How do I remove tabs from JTabbedPane?

To remove tabs from JTabbedPane we can use the following remove methods:

  • remove(int index) method to remove a tab at the specified index.
  • remove(Component component) method to remove a tab that has the specified child component.
  • removeAll() method to remove all tabs.
package org.kodejava.swing;

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

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

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

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("JTabbedPane Demo");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setContentPane(panel);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

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

    private void initializeUI() {
        final JTabbedPane pane = new JTabbedPane(JTabbedPane.LEFT);
        pane.addTab("A Tab", new JPanel());
        pane.addTab("B Tab", new JPanel());

        JPanel tabPanel = new JPanel();
        pane.addTab("C Tab", tabPanel);
        pane.addTab("D Tab", new JPanel());
        pane.addTab("E Tab", new JPanel());

        // Remove the last tab from JTabbedPane
        pane.remove(pane.getTabCount() - 1);

        // Remove tab that contains a tabPanel component which is
        // the C Tab.
        pane.remove(tabPanel);

        JButton button = new JButton("Remove All Tabs");
        button.addActionListener(e -> {
            // Remove all tabs from JTabbedPane
            pane.removeAll();
        });

        this.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 200));
        this.add(pane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        this.add(button, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
    }
}

The output of the code snippet above is:

Remove Tabs from JTabbedPane

How do I assign keyboard shortcut to JTabbedPane tabs?

To assign a keyboard shortcut for accessing JTabbedPane‘s tab you can use the setMnemonicAt(int tabIndex, int mnemonic) method of the JTabbedPane class. The tabIndex parameter is a zero-based value parameter which means that the first tab is at index number 0. For the mnenomic parameter you can use constants value defined in the java.awt.event.KeyEvent class.

Here is an example in action on how to assign keyboard shortcut to JTabbedPane‘s tabs. To access the tabs you can use the ALT + A, ALT + B, ALT + C and ALT + D keyboard combination.

package org.kodejava.swing;

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;

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

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

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("JTabbedPane Demo");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setContentPane(panel);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

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

    private void initializeUI() {
        this.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 200));

        JTabbedPane pane = new JTabbedPane();
        pane.addTab("A Tab", new JPanel());
        pane.addTab("B Tab", new JPanel());
        pane.addTab("C Tab", new JPanel());
        pane.addTab("D Tab", new JPanel());

        pane.setMnemonicAt(0, KeyEvent.VK_A);
        pane.setMnemonicAt(1, KeyEvent.VK_B);
        pane.setMnemonicAt(2, KeyEvent.VK_C);
        pane.setMnemonicAt(3, KeyEvent.VK_D);

        this.add(pane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    }
}

The output of the code snippet above is:

JTabbedPane Tabs with Keyboard Shortcut

How do I assign tool tips for JTabbedPane tabs?

To set a tool tips for JTabbedPane‘s tabs you need to pass the tool tips when adding a new tab to the JTabbedPane. The addTab() method accept the following parameters: the tab’s title, image icon, a component that is going to be the content of the tabs and a string of tool tips information.

When you hover your mouse to the JTabbedPane‘s tabs the tool tips will be shown on the screen. Here is an example how you can can add tool tips the JTabbedPane‘s tabs.

package org.kodejava.swing;

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.util.Objects;

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

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

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("JTabbedPane Demo");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setContentPane(panel);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

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

    private void initializeUI() {
        this.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 200));

        JTabbedPane pane = new JTabbedPane();
        ImageIcon tab1Icon = new ImageIcon(Objects.requireNonNull(
                this.getClass().getResource("/images/test-pass-icon.png")));
        ImageIcon tab2Icon = new ImageIcon(Objects.requireNonNull(
                this.getClass().getResource("/images/test-fail-icon.png")));
        ImageIcon tab3Icon = new ImageIcon(Objects.requireNonNull(
                this.getClass().getResource("/images/test-error-icon.png")));

        JPanel content1 = new JPanel();
        JPanel content2 = new JPanel();
        JPanel content3 = new JPanel();

        // Add tabs to the JTabbedPane. The last parameter in the
        // add tab method is the tool tips for the tabs.
        pane.addTab("Success", tab1Icon, content1, "Success Test Cases");
        pane.addTab("Fail", tab2Icon, content2, "Fail Test Cases");
        pane.addTab("Error", tab3Icon, content3, "Error Test Cases");

        this.add(pane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    }
}

The result of the code snippet above is:

JTabbedPane Tabs’ Tool Tips Demo

How do I disable or enable tabs in JTabbedPane?

