05 January 2009 - java_dev (original) (raw)

I'm having a problem with the metal look and feel for Java 1.6. Comboboxes are an example. With previous versions of Java, when a combo box was clicked, its background would turn dark grey when the drop-down menu appeared. The menu would be light grey. After a menu item was selected, the combo box would return to light grey. Now, with Java 1.6, the combo box remains dark grey after a menu item is selected and even after other elements are selected.

I've put in a bunch of output statements, and it looks like focus is being properly transferred-- or at least, not transferred any differently.

What's making it very hard to get help on this problem is that it only manifests on Solaris when running a Java app through an Eclipse framework. Everything is fine on Windows, and everything is fine when running the Java app standalone. However, due to work politics, we're required to run on Solaris and through Eclipse.

Does anyone out there work in a similar environment, or have you had similar problems? Do you know anyone would could put me in touch with who might have some insight? Right now the only plausible solution we have is to move to a look and feel that doesn't change background colors like Metal does, but our users are sure to make a stink and that'll require a lot of GUI testing to make sure some other problem doesn't come up.