vogella.de

This chapter shows how to implement a menu on the table which allows to show and hide columns of the table. Please note that Eclipse 3.5 introduced the possibility to add menus to columns headers.

Change your coding in View.java to the following.

			
package de.vogella.jface.tableviewer;

import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.TableViewer;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.TableViewerColumn;
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.KeyAdapter;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.KeyEvent;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.SelectionAdapter;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.SelectionEvent;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.GridData;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.GridLayout;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Composite;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Event;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Label;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Listener;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Menu;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.MenuItem;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Table;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.TableColumn;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Text;
import org.eclipse.ui.part.ViewPart;

import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.filter.PersonFilter;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.model.ModelProvider;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.providers.PersonContentProvider;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.providers.PersonEditingSupport;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.providers.PersonLabelProvider;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.sorter.TableSorter;

public class View extends ViewPart {
	public static final String ID = "de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.view";

	private TableViewer viewer;

	private TableSorter tableSorter;

	private PersonFilter filter;

	private PersonLabelProvider labelProvider;

	public void createPartControl(Composite parent) {
		GridLayout layout = new GridLayout(2, false);
		parent.setLayout(layout);
		Label searchLabel = new Label(parent, SWT.NONE);
		searchLabel.setText("Search: ");
		final Text searchText = new Text(parent, SWT.BORDER | SWT.SEARCH);
		searchText.setLayoutData(new GridData(GridData.GRAB_HORIZONTAL
				| GridData.HORIZONTAL_ALIGN_FILL));
		searchText.addKeyListener(new KeyAdapter() {
			public void keyReleased(KeyEvent ke) {
				filter.setSearchText(searchText.getText());
				labelProvider.setSearchText(searchText.getText());
				viewer.refresh();
			}
		});
		createViewer(parent);
	}

	private void createViewer(Composite parent) {
		viewer = new TableViewer(parent, SWT.MULTI | SWT.H_SCROLL
				| SWT.V_SCROLL | SWT.FULL_SELECTION | SWT.BORDER);

		createColumns(parent, viewer);
		viewer.setContentProvider(new PersonContentProvider());
		labelProvider = new PersonLabelProvider();
		viewer.setLabelProvider(labelProvider);
		// Get the content for the viewer, setInput will call getElements in the
		// contentProvider
		viewer.setInput(ModelProvider.getInstance().getPersons());
		// Make the selection available
		getSite().setSelectionProvider(viewer);
		// Set the sorter for the table
		tableSorter = new TableSorter();
		viewer.setSorter(tableSorter);
		filter = new PersonFilter();
		viewer.addFilter(filter);

		// Layout the viewer
		GridData gridData = new GridData();
		gridData.verticalAlignment = GridData.FILL;
		gridData.horizontalSpan = 2;
		gridData.grabExcessHorizontalSpace = true;
		gridData.grabExcessVerticalSpace = true;
		gridData.horizontalAlignment = GridData.FILL;
		viewer.getControl().setLayoutData(gridData);
	}

	public TableViewer getViewer() {
		return viewer;
	}

	// This will create the columns for the table
	private void createColumns(final Composite parent, final TableViewer viewer) {
		final Menu headerMenu = new Menu(parent);
		String[] titles = { "First name", "Last name", "Gender", "Married" };
		int[] bounds = { 100, 100, 100, 100 };

		for (int i = 0; i < titles.length; i++) {
			final int index = i;
			final TableViewerColumn viewerColumn = new TableViewerColumn(
					viewer, SWT.NONE);
			final TableColumn column = viewerColumn.getColumn();
			column.setText(titles[i]);
			column.setWidth(bounds[i]);
			column.setResizable(true);
			createMenuItem(headerMenu, column); // Create the menu item for this
												// column
			column.setMoveable(true);

			// Setting the right sorter
			column.addSelectionListener(new SelectionAdapter() {
				@Override
				public void widgetSelected(SelectionEvent e) {
					tableSorter.setColumn(index);
					int dir = viewer.getTable().getSortDirection();
					if (viewer.getTable().getSortColumn() == column) {
						dir = dir == SWT.UP ? SWT.DOWN : SWT.UP;
					} else {

						dir = SWT.DOWN;
					}
					viewer.getTable().setSortDirection(dir);
					viewer.getTable().setSortColumn(column);
					viewer.refresh();
				}
			});
			viewerColumn.setEditingSupport(new PersonEditingSupport(viewer, i));
		}
		final Table table = viewer.getTable();
		table.setHeaderVisible(true);
		table.setLinesVisible(true);

		table.addListener(SWT.MenuDetect, new Listener() {
			public void handleEvent(Event event) {
				table.setMenu(headerMenu);
			}
		});

	}

	private void createMenuItem(Menu parent, final TableColumn column) {
		final MenuItem itemName = new MenuItem(parent, SWT.CHECK);
		itemName.setText(column.getText());
		itemName.setSelection(column.getResizable());
		itemName.addListener(SWT.Selection, new Listener() {
			public void handleEvent(Event event) {
				if (itemName.getSelection()) {
					column.setWidth(150);
					column.setResizable(true);
				} else {
					column.setWidth(0);
					column.setResizable(false);
				}
			}
		});

	}

	/**
	 * Passing the focus request to the viewer's control.
	 */
	public void setFocus() {
		viewer.getControl().setFocus();
	}
}
		

If you run your application you are able to hide and show columns using the right mouse click on your table.