new JFrame();
                    frame.add(chooser);
                    frame.pack();
                    frame.setVisible(true);
                }
                catch (final Throwable t) {
                    t.printStackTrace();
                }
            }
        });
    }
}

It seems like a lot of work, however, just to be able to distinguish between hitting the enter key on the "Cancel" button versus anywhere else.

Do you see any problems with it?

DISCOVERED SOLUTION: Setting the GUI Look and Feel to the native one for my system (Linux) does what I want without the need for anything else. This is what I was ignorant of and what I was looking for. The solution is to have the following

UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());

as the first executable statement of the main() method. One can then dispense with all focus listeners, key event processors, etc.

I've awarded the 100 points to the most helpful respondent.

Answer 1

The program doesn't terminate on my platform.

I see normal operation on Mac OS X 10.5, Ubuntu 10 and Windows 7 using (variously) Java 5 and 6. I replaced your exit() with println() to see the event:

System.out.println(rootDirChooser.getSelectedFile().getName() + e.paramString());

It may help to specify your platform and version; if possible, verify correct installation as well.

I'm not sure I understand your goal; but, as an alternative, consider overriding approveSelection():

private static class MyChooser extends JFileChooser {

    @Override
    public void approveSelection() {
        super.approveSelection();
        System.out.println(this.getSelectedFile().getName());
    }
}

Addendum:

The goal is to have the action of hitting the "Enter" key while on the "Cancel" button be identical to clicking on the "Cancel" button.

As discussed in Key Bindings, you can change the action associated with VK_ENTER.

KeyStroke enter = KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER, 0);
InputMap map = chooser.getInputMap(JFileChooser.WHEN_ANCESTOR_OF_FOCUSED_COMPONENT);
map.put(enter, "cancelSelection");

If you want the change to occur only while the "Cancel" button has focus, you'll need to do it in a Focus Listener.

Addendum:

I found a solution that uses KeyboadFocusManager, instead. What do you think?

I can see pros & cons each way, so I've outlined both below. Using KeyboadFocusManager finds all buttons, but offers no locale independent way to distinguish among them; the Focus Listener approach can only see the approve button, and it's UI specific. Still, you might combine the approaches for better results. A second opinion wouldn't be out of order.

Addendum:

I've updated the code below to eliminate the need to know the localized name of the "Cancel" button and use key bindings.

import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.KeyboardFocusManager;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.FocusEvent;
import java.awt.event.FocusListener;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.beans.PropertyChangeEvent;
import java.beans.PropertyChangeListener;
import javax.swing.InputMap;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFileChooser;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.KeyStroke;
import javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalFileChooserUI;

public final class FileChooserKeys
    implements ActionListener, FocusListener, PropertyChangeListener {

    private final JFileChooser chooser = new JFileChooser();
    private final MyChooserUI myUI = new MyChooserUI(chooser);
    private final KeyStroke enterKey =
        KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER, 0);

    private void create() {
        final JFrame frame = new JFrame();
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        chooser.addActionListener(this);
        myUI.installUI(chooser);
        myUI.getApproveButton(chooser).addFocusListener(this);
        KeyboardFocusManager focusManager =
            KeyboardFocusManager.getCurrentKeyboardFocusManager();
        focusManager.addPropertyChangeListener(this);

        frame.add(chooser);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    @Override
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
        System.out.println(e.paramString());
    }

    @Override
    public void focusGained(FocusEvent e) {
        System.out.println("ApproveButton gained focus.");
    }

    @Override
    public void focusLost(FocusEvent e) {
        System.out.println("ApproveButton lost focus.");
    }

    @Override
    public void propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent e) {
        Object o = e.getNewValue();
        InputMap map = chooser.getInputMap(
            JFileChooser.WHEN_ANCESTOR_OF_FOCUSED_COMPONENT);
        if (o instanceof JButton) {
            if ("focusOwner".equals(e.getPropertyName())) {
                JButton b = (JButton) o;
                String s = b.getText();
                boolean inApproved = b == myUI.getApproveButton(chooser);
                if (!(s == null || "".equals(s) || inApproved)) {
                    map.put(enterKey, "cancelSelection");
                } else {
                    map.put(enterKey, "approveSelection");
                }
            }
        }
    }

    private static class MyChooserUI extends MetalFileChooserUI {

        public MyChooserUI(JFileChooser b) {
            super(b);
        }

        @Override
        protected JButton getApproveButton(JFileChooser fc) {
            return super.getApproveButton(fc);
        }
    }

    public static void main(final String[] args) {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                new FileChooserKeys().create();
            }
        });
    }
}