Eclipse JFace provides functionality to build tables. The following tutorial is based on the JFace Table Tutorial. Please finish that tutorial before continuing with this one.

This tutorial demonstrates how to sort based on table columns, how to make table columns editable and how to filter the displayed data.

We will also learn how to use the StyledCellLabelProvider class to influence the display of data in the table. The usage of commands and how to hide and sort table columns is demonstrated.

The following example will allow to sort the table based on different columns, therefore our ViewerComparator will have the option to set the sort column.

Re-using the project "de.vogella.jface.tableviewer" from JFace Table Tutorial create the Class "de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.sorter.MyViewerComparator.java"

package de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.sorter;

import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.Viewer;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.ViewerComparator;
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;

import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.model.Person;

public class MyViewerComparator extends ViewerComparator {
  private int propertyIndex;
  private static final int DESCENDING = 1;
  private int direction = DESCENDING;

  public MyViewerComparator() {
    this.propertyIndex = 0;
    direction = DESCENDING;
  }

  public int getDirection() {
    return direction == 1 ? SWT.DOWN : SWT.UP;
  }

  public void setColumn(int column) {
    if (column == this.propertyIndex) {
      // Same column as last sort; toggle the direction
      direction = 1 - direction;
    } else {
      // New column; do an ascending sort
      this.propertyIndex = column;
      direction = DESCENDING;
    }
  }

  @Override
  public int compare(Viewer viewer, Object e1, Object e2) {
    Person p1 = (Person) e1;
    Person p2 = (Person) e2;
    int rc = 0;
    switch (propertyIndex) {
    case 0:
      rc = p1.getFirstName().compareTo(p2.getFirstName());
      break;
    case 1:
      rc = p1.getLastName().compareTo(p2.getLastName());
      break;
    case 2:
      rc = p1.getGender().compareTo(p2.getGender());
      break;
    case 3:
      if (p1.isMarried() == p2.isMarried()) {
        rc = 0;
      } else
        rc = (p1.isMarried() ? 1 : -1);
      break;
    default:
      rc = 0;
    }
    // If descending order, flip the direction
    if (direction == DESCENDING) {
      rc = -rc;
    }
    return rc;
  }

} 

In "View" change the method "createTableViewerColumn" and create a new method "getSelectionAdapter()". This method will add a listener to the columns. If one of the columns is selected the sorting column in ViewerComparator will be set.

package de.vogella.jface.tableviewer;

import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.ArrayContentProvider;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.ColumnLabelProvider;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.TableViewer;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.TableViewerColumn;
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.SelectionAdapter;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.SelectionEvent;
import org.eclipse.swt.graphics.Image;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.GridData;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.GridLayout;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Composite;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Label;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Table;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.TableColumn;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Text;
import org.eclipse.ui.part.ViewPart;

import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.model.ModelProvider;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.model.Person;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.sorter.MyViewerComparator;

public class View extends ViewPart {
  public static final String ID = "de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.view";
  private MyViewerComparator comparator;

  private TableViewer viewer;
  // We use icons
  private static final Image CHECKED = Activator.getImageDescriptor("icons/checked.gif").createImage();
  private static final Image UNCHECKED = Activator.getImageDescriptor("icons/unchecked.gif").createImage();

  public void createPartControl(Composite parent) {
    GridLayout layout = new GridLayout(2, false);
    parent.setLayout(layout);
    Label searchLabel = new Label(parent, SWT.NONE);
    searchLabel.setText("Search: ");
    final Text searchText = new Text(parent, SWT.BORDER | SWT.SEARCH);
    searchText.setLayoutData(new GridData(GridData.GRAB_HORIZONTAL
        | GridData.HORIZONTAL_ALIGN_FILL));
    createViewer(parent);
    // Set the sorter for the table
    comparator = new MyViewerComparator();
    viewer.setComparator(comparator);

