Detecting Mouse over JPanel Child

Question

I have used MouseAdapter in order to detect if the mouse enters or exits a JPanel and it works, somewhat, because it doesn't detect if the mouse is hovering over the JPanel.

public class SearchResultPanel extends JPanel{

  private class mousePanelListener extends MouseAdapter{ 
    @Override
    public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent e){
        setHighlightBorder(); //"highlight" the panel
    }
    @Override
    public void mouseExited(MouseEvent e){
        setDefaultBorder(); //"unhighlight" the panel
    }
  }
  private final Border highlightBorder;
  private final Border defaultBorder;

  //ctor
  SearchResultPanel(String data){
        super();
        setLayout(new GridLayout(1,1));

        JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea(data);
        textArea.setEditable(false);
        textArea.setLineWrap(true);
        textArea.setOpaque(false);
        add(textArea);

        addMouseListener(new mouseMotionPanelListener());
        setFocusable(true);

        highlightBorder = BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.RED, 5);
        defaultBorder = BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.BLACK, 1);
  }


   private void setHighlightBorder(){
    setBorder(highlightBorder);
   }

   private void setDefaultBorder(){
    setBorder(defaultBorder);
   }
}

The SearchResultPanels highlight only when the mouse is at the edge(outline) of the panel. They go back to the default border if they are inside the panel or outside. How can I detect if the mouse is over the JPanel so the JPanel sets its highlighted border?

Answer 1

Try using the addMouseMotionListener method instead.