Capturing MouseEnter event in a Tab [Javafx] - javafx

Question

I would like to be able to capture the MOUSEENTER event when hovering over a tab.
I have tried to do it from the Graphic of the tab, which is not the optimal solution, but it is a Node object with such events.
This is what I wrote:
tab.getGraphic().setOnMouseEntered((MouseEvent event) -> {
System.out.println("..... mouse entered");
//...
});
This solution does not error but is ignored by Javafx, any way to do this?
UPDATE: The way to create the tab and add its graphic, is like the following excerpt. The tab itself works fine and the graphic displays fine.
Tab tab = addChatTab(root, strName, strID, chat, false);
// setup tab graphic
switch (win.type) {
case wtChat:
if (chat !=null)
if (chat.isPublic()) {
tab.setGraphic(new ImageView(Main.me.imgTabPublic));
} else {
if (chat.isDCC())
tab.setGraphic(new ImageView(Main.me.imgTabDCC));
else tab.setGraphic(new ImageView(Main.me.imgTabPrivate));
}
break;
case wtWall:
tab.setGraphic(new ImageView(Main.me.imgTabWall));
break;
case wtMessage:
tab.setGraphic(new ImageView(Main.me.imgTabMessage));
break;
}

Answer 1

If you set a mouse handler on a graphic, then the handler will only be invoked when the mouse interacts with the graphic itself. In this example, the first tab has both text and a graphic set, so the mouse handler is not invoked when the mouse moves onto the text. The second tab sets no text but uses a label as the graphic, with the label containing the text. In that case the mouse handler is invoked when the mouse moves onto the text or image.
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.control.Tab;
import javafx.scene.control.TabPane;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.scene.paint.Color;
import javafx.scene.shape.Rectangle;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class TabPaneHoverTest extends Application {
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
// hover only applies on graphic:
Tab tab1 = new Tab("Tab 1");
tab1.setGraphic(new Rectangle(16, 16, Color.RED));
// Tab only uses graphic (no text),
// so hover appears to apply to whole tab:
Tab tab2 = new Tab();
Label tab2Graphic = new Label("Tab 2", new Rectangle(16, 16, Color.GREEN));
tab2.setGraphic(tab2Graphic);
tab1.getGraphic().setOnMouseEntered(e -> System.out.println("Hover on tab 1"));
tab2.getGraphic().setOnMouseEntered(e -> System.out.println("Hover on tab 2"));
BorderPane root = new BorderPane(new TabPane(tab1, tab2));
Scene scene = new Scene(root, 600, 400);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
}