Unable to use DatePicker choose box when using TextFormatter - javafx

Question

I want to create three(3) sets of Combobox (Year, Month, Day).
The Combobox Day should only be enabled until the Combobox Month and Year were filed correctly, and values should be synchronized based on the given month and year. (This means that it should check for leap years).
Here is what I have so far, I have a hint that I should use bindings and/or listeners to do this but struggle to do so.
public class Testing extends Application {
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
final JFXComboBox<Month> cbMonths = new JFXComboBox<>();
final JFXComboBox<Integer> cbYears = new JFXComboBox<>();
final JFXComboBox<Integer> cbDays = new JFXComboBox<>();
// Month Values
cbMonths.getItems().setAll(Month.values());
// Year Values
Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
for (int i = calendar.get(Calendar.YEAR) ;
i >= (calendar.get(Calendar.YEAR) -35) ; i--)
{
cbYears.getItems().add(i);
}
// NOTE: will cause NPE
// I want to insert this code only when cbMonth and cbYears has a value
YearMonth numberOfDays = YearMonth.of(cbYear.getValue(), cbMonth.getValue());
for (int i = 1 ; i >= numberOfDays.lengthOfMonth() ; i ++) {
cbDays.getItems().add(i);
}
final HBox root = new HBox(cbMonth, cbYear, cbDays);
root.setAlignment(Pos.CENTER);
root.setSpacing(10.0);
root.setPadding(new Insets(10, 10, 10, 10));
Scene scene = new Scene(root, 300, 200);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
EDIT
Having a lack of time, I tried other options.
OPTION 1:
As #Zephyr points out, I switch to a date picker and set it to editable. I tried to override some of its default settings to come up with my desire output. But I notice that whenever I use TextFormatter I was unable to pick dates on the DatePicker choice box. Here is the sample code
public class DatePickerFinal extends Application {
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
final String DATE_REGEX = "(0[1-9]|1[012])\\s(0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])\\s((19|2[0-9])[0-9]{2})";
final DateTimeFormatter SHOW_DATE = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MMMM dd, yyyy", Locale.getDefault());
final DateTimeFormatter ENTER_DATE = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MM dd yyyy", Locale.getDefault());
final LocalDate TODAY = LocalDate.now();
final JFXDatePicker DATE_PICKER = new JFXDatePicker();
// Disable some dates
DATE_PICKER.setDayCellFactory(new Callback<DatePicker, DateCell>() {
#Override
public DateCell call(DatePicker datePicker) {
return new DateCell() {
#Override
public void updateItem(LocalDate localDate, boolean b) {
super.updateItem(localDate, b);
setDisable(b || localDate.compareTo(TODAY) > 0 || localDate.compareTo(TODAY.minusYears(45)) < 0);
}
};
}
});
// Add StringConverter to make it more readable,
// and also rejecting disable dates inputted by the user
DATE_PICKER.setConverter(new StringConverter<LocalDate>() {
#Override
public String toString(LocalDate localDate) {
if (localDate == null) {
return "";
} else if (localDate.isAfter(TODAY) || localDate.isBefore(TODAY.minusYears(45))) {
return "";
} else {
return SHOW_DATE.format(localDate);
}
}
#Override
public LocalDate fromString(String s) {
return (s == null || s.isEmpty()) ? null : LocalDate.parse(s, ENTER_DATE);
}
});
// Then I want to manage user input so that they can only enter digits to the date picker
// then format it accordingly.
DATE_PICKER.getEditor().setTextFormatter(new TextFormatter<Object>(change -> {
String enteredText = change.getText();
if((enteredText.matches("[\\d]+")) || change.isDeleted()) {
final int oldTextLength = change.getControlText().length();
int newTextLength = change.getControlNewText().length();
if (newTextLength < oldTextLength) return change;
switch (newTextLength) {
case 2 :
case 5 :
StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder(enteredText);
stringBuilder.append(" ");
change.setText(stringBuilder.toString());
newTextLength++;
break;
case 11 :
return null;
}
change.setCaretPosition(newTextLength);
change.setAnchor(newTextLength);
return change;
}
return null;
}));
// Add some validators where if the user input was valid or not. The below code was still in progress though.
RequiredFieldValidator requiredFieldValidator = new RequiredFieldValidator();
requiredFieldValidator.setMessage("Field Should Not Be Empty");
RegexValidator regexValidator = new RegexValidator("MM DD YYYY");
regexValidator.setRegexPattern(DATE_REGEX);
DATE_PICKER.setValidators(regexValidator);
DATE_PICKER.focusedProperty().addListener(new ChangeListener<Boolean>() {
#Override
public void changed(ObservableValue<? extends Boolean> observableValue, Boolean aBoolean, Boolean t1) {
if (t1) {
DATE_PICKER.validate();
}
}
});
DATE_PICKER.getEditor().textProperty().addListener(new ChangeListener<String>() {
#Override
public void changed(ObservableValue<? extends String> observableValue, String s, String t1) {
if (!DATE_PICKER.getEditor().getText().matches(DATE_REGEX)) {
DATE_PICKER.validate();
}
}
});
VBox root = new VBox(20, DATE_PICKER, new JFXButton("Button"));
root.setAlignment(Pos.CENTER);
Scene scene = new Scene(root, 300, 120);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
}
Aside from being editable, I also want the user to be able to just click and/or pick dates from the choice box. I hope someone could point me in the right direction :)

