I'm trying to use a JTextPane to do some manipulations to rich (formatted) text in Java Swing. I don't need to insert graphs or images, or anything fancy like that, but I need to be able to set font styles and sizes.

I seems to be able to set the style of the currently selected text, but my problem is that when I try to copy or paste anything using the default methods it only uses plain, unformatted text, even if there was formatting (it's just ignored), so I have to programmatically get around that (why isn't it automated?).

When I try to write code to do it, it doesn't work correctly. For one thing, it always tries to copy all of the text rather than only what's selected, or paste it to replace all text.

I've been experimenting with it so right now it might be slightly messy and there are a few lines that are set as comments so that they won't run at the moment, but if anyone can figure out how to sort out the mess that would be awesome!

Here's what I currently have for my copy function:

public static void copyText(JTextPane text)
{
try
{
RTFEditorKit rtfKit = new RTFEditorKit();
ByteArrayOutputStream outStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
int start = text.getSelectionStart();
int end = text.getSelectionEnd();
System.out.println(start);
System.out.println(end);
//System.out.println("doc type: " + text.getDocument().getClass().toString());
rtfKit.write(outStream, text.getDocument(), start, end - start);// text.getSelectionStart(), text.getSelectionEnd() - text.getSelectionStart());
//rtfKit.write(outStream, text.getDocument().getText(start, end - start), start, end - start);// text.getSelectionStart(), text.getSelectionEnd() - text.getSelectionStart());

//DefaultStyledDocument d = new DefaultStyledDocument("");


outStream.flush();
System.out.println(outStream.toString());
DataHandler handler = new DataHandler(outStream.toByteArray(), rtfKit.getContentType());
//StringSelection selection = new StringSelection(outStream.toString());
Clipboard clip = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getSystemClipboard();
clip.setContents(handler, null);
//clip.setContents(selection, selection);
////clip.getData(DataFlavor.stringFlavor);
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}



If I try to make text that looks like:

Here's some text!

In the current state it seems to actually copy the whole thing and even correctly preserve the formatting, except that I can't copy only part of it, and for some unknown reason if I paste it into a different editor it will display the first few characters (up until the "s" in "some", where it becomes italic) with a light blue background, even though I never set a background color. It's almost as though it wants to do that by default and as soon as I change the style it stops doing it. Between that and especially not being able to copy only part of it, I'm having a lot of trouble.

It seems like one thing that I can do is get a substring of the text from the Document object (to try to get the currently selected text), but if I do that then it's not a Document anymore, and doesn't have all of the formatting or compatibility to be input into the rtfKit.write function.

But anyway, here's the actual string that it produces:

{\rtf1\ansi
{\fonttbl\f0\fnil Monospaced;\f1\fnil Dialog;}
{\colortbl\red0\green0\blue0;\red51\green51\blue51;}

\f1\fs24\i0\b0\cf1 Here's \i some \i0\b text!\b0\par
}



I haven't worked as much on the paste function, but when I paste it just replaces the whole thing with whatever I paste, instead of the selection, and it doesn't format the text at all, but just leaves it plain (except that if the style is different for the first character of whatever is already typed then that style is automatically applied to the whole pasted text). Here's my paste function:


public static void pasteText(JTextPane text)
{
try
{
RTFEditorKit rtfKit = new RTFEditorKit();
Clipboard clip = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getSystemClipboard();
Transferable trans = clip.getContents(null);
if(trans != null && trans.isDataFlavorSupported(DataFlavor.stringFlavor))
{
text.setText((String)trans.getTransferData(DataFlavor.stringFlavor));
//rtfKit.read(trans.toString(), text.getDocument(), text.getSelectionStart());


//text.insertComponent((Component)trans.getTransferData(DataFlavor.stringFlavor));
//text.setText(trans.getTransferData(DataFlavor.stringFlavor).toString());
}
//text.setText(clip.getData(DataFlavor.stringFlavor).toString());
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}


I've looked all over the Internet, and after putting together everything that I've found, this is unfortunately the best I could do. Does anyone know how to get it the rest of the way there? Thank you!