To enable or disable tabs in JTabbedPane you can use the JTabbedPane‘s setEnableAt(int index, boolean enable) method. The index is zero based, this means that the first tab is at index number 0. The enable parameter when set to true will enable the tab while setting to false will disable the tab.

package org.kodejava.swing;

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

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

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

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("JTabbedPane Demo");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setContentPane(panel);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

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

    private void initializeUI() {
        JTabbedPane pane = new JTabbedPane();
        pane.addTab("Tabs A", new JPanel());
        pane.addTab("Tabs B", new JPanel());
        pane.addTab("Tabs C", new JPanel());
        pane.addTab("Tabs D", new JPanel());

        // Disable the first tab
        pane.setEnabledAt(0, false);

        // Disable the last tab, the pane.getTabCount() return the
        // number of tabs in the JTabbedPane. Because the index
        // start at 0 we need to subtract the count by 1.
        pane.setEnabledAt(pane.getTabCount() - 1, false);

        this.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 200));
        this.add(pane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    }
}

Below is the screenshot result of the code snippet above:

Enable or Disable Tabs in JTabbedPane

How do I set the colors of JTabbedPane tabs?

The example below demonstrates how to change the color of the tabs in JTabbedPane component. The JTabbedPane‘s methods that you can use the change foreground and background color are:

  • setForeground(Color color) for changing the foreground color of all tabs.
  • setBackground(Color color) for changing the background color of all tabs.
  • setForegroundAt(int index, Color color) for changing foreground color for a tab at defined index.
  • setBackgroundAt(int index, Color color) for changing the background color of a tab at a defined index.
package org.kodejava.swing;

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

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

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

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("JTabbedPane Demo");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setContentPane(panel);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

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

    private void initializeUI() {
        this.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 200));

        JTabbedPane pane = new JTabbedPane();
        pane.addTab("A Tab", new JPanel());
        pane.addTab("B Tab", new JPanel());
        pane.addTab("C Tab", new JPanel());
        pane.addTab("D Tab", new JPanel());

        // Set all tabs foreground color to black.
        pane.setForeground(Color.BLACK);

        // Set different background color for all tabs in
        // JTabbedPane. The color from the first to the last
        // tab will be red, green yellow and orange.
        pane.setBackgroundAt(0, Color.RED);
        pane.setBackgroundAt(1, Color.GREEN);
        pane.setBackgroundAt(2, Color.YELLOW);
        pane.setBackgroundAt(3, Color.ORANGE);

        this.add(pane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    }
}

The image below shows the result of the code snippet above:

JTabbedPane Tabs Color Demo

How do I add disabled icon for JTabbedPane tabs?

When adding a tabs to JTabbedPane you can define the icon for the tabs. This icon will be displayed beside the tab’s title in enable or disable state of the tabs. To make the user interface better you can also define a disabled icon for the tab. This icon will be displayed when the state of the tabs are disabled.

To assign a disabled icon for the tab use the JTabbedPane‘s setDisabledIconAt(int index, Icon icon) method. As always the index parameter is zero-based which means the first tab is at index number 0. The icon parameter is the disabled icon of your tabs.

package org.kodejava.swing;

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.util.Objects;

public class TabbedPaneDisableIcon extends JPanel {
    private final ImageIcon[] disableIcons = {
            new ImageIcon(Objects.requireNonNull(
                    this.getClass().getResource("/images/test-pass-icon-disable.png"))),
            new ImageIcon(Objects.requireNonNull(
                    this.getClass().getResource("/images/test-fail-icon-disable.png"))),
            new ImageIcon(Objects.requireNonNull(
                    this.getClass().getResource("/images/test-error-icon-disable.png"))),
    };

    public TabbedPaneDisableIcon() {
        initializeUI();
    }

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

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("JTabbedPane Demo");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setContentPane(panel);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

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

    private void initializeUI() {
        this.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 200));

        JTabbedPane pane = new JTabbedPane();

