Module java.desktop
Package javax.swing.tree

Class TreePath

java.lang.Object
javax.swing.tree.TreePath
All Implemented Interfaces:
Serializable
public class TreePath extends Object implements Serializable
TreePath represents an array of objects that uniquely identify the path to a node in a tree. The elements of the array are ordered with the root as the first element of the array. For example, a file on the file system is uniquely identified based on the array of parent directories and the name of the file. The path /tmp/foo/bar could be represented by a TreePath as new TreePath(new Object[] {"tmp", "foo", "bar"}).

TreePath is used extensively by JTree and related classes. For example, JTree represents the selection as an array of TreePaths. When used with JTree, the elements of the path are the objects returned from the TreeModel. When JTree is paired with DefaultTreeModel, the elements of the path are TreeNodes. The following example illustrates extracting the user object from the selection of a JTree: 

   DefaultMutableTreeNode root = ...;
   DefaultTreeModel model = new DefaultTreeModel(root);
   JTree tree = new JTree(model);
   ...
   TreePath selectedPath = tree.getSelectionPath();
   DefaultMutableTreeNode selectedNode =
       ((DefaultMutableTreeNode)selectedPath.getLastPathComponent());
   Object myObject= selectedNode.getUserObject();
Subclasses typically need override only getLastPathComponent, and getParentPath. As JTree internally creates TreePaths at various points, it's generally not useful to subclass TreePath and use with JTree.

While TreePath is serializable, a NotSerializableException is thrown if any elements of the path are not serializable.

For further information and examples of using tree paths, see How to Use Trees in The Java Tutorial.

Warning: Serialized objects of this class will not be compatible with future Swing releases. The current serialization support is appropriate for short term storage or RMI between applications running the same version of Swing. As of 1.4, support for long term storage of all JavaBeans has been added to the java.beans package. Please see XMLEncoder.