Hello, fellow forum members,

I'm encountering a problem while trying to edit rich text in Java Swing, and I'm seeking some assistance. I'm hoping that someone in this community might have encountered a similar issue and can provide guidance on how to resolve it.

Here's a brief description of the problem:

I have developed a Java Swing application that includes a text editor component. The goal is to enable users to edit rich text, including formatting options such as font styles, colors, and alignments. However, I'm facing challenges in implementing the rich text editing functionality effectively.

The specific issues I'm experiencing are as follows:

Text Formatting: I'm struggling to find a suitable approach to apply formatting (such as bold, italic, or underline) to selected text within the editor. I'm looking for a way to toggle the formatting options on and off as the user interacts with the text.

Font and Color Selection: I need to provide users with the ability to select different fonts and colors for the text they are editing. However, I'm unsure how to implement a user-friendly interface for font and color selection that integrates smoothly with the text editor.

Text Alignment: I also need to support text alignment options (left, center, right) within the editor. I'm uncertain about the best way to implement this functionality and how to reflect the selected alignment visually.

If any of you have experience or expertise with rich text editing in Java Swing, I would greatly appreciate your assistance in troubleshooting these issues. Here are a few questions to consider when providing suggestions:

Are there any existing libraries or frameworks that can simplify the implementation of rich text editing in Java Swing?

What design patterns or best practices should I consider when implementing the formatting, font/color selection, and alignment functionality?

Could you recommend any specific approaches or techniques that have proven effective in your experience?

Are there any potential pitfalls or challenges that I should be aware of when working with rich text editing in Java Swing?

I'm eager to learn from your experiences and insights. Thank you in advance for your help!

Best regards,


Java Course In Pune

Don't reinvent the wheel.
https://www.tiny.cloud/solutions/wysiwyg-java-rich-text-editor/

Please don't reply to spambot replying to spam(non-bot) posts.

There are places to ask for programming help, this is not the place and OP does it time and time again.

HeresMyAccount is a not a spammer though.
Personally I see no problems in his posts about programming.

I still have his last thread about wxPython saved because Its something it interests me too.
Also, there are a lot of programmers, IT workers, experienced Linux users on this forum which could help.

Albeit I understand your concern, I personally see no problem on off topic discussions like this here.

It's not what he posts it's how he posts it.

I tried this but it doesn't work. I don't have time to work it out myself but if anyone else could fix my mess that would be great.

But I stand corrected, obviously this post was of great importance to the community.

Nobody replied so he reposted in a different thread 9 days later:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/java_swing_cutpaste_please_help

So yes, the OP is spamming too.

Uh, thanks for replying... over three years later... to some bot instead of me... so thanks again, I guess. Well anyway, I already dealt with the problem, but thanks anyway, neumi, and I'll look at that link, because it seems interesting.

.Keys, thanks for standing up for me, because a lot of people do often reply to my posts and we have an interesting discussion, so I'm quite sure that not everyone considers it spam. But to clarify, I don't think I ever posted anything about wxPython, did I? I know I've posted about wxWidgets though, which I use.

lupineshadow, I may have posted another message later, but it wasn't the same thing, even though it may have been similar. In any case, if you read the replies you'll notice that the other websites never do me any good. People either never reply, reply with irrelevant things that ultimately don't answer my question or fix my problem. But here, ironically, even though it's not a programming forum, I actually tend to get better results (though not always, I suppose, based on the fact that nobody had replied to that question), so why wouldn't I post them here? And as for trying something and it not working, so instead of working it out myself, just asking for help: isn't that what people tend to do, and are even supposed to do? I mean, if I've tried and tried, and nothing has worked, and if the answers aren't readily available from searching, what other recourse remains? At that point I have to ask for help. If you don't like my posts then simply don't read them. After all:

A: This is the "General Discussion" forum, which means that it can be about pretty much anything.

B: The title says it all, so if it doesn't interest you then nobody's forcing you to click on it.

C: Despite this, you seem to keep coming back to make more posts. So who's wasting who's time now?

The spam bot fooled me :D

It's a very convincing bot, one must admit.

That's alright; it fooled me into thinking it was me, before I read its name.