        ImageIcon tab1Icon = new ImageIcon(Objects.requireNonNull(
                this.getClass().getResource("/images/test-pass-icon.png")));
        ImageIcon tab2Icon = new ImageIcon(Objects.requireNonNull(
                this.getClass().getResource("/images/test-fail-icon.png")));
        ImageIcon tab3Icon = new ImageIcon(Objects.requireNonNull(
                this.getClass().getResource("/images/test-error-icon.png")));
        JPanel content1 = new JPanel();
        JPanel content2 = new JPanel();
        JPanel content3 = new JPanel();

        pane.addTab("Pass", tab1Icon, content1);
        pane.addTab("Fail", tab2Icon, content2);
        pane.addTab("Error", tab3Icon, content3);

        for (int i = 0; i < pane.getTabCount(); i++) {
            pane.setDisabledIconAt(i, disableIcons[i]);
        }

        // Disable the last tab to see the disabled icon displayed.
        pane.setEnabledAt(pane.getTabCount() - 1, false);

        this.add(pane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    }
}

The result of the code snippet above is:

Set Disabled Icon for JTabbedPane Tabs

Set Disabled Icon for JTabbedPane Tabs

How do I add icon to JTabbedPane tabs?

The following code snippet demonstrates how to create a JTabbedPane component with image icons attached on their tabs. There are two steps that we need to do to achieve this. First we need to load the image icon and after that we need to attach these icons to the tabs.

To create or load an image icon simply create an instance of ImageIcon class. Pass the information about the image location to the constructor of the ImageIcon. In the example below I provide the location of the image using the getClass().getResource() method which will load the images from resources directory.

To add a new tab with image icon attached to the tabs of a JTabbedPane component we are using the addTab(String, Icon, Component) method. The second argument in this method is the image icon of the tab.

Let’s see the code snippet below:

package org.kodejava.swing;

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.util.Objects;

public class TabbedPaneWithIcon extends JPanel {
    private TabbedPaneWithIcon() {
        initializeUI();
    }

    private static void showFrame() {
        JPanel panel = new TabbedPaneWithIcon();
        panel.setOpaque(true);

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Tabbed Pane With Icon Demo");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setContentPane(panel);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

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

    private void initializeUI() {
        this.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 200));

        JTabbedPane pane = new JTabbedPane();

        ImageIcon tab1Icon = new ImageIcon(Objects.requireNonNull(
                this.getClass().getResource("/images/test-pass-icon.png")));
        ImageIcon tab2Icon = new ImageIcon(Objects.requireNonNull(
                this.getClass().getResource("/images/test-fail-icon.png")));
        ImageIcon tab3Icon = new ImageIcon(Objects.requireNonNull(
                this.getClass().getResource("/images/test-error-icon.png")));

        JPanel content1 = new JPanel();
        JPanel content2 = new JPanel();
        JPanel content3 = new JPanel();

        pane.addTab("Pass", tab1Icon, content1);
        pane.addTab("Fail", tab2Icon, content2);
        pane.addTab("Error", tab3Icon, content3);

        this.add(pane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    }
}

The directory structure of the project:

kodejava-swing
├─ pom.xml
└─ src
   └─ main
      ├─ java
      │  └─ org
      │     └─ kodejava
      │        └─ swing
      │           └─ TabbedPaneWithIcon.java
      └─ resources
         └─ images
            ├─ test-error-icon.png
            ├─ test-fail-icon.png
            └─ test-pass-icon.png

And here is the result of the code snippet above.

JTabbedPane Tab with Icon Demo

How do I scroll or wrap JTabbedPane tab layout?

JTabbedPane component tab layout policy of can be either set to JTabbedPane.SCROLL_TAB_LAYOUT or JTabbedPane.WRAP_TAB_LAYOUT. This layout policy will control the display of the tabs when the tabs cannot be displayed in one go. By the default the layout policy is set to JTabbedPane.WRAP_TAB_LAYOUT. Changing tab layout policy to JTabbedPane.SCROLL_TAB_LAYOUT makes the tabs scrollable. A button for scrolling left-right or up-down will be displayed in the tabbed pane.

package org.kodejava.swing;

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

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

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

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("TabbedPane Tab Layout Policy Demo");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setContentPane(panel);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

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

    private void initializeUI() {
        this.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400, 200));

