JCheckBoxMenuItemTest.java - Check Box Menu Item Test Program

Java Swing Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟Menu Bar, Menus, Menu Items and Listeners

∟JCheckBoxMenuItemTest.java - Check Box Menu Item Test Program

This section provides a tutorial example on how to use the javax.swing.JCheckBoxMenuItemTest class to create check box menu items. If a check box menu item is selected, its check box icon will have a check sign.

Swing also supports a special menu item class, javax.swing.JCheckBoxMenuItem, which represents check box menu items with following special features:

A check box menu item will be listed with a check box icon.
The check box icon will be displayed as checked if the check box menu item is selected.
The check box icon will be displayed as unchecked if the check box menu item is unselected.

Here is an example program I wrote to test the JCheckBoxMenuItemTest classes:

/* JCheckBoxMenuItemTest.java
 * Copyright (c) 1997-2024 HerongYang.com. All Rights Reserved.
 */
import javax.swing.*;
public class JCheckBoxMenuItemTest {
   JFrame myFrame = null;
   public static void main(String[] a) {
      (new JCheckBoxMenuItemTest()).test();
   }
   private void test() {
      myFrame = new JFrame("Check Box Menu Item Test");
      myFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
      myFrame.setBounds(50,50,250,150);
      myFrame.setContentPane(new JDesktopPane());

      JMenuBar myMenuBar = new JMenuBar();
      JMenu myMenu = getFileMenu();
      myMenuBar.add(myMenu);
      myMenu = getColorMenu();
      myMenuBar.add(myMenu);
      myMenu = getOptionMenu();
      myMenuBar.add(myMenu);
      JMenuItem myItem = new JMenuItem("Help");
      myMenuBar.add(myItem);

      myFrame.setJMenuBar(myMenuBar);
      myFrame.setVisible(true);
   }
   private JMenu getFileMenu() {
      JMenu myMenu = new JMenu("File");
      JMenuItem myItem = new JMenuItem("Open");
      myMenu.add(myItem);
      myItem = new JMenuItem("Close");
      myItem.setEnabled(false);
      myMenu.add(myItem);
      myMenu.addSeparator();
      myItem = new JMenuItem("Exit");
      myMenu.add(myItem);
      return myMenu;
   }
   private JMenu getColorMenu() {
      JMenu myMenu = new JMenu("Color");
      JMenuItem myItem = new JMenuItem("Red");
      myMenu.add(myItem);
      myItem = new JMenuItem("Green");
      myMenu.add(myItem);
      myItem = new JMenuItem("Blue");
      myMenu.add(myItem);
      return myMenu;
   }
   private JMenu getOptionMenu() {
      JMenu myMenu = new JMenu("Option");
      JCheckBoxMenuItem myItem = new JCheckBoxMenuItem("Sound");
      myItem.setSelected(true);
      myMenu.add(myItem);
      myItem = new JCheckBoxMenuItem("Auto save");
      myMenu.add(myItem);
      return myMenu;
   }
}

If you run this example, you will see the frame window shows up with the menu bar like this:

Interesting notes about this tutorial example:

A check box menu item can be listed as selected by default, if the setSelected(true) method is called on the item. The "Sound" check box menu item selected by default in this example.

There seems to be a problem with check box menu items on macOS computers. They are displayed without the check box icons. If you run the same program on a Windows computer, you will see check box icons displayed as shown below.