Working with DateTime as StringProperty - javafx-2

Question

I have defined a DateTime field as StringProperty in my model to display date. I have few rows where the date column is empty in database and have defined a cellfactory to display the date in a desired format & blank for empty rows. My problem starts when i try to update one of those empty columns. The new date doesnt appear. It works for the rows where there is already a date value present.
Part of cellfactory:
txtfld.setOnKeyPressed(new EventHandler<KeyEvent>() {
#Override
public void handle(KeyEvent t) {
if (t.getCode() == KeyCode.ENTER) {
if(txtfld.getText().length() == 0) {
commitEdit(null);
} else {
commitEdit((new DateTime(txtfld.getText(),"dd/MM/yyyy")).toString());
}
} else if (t.getCode() == KeyCode.ESCAPE) {
cancelEdit();
}
}
});
And the part where I am updating the model:
col_Purchase_DT.setOnEditCommit(new EventHandler<CellEditEvent<Purchase, String>>() {
#Override
public void handle(CellEditEvent<Purchase, String> tbl) {
(tbl.getTableView().getItems().get(tbl.getTablePosition().getRow())).setDOB(tbl.getNewValue());
}
});
I have figured it out that after updating the empty cell with a date col_Purchase_DT.setOnEditCommit() is not called. But is works for non-empty cell. I am using JodaTime for datetime.
I cannot update the second row. But it works perfectly for first & third row.
Any pointers will be helpful.

Answer 1

You seem to be doing way too much coding for this. There's a TextFieldTableCell class that you can use for creating editable cells, and it handles all the wiring for you. Here's an example, based on the usual example from the tutorial. I used the Java 8 java.time.LocalDate for the date column, but the same idea can be applied for JodaTime (I'm just not familiar with the API).
import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
import java.time.format.DateTimeParseException;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.beans.property.ObjectProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleObjectProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleStringProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.StringProperty;
import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.TableColumn;
import javafx.scene.control.TableView;
import javafx.scene.control.cell.PropertyValueFactory;
import javafx.scene.control.cell.TextFieldTableCell;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.util.StringConverter;
public class TableWithEditableDateColumn extends Application {
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
final TableView<Person> table = new TableView<>();
final TableColumn<Person, String> firstNameCol = createTableColumn("firstName", "First Name", String.class);
final TableColumn<Person, String> lastNameCol = createTableColumn("lastName", "Last Name", String.class);
final TableColumn<Person, LocalDate> birthdayCol = createTableColumn("birthday", "Birthday", LocalDate.class);
final DateTimeFormatter dateFormat = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("dd/MM/yyyy");
firstNameCol.setCellFactory(TextFieldTableCell.forTableColumn());
lastNameCol.setCellFactory(TextFieldTableCell.forTableColumn());
birthdayCol.setCellFactory(TextFieldTableCell.forTableColumn(new StringConverter<LocalDate>() {
#Override
public String toString(LocalDate t) {
if (t==null) {
return "" ;
} else {
return dateFormat.format(t);
}
}
#Override
public LocalDate fromString(String string) {
try {
return LocalDate.parse(string, dateFormat);
} catch (DateTimeParseException exc) {
return null ;
}
}
}));
final ObservableList<Person> data =
FXCollections.observableArrayList(
new Person("Jacob", "Smith", LocalDate.parse("14/03/1975", dateFormat)),
new Person("Isabella", "Johnson", LocalDate.parse("27/09/1982", dateFormat)),
new Person("Ethan", "Williams", null),
new Person("Emma", "Jones", LocalDate.parse("12/07/1979", dateFormat)),
new Person("Michael", "Brown", LocalDate.parse("19/10/1984", dateFormat))
);
table.getColumns().addAll(firstNameCol, lastNameCol, birthdayCol);
table.setItems(data);
table.setEditable(true);
final BorderPane root = new BorderPane();
root.setCenter(table);
final Scene scene = new Scene(root, 600, 400);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
private <T> TableColumn<Person, T> createTableColumn(String property, String title, Class<T> type) {
TableColumn<Person, T> col = new TableColumn<>(title);
col.setCellValueFactory(new PropertyValueFactory<>(property));
col.setEditable(true);
col.setPrefWidth(100);
return col ;
}
public static class Person {
private final StringProperty firstName ;
private final StringProperty lastName ;
private final ObjectProperty<LocalDate> birthday ;
public Person(String firstName, String lastName, LocalDate birthday) {
this.firstName = new SimpleStringProperty(this, "firstName", firstName);
this.lastName = new SimpleStringProperty(this, "lastName", lastName);
this.birthday = new SimpleObjectProperty<>(this, "birthday", birthday);
}
public String getFirstName() {
return firstName.get();
}
public void setFirstName(String value) {
firstName.set(value);
}
public StringProperty firstNameProperty() {
return firstName;
}
public String getLastName() {
return lastName.get();
}
public void setLastName(String value) {
lastName.set(value);
}
public StringProperty lastNameProperty() {
return lastName;
}
public LocalDate getBirthday() {
return birthday.get();
}
public void setBirthday(LocalDate value) {
birthday.set(value);
}
public ObjectProperty birthdayProperty() {
return birthday;
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
}

Answer 2

onEditCommit is not fired if an update happens on a null value.
Here is the answer: http://www.wobblycogs.co.uk/index.php/computing/javafx/145-editing-null-data-values-in-a-cell-with-javafx-2