        // Creates a JTabbedPane with scroll tab layout policy
        JTabbedPane pane = new JTabbedPane(JTabbedPane.TOP,
                JTabbedPane.SCROLL_TAB_LAYOUT);
        pane.addTab("One", createPanel("One"));
        pane.addTab("Two", createPanel("Two"));
        pane.addTab("Three", createPanel("Three"));
        pane.addTab("Four", createPanel("Four"));
        pane.addTab("Five", createPanel("Five"));
        pane.addTab("Six", createPanel("Six"));
        pane.addTab("Seven", createPanel("Seven"));
        pane.addTab("Eight", createPanel("Eight"));
        pane.addTab("Nine", createPanel("Nine"));
        pane.addTab("Ten", createPanel("Ten"));

        this.add(pane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    }

    private JPanel createPanel(String title) {
        JPanel panel = new JPanel();
        panel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        panel.add(new JLabel(title), BorderLayout.NORTH);
        return panel;
    }
}

Here is the screenshot of the code snippet created above. You can see that a button at the top right of the tabbed pane is added so that you can scroll to navigate the hidden tabs.

JTabbedPane Tab Layout Policy Demo

How do I change JTabbedPane tab placement position?

By default, the tabs in a JTabbedPane component is placed on the top. But you can place the tabs on every side of the JTabbedPane component, for example it can be on the top, on the right, on the left or on the bottom of the JTabbedPane.

To change the tab placement position you need to set the tab placement when creating an instance of JTabbedPane. The tab placement can be set using the following constant values: JTabbedPane.TOP, JTabbedPane.RIGHT, JTabbedPane.LEFT and JTabbedPane.BOTTOM.

Let’s see the following code snippet to demonstrate it.

package org.kodejava.swing;

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

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

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

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Tabbed Pane Tab Placement Demo");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setContentPane(panel);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

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

    private void initializeUI() {
        this.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 200));

        // Creates a JTabbedPane with tabs at the bottom.
        JTabbedPane pane = new JTabbedPane(JTabbedPane.BOTTOM);
        pane.addTab("Tab 1", createPanel("Panel 1"));
        pane.addTab("Tab 1", createPanel("Panel 2"));
        pane.addTab("Tab 3", createPanel("Panel 3"));

        this.add(pane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    }

    private JPanel createPanel(String title) {
        JPanel panel = new JPanel();
        panel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        panel.add(new JLabel(title), BorderLayout.NORTH);
        return panel;
    }
}

And here is the result of the code snippet above.

JTabbedPane Tab Position Demo

How do I detect tab selection changes in JTabbedPane?

In this example you will learn how to detect tab selection changes in a JTabbedPane component. To get notified when a tab is selected you must add a ChangeListener to the JTabbedPane component using the addChangeListener(). This method take an instance of class that implements the ChangeListener interface as its arguments.

In this example we implement the ChangeListener interface in the TabbedPaneSelection class. And we need to create an implementation for the stateChanged() method as defined by this interface contract. By implementing the interface in the TabbedPaneSelection class, we don’t need to create a separate class that specifically implement this interface. That’s why in the code snippet below we just pass the current object, using the this keyword, when calling the addChangeListener() method.

The stateChanged() method of this interface will be fired every time a new tab is selected. To get the selected tab index you can use the JTabbedPane‘s getSelectedIndex() method. The index returned by the getSelectedIndex() method is zero based, it means that if you select the first tab you will get index of 0, and if you select the second tab you will get index of 1.

package org.kodejava.swing;

import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.ChangeEvent;
import javax.swing.event.ChangeListener;
import java.awt.*;

public class TabbedPaneSelection extends JPanel implements ChangeListener {
    public TabbedPaneSelection() {
        initializeUI();
    }

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

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("JTabbedPane Selection Demo");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setContentPane(panel);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

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

    private void initializeUI() {
        JTabbedPane tabbedPane = new JTabbedPane();

        JPanel dashboardPanel = new JPanel();
        tabbedPane.addTab("Dashboard", dashboardPanel);

        JPanel accountPanel = new JPanel();
        tabbedPane.addTab("Account", accountPanel);

        this.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 200));
        this.add(tabbedPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);

        // Add ChangeListener to the tabbed pane.
        tabbedPane.addChangeListener(this);
    }

    public void stateChanged(ChangeEvent e) {
        JTabbedPane tabbedPane = (JTabbedPane) e.getSource();
        int selectedIndex = tabbedPane.getSelectedIndex();
        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Selected Index: " + selectedIndex);
    }
}

If you run the presented code snippet above you’ll get the output as shown in the image below. And if you click the tab a message dialog will be displayed showing you the selected index.

JTabbedPane Selection Demo