Java JTree get name of selected node

Question

I would like to find out how to get the name of the selected node in a JTree, not the userObject which is the text of the treenode.

I have manually created several tree nodes and I need to determine which one is selected by the node's name.

DefaultMutableTreeNode root = new DefaultMutableTreeNode("Root"); 
DefaultMutableTreeNode node1 = new DefaultMutableTreeNode("Hey it's node1!");
DefaultMutableTreeNode node2 = new DefaultMutableTreeNode("Hey, it's node2!");
root.add(node1); root.add(node2); 

Now, based on that, I need to know if node1 or node2 is selected. I want a return value of node1 or node2 (variable name).

To make this more clear: I have a JFrame, with a JPanel, a JScrollPane, a JTree, and some text fields. Depending on which node is clicked (node 1, or node 2), I want to show or hide certain text fields.

Answer 1

If I wanted my Node to have a name, I'd extend the base class, here DefaultMutableTreeNode, and give it a String name field, and then fill that field with a value via a constructor, one that takes both a String name parameter and a String text parameter. And then also give it a getter method.

I wouldn't try to get its "variable" name since that is close to Meaningless. Many variables don't even have "names", that an object can be referenced by 2, 3, 100, ... variables.

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Edit
You state in an edit:

To make this more clear: I have a JFrame, with a JPanel, a JScrollPane, a JTree, and some text fields. Depending on which node is clicked (node 1, or node 2), I want to show or hide certain text fields.

Again, variable names are close to meaningless and almost don't exist in compiled code. What counts are variable references -- being able to grab a variable, and object state -- the state of the fields held by that variable.

Answer 2

Kind of old that thread, but in my opinion you do not have to derive any class. When you initialize a DefaultMutableTreeNode object with the optional parameter userObj, you can get this parameter again by calling getUserObject(). See the api for further information: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/10/docs/api/javax/swing/tree/DefaultMutableTreeNode.html

I think is is pretty much what you are searching for - at least I was searching for it.