Answer 1

With #kleopatra's help. My solution is to create a class responsible for parsing the date selected by the user on the DatePickers default choice box. Furthermore, the date picker is set to editable so that the user can also edit it manually. However, there is a restriction where a user can ONLY insert numerical value when editing manually, also I wanted to make sure that the user should input only valid dates.
MCVE
public class DatePickerFinal extends Application {
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
final String DATE_OF_BIRTH_REGEX
= "(0[1-9]|1[012])\\s(0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])\\s((19|2[0-9])[0-9]{2})";
final DateTimeFormatter showingDateFormat = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MMMM dd, yyyy", Locale.getDefault());
final DateTimeFormatter inputtedDateFormat = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MM dd yyyy", Locale.getDefault());
final LocalDate dateToday = LocalDate.now();
final JFXDatePicker datePicker = new JFXDatePicker();
// Disable some dates
datePicker.setDayCellFactory(new Callback<DatePicker, DateCell>() {
#Override
public DateCell call(DatePicker datePicker) {
return new DateCell() {
#Override
public void updateItem(LocalDate localDate, boolean b) {
super.updateItem(localDate, b);
setDisable(b || localDate.compareTo(dateToday) > 0 || localDate.compareTo(dateToday.minusYears(45)) < 0);
}
};
}
});
// Add StringConverter to make it more readable,
// and also rejecting disable dates inputted by the user
datePicker.setConverter(new StringConverter<LocalDate>() {
#Override
public String toString(LocalDate localDate) {
if (localDate == null) {
return "";
} else if (localDate.isAfter(dateToday) || localDate.isBefore(dateToday.minusYears(45))) {
return "";
} else {
return showingDateFormat.format(localDate);
}
}
#Override
public LocalDate fromString(String s) {
return (s == null || s.isEmpty()) ? null : LocalDate.parse(s, inputtedDateFormat);
}
});
// Add a validator
RequiredFieldValidator requiredFieldValidator = new RequiredFieldValidator();
requiredFieldValidator.setMessage("Enter with the format\nMM DD YYYY");
datePicker.setValidators(requiredFieldValidator);
// Format the user's input field
datePicker.getEditor().setTextFormatter(new TextFormatter<>(change -> {
String textEntered = change.getText();
DateValidator validator;
if (change.isContentChange()) {
validator = new DateValidator(change.getControlNewText(), showingDateFormat);
if (!validator.isValid()) {
datePicker.validate();
} else {
datePicker.resetValidation();
return change;
}
if (textEntered.matches("\\D+")) {
return null;
} else {
final int oldLength = change.getControlText().length();
int newLength = change.getControlNewText().length();
if (newLength < oldLength) return change;
if (newLength == 2 || newLength == 5) {
change.setText(textEntered + " ");
newLength++;
} else if (newLength == 11) {
validator = new DateValidator(change.getControlNewText(), inputtedDateFormat);
if (!validator.isValid()) {
return null;
} else {
datePicker.resetValidation();
}
}
change.setCaretPosition(newLength);
change.setAnchor(newLength);
}
}
return change;
}));
datePicker.focusedProperty().addListener((observableValue, wasFocused, isFocused) -> {
if (isFocused) {
Platform.runLater(()-> {
datePicker.validate();
datePicker.getEditor().selectAll();
});
} else {
datePicker.resetValidation();
}
});
datePicker.getEditor().textProperty().addListener(new ChangeListener<String>() {
#Override
public void changed(ObservableValue<? extends String> observableValue, String s, String t1) {
if (t1.matches(DATE_OF_BIRTH_REGEX)) {
datePicker.resetValidation();
}
}
});
// Show picker choice box on MouseEvent
datePicker.addEventFilter(MouseEvent.MOUSE_CLICKED, mouseEvent -> {
datePicker.show();
});
VBox root = new VBox(50, datePicker, new JFXButton("Button"));
root.setAlignment(Pos.CENTER);
Scene scene = new Scene(root, 300, 120);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
private static class DateValidator {
DateTimeFormatter formatter;
String date;
DateValidator (String date, DateTimeFormatter formatter) {
this.date = date;
this.formatter = formatter;
}
public boolean isValid() {
try {
LocalDate.parse(this.date, this.formatter);
} catch (Exception e) {
return false;
}
return true;
}
}
}