Java Security

no, there isn't. Some LAFs (like Nimbus f.i.) do - but the way it's done there disrespects render's responsibility

Cheers
Jeanette

thanks for the info! i checked the tree highlighter code of the great Santhosh Kumar from http://jroller.com/santhosh/entry/highlight_a_node_s_descendants
and made my own solution. in case anyone needs it as well, see below. the only annoyance remaining is that i always have to click on the text of a node in order to select it. of course i'd like to click anywhere in a node's row, even on whitespace, in order to select it. does anyone know how to do this properly?

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Container;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Rectangle;

import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTree;
import javax.swing.event.TreeSelectionEvent;
import javax.swing.event.TreeSelectionListener;
import javax.swing.tree.DefaultTreeCellRenderer;

public class TreeExample {

	public static Color selectedColor = new Color(115,164,209);
	public static Color selectedBorderColor = new Color(57,105,138);
	
	public static void main(String args[]) {
		
		JFrame f = new JFrame("JTree Sample");
		f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
		Container content = f.getContentPane();

		
		// custom tree handling
		final JTree tree = new MyTree();
		MyTreeCellRenderer renderer = new MyTreeCellRenderer();
		renderer.setBorderSelectionColor(null); // remove selection border
		renderer.setBackgroundSelectionColor( null); // remove selection background since we paint the selected row ourselves
		tree.setCellRenderer( renderer);

  	// send repaint event when node selection changes; otherwise sometimes the border remained visible although the selected node changed 
		TreeSelectionListener treeSelListener = new TreeSelectionListener() {
			public void valueChanged(TreeSelectionEvent evt) {
				tree.treeDidChange();
			}
		};
		tree.addTreeSelectionListener(treeSelListener);
		
		
		// add tree to frame and show frame
		JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(tree);
		content.add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
		f.setSize(400, 600);
		f.setVisible(true);
	}

	public static class MyTree extends JTree {

		protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {

			// paint background
			g.setColor(getBackground());
			g.fillRect(0, 0, getWidth(), getHeight());

			// paint selected node's background and border
			int fromRow = getRowForPath( getSelectionPath());
			if (fromRow != -1) {
				int toRow = fromRow + 1;
				Rectangle fromBounds = getRowBounds(fromRow);
				Rectangle toBounds = getRowBounds(toRow - 1);
				if (fromBounds != null && toBounds != null) {
					g.setColor(selectedColor);
					g.fillRect(0, fromBounds.y, getWidth(), toBounds.y - fromBounds.y + toBounds.height);
					g.setColor(selectedBorderColor);
					g.drawRect(0, fromBounds.y, getWidth() - 1, toBounds.y - fromBounds.y + toBounds.height);
				}
			}

			// perform operation of superclass
			setOpaque(false); // trick not to paint background
			super.paintComponent(g);
			setOpaque(false);
		}
	}

	// trick to make renderer transparent for the unselected nodes 
	public static class MyTreeCellRenderer extends DefaultTreeCellRenderer {
		public MyTreeCellRenderer() {
			setBackgroundNonSelectionColor(null);
		}

		public Color getBackground() {
			return null;
		}
	}

}

thank you very much, aterai! your help is very appreciated :) my application has different look and feel, so i can't bind myself to metal look and feel. your solution however is great, i'll see if i can adapt it to be LAF-independent.

in the meantime i also came up with a solution as well. basically i add a mouselistener and use the tree's getClosestRowForLocation method:

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Container;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Rectangle;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.event.MouseListener;

import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTree;
import javax.swing.event.TreeSelectionEvent;
import javax.swing.event.TreeSelectionListener;
import javax.swing.tree.DefaultTreeCellRenderer;
import javax.swing.tree.TreePath;

public class TreeExample2 {

	public static Color selectedColor = new Color(115,164,209);
	public static Color selectedBorderColor = new Color(57,105,138);
	
	public static void main(String args[]) {
		
		JFrame f = new JFrame("JTree Sample");
		f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
		Container content = f.getContentPane();

		
		// custom tree handling
		final JTree tree = new MyTree();
		MyTreeCellRenderer renderer = new MyTreeCellRenderer();
		renderer.setBorderSelectionColor(null); // remove selection border
		renderer.setBackgroundSelectionColor( null); // remove selection background since we paint the selected row ourselves
		tree.setCellRenderer( renderer);

  	// send repaint event when node selection changes; otherwise sometimes the border remained visible although the selected node changed 
		TreeSelectionListener treeSelListener = new TreeSelectionListener() {
			public void valueChanged(TreeSelectionEvent evt) {
				tree.treeDidChange();
			}
		};
		tree.addTreeSelectionListener(treeSelListener);
		
		// handle mouse clicks outside of the node's label
		// mouse begin ----------------------------------------------------------------
		MouseListener ml = new MouseAdapter() {
			public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {
				int selRow = tree.getClosestRowForLocation( e.getX(), e.getY());
				if( selRow != -1) {
					Rectangle bounds = tree.getRowBounds( selRow);
					boolean outside = e.getX() < bounds.x || e.getX() > bounds.x + bounds.width || e.getY() < bounds.y || e.getY() >= bounds.y + bounds.height;
					if( outside) {
						
						tree.setSelectionRow(selRow);
						System.out.println( "manual selection: " + selRow);
						
						// handle doubleclick
						if( e.getClickCount() == 2) {
							if( tree.isCollapsed(selRow))
								tree.expandRow( selRow);
							else if( tree.isExpanded( selRow))
								tree.collapseRow( selRow);
						}
						
					} else {
						System.out.println( "auto selection: " + selRow);
					}
				}
			}
		};
		tree.addMouseListener(ml);		
		// mouse end ----------------------------------------------------------------
		
		// add tree to frame and show frame
		JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(tree);
		content.add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
		f.setSize(400, 600);
		f.setVisible(true);
	}

	public static class MyTree extends JTree {

		protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {

			// paint background
			g.setColor(getBackground());
			g.fillRect(0, 0, getWidth(), getHeight());

			// paint selected node's background and border
			int fromRow = getRowForPath( getSelectionPath());
			if (fromRow != -1) {
				int toRow = fromRow + 1;
				Rectangle fromBounds = getRowBounds(fromRow);
				Rectangle toBounds = getRowBounds(toRow - 1);
				if (fromBounds != null && toBounds != null) {
					g.setColor(selectedColor);
					g.fillRect(0, fromBounds.y, getWidth(), toBounds.y - fromBounds.y + toBounds.height);
					g.setColor(selectedBorderColor);
					g.drawRect(0, fromBounds.y, getWidth() - 1, toBounds.y - fromBounds.y + toBounds.height);
				}
			}

			// perform operation of superclass
			setOpaque(false); // trick not to paint background
			super.paintComponent(g);
			setOpaque(false);
		}
	}

	// trick to make renderer transparent for the unselected nodes 
	public static class MyTreeCellRenderer extends DefaultTreeCellRenderer {
		public MyTreeCellRenderer() {
			setBackgroundNonSelectionColor(null);
		}

		public Color getBackground() {
			return null;
		}
	}

}