How do I render boolean value as checkbox in JTable component?

To make a JTable renders a boolean as a checkbox in the table cell we need to tell the table that a cell stores a boolean type of data. To do this we have to implement a TableModel for the JTable component.

TableModel‘s getColumnClass(int columnIndex) must return the type of data stored in a cell. When it returns that the column stored a Boolean data, JTable displays a checkbox as the default renderer or editor for that cell.

package org.kodejava.swing;

import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.table.AbstractTableModel;
import java.awt.*;

public class JTableBooleanAsCheckbox extends JPanel {
    public JTableBooleanAsCheckbox() {
        initializeUI();
    }

    public static void showFrame() {
        JPanel panel = new JTableBooleanAsCheckbox();
        panel.setOpaque(true);

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("JTable Boolean as Checkbox");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setContentPane(panel);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(JTableBooleanAsCheckbox::showFrame);
    }

    private void initializeUI() {
        setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 500));

        JTable table = new JTable(new BooleanTableModel());
        table.setFillsViewportHeight(true);
        JScrollPane pane = new JScrollPane(table);
        add(pane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    }

    static class BooleanTableModel extends AbstractTableModel {
        String[] columns = {"STUDENT ID", "NAME", "SCORE", "PASSED"};
        Object[][] data = {
                {"S001", "ALICE", 90.00, Boolean.TRUE},
                {"S002", "BOB", 45.50, Boolean.FALSE},
                {"S003", "CAROL", 60.00, Boolean.FALSE},
                {"S004", "MALLORY", 75.80, Boolean.TRUE}
        };

        public int getRowCount() {
            return data.length;
        }

        public int getColumnCount() {
            return columns.length;
        }

        public Object getValueAt(int rowIndex, int columnIndex) {
            return data[rowIndex][columnIndex];
        }

        @Override
        public String getColumnName(int column) {
            return columns[column];
        }

        // This method is used by the JTable to define the default
        // renderer or editor for each cell. For example if you have
        // a boolean data it will be rendered as a checkbox. A
        // number value is right aligned.
        @Override
        public Class<?> getColumnClass(int columnIndex) {
            return data[0][columnIndex].getClass();
        }
    }
}

Here is the result of the program:

JTable render Boolean as Checkbox

JTable render Boolean as Checkbox

How do I generate a random array of numbers?

Using java.util.Random class we can create random data such as boolean, integer, floats, double. First you’ll need to create an instance of the Random class. This class has some next***() methods that can randomly create the data.

package org.kodejava.util;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Random;

public class RandomDemo {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Random r = new Random();

        // generate some random boolean values
        boolean[] booleans = new boolean[10];
        for (int i = 0; i < booleans.length; i++) {
            booleans[i] = r.nextBoolean();
        }
        System.out.println(Arrays.toString(booleans));

        // generate a uniformly distributed int random numbers
        int[] integers = new int[10];
        for (int i = 0; i < integers.length; i++) {
            integers[i] = r.nextInt();
        }
        System.out.println(Arrays.toString(integers));

        // generate a uniformly distributed float random numbers
        float[] floats = new float[10];
        for (int i = 0; i < floats.length; i++) {
            floats[i] = r.nextFloat();
        }
        System.out.println(Arrays.toString(floats));

        // generate a Gaussian normally distributed random numbers
        double[] doubles = new double[10];
        for (int i = 0; i < doubles.length; i++) {
            doubles[i] = r.nextGaussian();
        }
        System.out.println(Arrays.toString(doubles));
    }
}

The result of the code snippet above are:

[true, true, false, true, false, true, true, false, false, true]
[34195704, 1462972230, -475641915, -1531017612, 332184915, 1555901473, -276309016, 1433394157, -451221924, -1178823255]
[0.3040716, 0.28814012, 0.34028566, 0.021003246, 0.49158317, 0.37954164, 0.5403056, 0.54187375, 0.7157934, 0.5964742]
[1.051268591002577, -1.1283332046139989, 0.8351395528722437, -0.24598168031182968, 0.7123515366756693, -0.9661681996105319, -1.6107009669125059, 0.43994917963255387, 1.1309345726165914, 1.2321618489324313]

For an example to create random number using the Math.random() method see How do I create random number?.

How do I convert primitive boolean type into Boolean object?

The following code snippet demonstrate how to use the Boolean.valueOf() method to convert primitive boolean value or a string into Boolean object. This method will return the corresponding Boolean object of the given primitive boolean value.

When a string value is passed to this method it will return Boolean.TRUE when the string is not null, and the value is equal, ignoring case, to the string "true". Otherwise, it will return Boolean.FALSE object.

package org.kodejava.lang;

public class BooleanValueOfExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        boolean b = true;
        Boolean bool = Boolean.valueOf(b);
        System.out.println("bool = " + bool);

        // Here we test the conversion, which is likely unnecessary. But
        // here is shown the boolean true is equals to Boolean.TRUE static
        // variable and of course you can guest the boolean false value is
        // equals to Boolean.FALSE
        if (bool.equals(Boolean.TRUE)) {
            System.out.println("bool = " + bool);
        }

        // On the line below we convert a string to Boolean, it returns
        // true if and only if the string is equals to "true" otherwise it
        // returns false
        String s = "false";
        Boolean bools = Boolean.valueOf(s);
        System.out.println("bools = " + bools);

        String f = "abc";
        Boolean abc = Boolean.valueOf(f);
        System.out.println("abc = " + abc);
    }
}

The code snippet will print the following output:

bool = true
bool = true
boolS = false
abc = false

Can I create a boolean variable from string?

To convert a string into boolean we can use the Boolean.parseBoolean(String) method. If we pass a non null value that equals to true, ignoring case, this method will return true value. Given other values it will return a false boolean value.

package org.kodejava.lang;

public class BooleanParseExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Parsing string "true" will result boolean true
        boolean boolA = Boolean.parseBoolean("true");
        System.out.println("boolA = " + boolA);

        // Parsing string "TRUE" also result boolean true, as the
        // parsing method is case insensitive
        boolean boolB = Boolean.parseBoolean("TRUE");
        System.out.println("boolB = " + boolB);

        // The operation below will return false, as Yes is not
        // a valid string value for boolean expression
        boolean boolC = Boolean.parseBoolean("Yes");
        System.out.println("boolC = " + boolC);

        // Parsing a number is also not a valid expression so the
        // parsing method return false
        boolean boolD = Boolean.parseBoolean("1");
        System.out.println("boolD = " + boolD);
    }
}

The code snippet above will print the following output:

boolA = true
boolB = true
boolC = false
boolD = false