Making a search bar in javafx

I have a code written using javafx that creates a tableview and then inserts the data given in another file. Im trying to implement a search bar. I want to be able to search the table in the gui and have the matches show up. Any direction?

Edit: i understand this question was broad, i wasn’t expecting a precise answer, I was just looking for direction.

Answer

Here is a sample app I altered from here.

I altered the app to filter a TableView using a ChoiceBox, TextField, and a FilteredList. The TextField's onKeyReleased does the filtering based on the ChoiceBox's current value.

Comments in the code.

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleStringProperty;
import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
import javafx.collections.transformation.FilteredList;
import javafx.geometry.Insets;
import javafx.geometry.Pos;
import javafx.scene.Group;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.ChoiceBox;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.control.TableColumn;
import javafx.scene.control.TableView;
import javafx.scene.control.TextField;
import javafx.scene.control.cell.PropertyValueFactory;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.scene.text.Font;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

public class TableViewSample extends Application
{

    private TableView<Person> table = new TableView<Person>();
    private final ObservableList<Person> data
            = FXCollections.observableArrayList(
                    new Person("Jacob", "Smith", "[e-mail]"),
                    new Person("Isabella", "Johnson", "[e-mail]"),
                    new Person("Ethan", "Williams", "[e-mail]"),
                    new Person("Emma", "Jones", "[e-mail]"),
                    new Person("Michael", "Brown", "[e-mail]")
            );

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        launch(args);
    }

    @Override
    public void start(Stage stage)
    {
        Scene scene = new Scene(new Group());
        stage.setTitle("Table View Sample");
        stage.setWidth(450);
        stage.setHeight(550);

        final Label label = new Label("Address Book");
        label.setFont(new Font("Arial", 20));

        table.setEditable(true);

        TableColumn firstNameCol = new TableColumn("First Name");
        firstNameCol.setMinWidth(100);
        firstNameCol.setCellValueFactory(
                new PropertyValueFactory<Person, String>("firstName"));

        TableColumn lastNameCol = new TableColumn("Last Name");
        lastNameCol.setMinWidth(100);
        lastNameCol.setCellValueFactory(
                new PropertyValueFactory<Person, String>("lastName"));

        TableColumn emailCol = new TableColumn("Email");
        emailCol.setMinWidth(200);
        emailCol.setCellValueFactory(
                new PropertyValueFactory<Person, String>("email"));

        FilteredList<Person> flPerson = new FilteredList(data, p -> true);//Pass the data to a filtered list
        table.setItems(flPerson);//Set the table's items using the filtered list
        table.getColumns().addAll(firstNameCol, lastNameCol, emailCol);

        //Adding ChoiceBox and TextField here!
        ChoiceBox<String> choiceBox = new ChoiceBox();
        choiceBox.getItems().addAll("First Name", "Last Name", "Email");
        choiceBox.setValue("First Name");

        TextField textField = new TextField();
        textField.setPromptText("Search here!");
        textField.textProperty().addListener((obs, oldValue, newValue) -> {
            switch (choiceBox.getValue())//Switch on choiceBox value
            {
                case "First Name":
                    flPerson.setPredicate(p -> p.getFirstName().toLowerCase().contains(newValue.toLowerCase().trim()));//filter table by first name
                    break;
                case "Last Name":
                    flPerson.setPredicate(p -> p.getLastName().toLowerCase().contains(newValue.toLowerCase().trim()));//filter table by last name
                    break;
                case "Email":
                    flPerson.setPredicate(p -> p.getEmail().toLowerCase().contains(newValue.toLowerCase().trim()));//filter table by email
                    break;
            }
        });

        choiceBox.getSelectionModel().selectedItemProperty().addListener((obs, oldVal, newVal)
                -> {//reset table and textfield when new choice is selected
            if (newVal != null) {
                textField.setText("");
            }
        });

        HBox hBox = new HBox(choiceBox, textField);//Add choiceBox and textField to hBox
        hBox.setAlignment(Pos.CENTER);//Center HBox
        final VBox vbox = new VBox();
        vbox.setSpacing(5);
        vbox.setPadding(new Insets(10, 0, 0, 10));
        vbox.getChildren().addAll(label, table, hBox);

        ((Group) scene.getRoot()).getChildren().addAll(vbox);

        stage.setScene(scene);
        stage.show();
    }

    public static class Person
    {
        private final SimpleStringProperty firstName = new SimpleStringProperty();
        private final SimpleStringProperty lastName = new SimpleStringProperty();
        private final SimpleStringProperty email = new SimpleStringProperty();

        private Person(String fName, String lName, String email)
        {
            this.firstName.setValue(fName);
            this.lastName.setValue(lName);
            this.email.setValue(email);
        }

        public String getFirstName()
        {
            return firstName.get();
        }

        public void setFirstName(String fName)
        {
            firstName.set(fName);
        }
        
        public SimpleStringProperty getFirstNameProperty()
        {
            return firstName;
        }
        
        public String getLastName()
        {
            return lastName.get();
        }

        public void setLastName(String fName)
        {
            lastName.set(fName);
        }

        public SimpleStringProperty getLastNameProperty()
        {
            return lastName;
        }
        
        public String getEmail()
        {
            return email.get();
        }

        public void setEmail(String fName)
        {
            email.set(fName);
        }
        
        public SimpleStringProperty getEmailProperty()
        {
            return email;
        }
    }
}

Updated on 01/08/2021. It now uses the TextProperty instead of a KeyListener to set the predicate that filters the results.