Advanced Swing Containers - The Definitive Guide to Java Swing - page 391

Table 11-4. JTabbedPane Properties

Property Name Data Type Access

accessibleContext AccessibleContext Read-only

changeListeners ChangeListener[ ] Read-only

model SingleSelectionModel Read-write bound

selectedComponent Component Read-write

selectedIndex int Read-write

tabCount int

Read-only

tabLayoutPolicy int Read-write-bound

tabPlacement int Read-write bound

tabRunCount int

Read-only

UI TabbedPaneUI Read-write bound

UIClassID String Read-only

You can programmatically change the displayed tab by setting either the selectedComponent or
the selectedIndex property.
The tabRunCount property represents the number of rows (for top or bottom tab placement)
or columns (for right or left placement) necessary to display all the tabs.

■ Caution Changing the LayoutManager for the JTabbedPane will throw an exception when it comes

time to displaying the container. In other words, don't do it.

Listening for Changing Tab Selection
If you're interested in finding out when the selected tab changes, you need to listen for changes
to the selection model. This is done by your attaching a ChangeListener to the JTabbedPane (or
directly to the SingleSelectionModel ). The registered ChangeListener reports when the selection
model changes, as the model changes when the selected panel changes.
The program shown in Listing 11-3 demonstrates listening for changes to the selected tab
and displays the title of the newly selected tab.