What are the Selection Modes in a JTable with Java?

Selection modes sets the table's selection mode to allow only single selections, a single contiguous interval, or multiple intervals. Let us see the selection modes one by one −

Single Selection mode

The following is an example of Single Selection mode for a JTable. It allows you to select one cell at a time −

Example

package my;
import java.awt.Color;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTable;
import javax.swing.ListSelectionModel;
import javax.swing.border.TitledBorder;
public class SwingDemo {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      JFrame frame = new JFrame();
      JPanel panel = new JPanel();
      panel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder(
         BorderFactory.createEtchedBorder(), "ODI Rankings", TitledBorder.CENTER, TitledBorder.TOP));
      String[][] rec = {
         { "1", "Steve", "AUS" },
         { "2", "Virat", "IND" },
         { "3", "Kane", "NZ" },
         { "4", "David", "AUS" },
         { "5", "Ben", "ENG" },
         { "6", "Eion", "ENG" },
      };
      String[] header = { "Rank", "Player", "Country" };
      JTable table = new JTable(rec, header);
      table.setShowHorizontalLines(true);
      table.setGridColor(Color.orange);
      table.setCellSelectionEnabled(true);
      table.setSelectionMode(ListSelectionModel.SINGLE_SELECTION);
      panel.add(new JScrollPane(table));
      frame.add(panel);
      frame.setSize(550, 400);
      frame.setVisible(true);
   }
}

This will produce the following output −

Single Interval Selection mode

The following is an example of Single Interval Selection mode for a JTable. It allows you to select one contiguous range of indices at a time −

Example

package my;
import java.awt.Color;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTable;
import javax.swing.ListSelectionModel;
import javax.swing.border.TitledBorder;
public class SwingDemo {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      JFrame frame = new JFrame();
      JPanel panel = new JPanel();
      panel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder(
         BorderFactory.createEtchedBorder(), "ODI Rankings", TitledBorder.CENTER, TitledBorder.TOP));
      String[][] rec = {
         { "1", "Steve", "AUS" },
         { "2", "Virat", "IND" },
         { "3", "Kane", "NZ" },
         { "4", "David", "AUS" },
         { "5", "Ben", "ENG" },
         { "6", "Eion", "ENG" },
      };
      String[] header = { "Rank", "Player", "Country" };
      JTable table = new JTable(rec, header);
      table.setShowHorizontalLines(true);
      table.setGridColor(Color.orange);
      table.setCellSelectionEnabled(true); table.setSelectionMode(ListSelectionModel.SINGLE_INTERVAL_SELECTION);
      panel.add(new JScrollPane(table));
      frame.add(panel);
      frame.setSize(550, 400);
      frame.setVisible(true);
   }
}

This will produce the following output −

Multiple Interval Selection mode

The following is an example of Multiple Interval Selection mode for a JTable. It allows you to select one or more contiguous ranges of indices at a time −

Example

package my;
import java.awt.Color;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTable;
import javax.swing.ListSelectionModel;
import javax.swing.border.TitledBorder;
public class SwingDemo {
      public static void main(String[] args) {
         JFrame frame = new JFrame();
         JPanel panel = new JPanel();
         panel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder(
            BorderFactory.createEtchedBorder(), "ODI Rankings", TitledBorder.CENTER, TitledBorder.TOP));
         String[][] rec = {
            { "1", "Steve", "AUS" },
            { "2", "Virat", "IND" },
            { "3", "Kane", "NZ" },
            { "4", "David", "AUS" },
            { "5", "Ben", "ENG" },
            { "6", "Eion", "ENG" },
         };
         String[] header = { "Rank", "Player", "Country" };
         JTable table = new JTable(rec, header);
         table.setShowHorizontalLines(true);
         table.setGridColor(Color.orange);
         table.setCellSelectionEnabled(true); table.setSelectionMode(ListSelectionModel.MULTIPLE_INTERVAL_SELECTION);
         panel.add(new JScrollPane(table));
         frame.add(panel);
         frame.setSize(550, 400);
         frame.setVisible(true);
   }
}

This will produce the following output −