Add Custom Components To Jfilechooser

Let me show you how to add custom components to JFileChooser in Swing. This is very easy and even you have a method for that. In this post, i will be showing you how to use that method to use your own components and enjoy! Here we go!

 import javax.swing.*;
 import java.awt.*;
 import java.awt.event.*;
 class CustomJFileChooser extends JFrame
 {
 private JButton jb;
 private JFileChooser jf;
 private JPanel jp;
 private JLabel jl;
 
  public CustomJFileChooser()
  {
  createAndShowGUI();
  }
  
  private void createAndShowGUI()
  {
  
  // Set frame properties
  setTitle("Custom JFileChooser");
  setSize(400,400);
  setLayout(new FlowLayout());
  setLocationRelativeTo(null);
  setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
  setVisible(true);
  
  // Create JButton
  jb=new JButton("Open JFileChooser");
  
  // Add ActionListener to JButton
  jb.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
   public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
   {
   // Create JFileChooser
   jf=new JFileChooser();
 
   // Create JPanel
   jp=new JPanel();
  
   // Create JLabel
   jl=new JLabel("I am a label on custom JFileChooser");
  
   // Add JLabel to the JPanel
   jp.add(jl); 
 
   // This is that method, do it before showOpenDialog!
   jf.setAccessory(jp);
   
   // Show Open Dialog
   jf.showOpenDialog(null);
    }
  });
  
  // Add JButton to the JFrame
  add(jb);
  }
  
  public static void main(String args[])
  {
  new CustomJFileChooser();
  }
 }

Output of the CustomJFileChooser

Custom JFileChooser Screenshot

This is not a hack, it is just a feature provided. This is the way you can add your own custom components to JFileChooser. You don't actually need the JPanel, I just added it, you can directly add JLabel to it. But in order to have a layout of the components we added i added JPanel. Good to know if we can add components in a certain layout to the JFileChooser without JPanel and without disturbing the layout of the JFileChooser's by-birth components.

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