  }

  private void createViewer(Composite parent) {
    viewer = new TableViewer(parent, SWT.MULTI | SWT.H_SCROLL
        | SWT.V_SCROLL | SWT.FULL_SELECTION | SWT.BORDER);
    createColumns(parent, viewer);
    final Table table = viewer.getTable();
    table.setHeaderVisible(true);
    table.setLinesVisible(true);

    viewer.setContentProvider(new ArrayContentProvider());
    // Get the content for the viewer, setInput will call getElements in the
    // contentProvider
    viewer.setInput(ModelProvider.INSTANCE.getPersons());
    // Make the selection available to other views
    getSite().setSelectionProvider(viewer);

    // Layout the viewer
    GridData gridData = new GridData();
    gridData.verticalAlignment = GridData.FILL;
    gridData.horizontalSpan = 2;
    gridData.grabExcessHorizontalSpace = true;
    gridData.grabExcessVerticalSpace = true;
    gridData.horizontalAlignment = GridData.FILL;
    viewer.getControl().setLayoutData(gridData);
  }

  public TableViewer getViewer() {
    return viewer;
  }

  // This will create the columns for the table
  private void createColumns(final Composite parent, final TableViewer viewer) {
    String[] titles = { "First name", "Last name", "Gender", "Married" };
    int[] bounds = { 100, 100, 100, 100 };

    // First column is for the first name
    TableViewerColumn col = createTableViewerColumn(titles[0], bounds[0], 0);
    col.setLabelProvider(new ColumnLabelProvider() {
      @Override
      public String getText(Object element) {
        Person p = (Person) element;
        return p.getFirstName();
      }
    });

    // Second column is for the last name
    col = createTableViewerColumn(titles[1], bounds[1], 1);
    col.setLabelProvider(new ColumnLabelProvider() {
      @Override
      public String getText(Object element) {
        Person p = (Person) element;
        return p.getLastName();
      }
    });

    // Now the gender
    col = createTableViewerColumn(titles[2], bounds[2], 2);
    col.setLabelProvider(new ColumnLabelProvider() {
      @Override
      public String getText(Object element) {
        Person p = (Person) element;
        return p.getGender();
      }
    });

    // // Now the status married
    col = createTableViewerColumn(titles[3], bounds[3], 3);
    col.setLabelProvider(new ColumnLabelProvider() {
      @Override
      public String getText(Object element) {
        return null;
      }

      @Override
      public Image getImage(Object element) {
        if (((Person) element).isMarried()) {
          return CHECKED;
        } else {
          return UNCHECKED;
        }
      }
    });

  }

  private TableViewerColumn createTableViewerColumn(String title, int bound,
      final int colNumber) {
    final TableViewerColumn viewerColumn = new TableViewerColumn(viewer,
        SWT.NONE);
    final TableColumn column = viewerColumn.getColumn();
    column.setText(title);
    column.setWidth(bound);
    column.setResizable(true);
    column.setMoveable(true);
    column.addSelectionListener(getSelectionAdapter(column, colNumber));
    return viewerColumn;
  }

  private SelectionAdapter getSelectionAdapter(final TableColumn column,
      final int index) {
    SelectionAdapter selectionAdapter = new SelectionAdapter() {
      @Override
      public void widgetSelected(SelectionEvent e) {
        comparator.setColumn(index);
        int dir = comparator.getDirection();
        viewer.getTable().setSortDirection(dir);
        viewer.getTable().setSortColumn(column);
        viewer.refresh();
      }
    };
    return selectionAdapter;
  }

  
/**
   * Passing the focus request to the viewer's control.
   */
  public void setFocus() {
    viewer.getControl().setFocus();
  }
} 

If you run the example and click on a column header, the table should be sorted according to the content of this column. There will also appear a sort-direction in the top of the column.

Create the following new classes in the new de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.edit package.

package de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.edit;

import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.CellEditor;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.EditingSupport;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.TableViewer;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.TextCellEditor;

import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.model.Person;

public class FirstNameEditingSupport extends EditingSupport {

  private final TableViewer viewer;

  public FirstNameEditingSupport(TableViewer viewer) {
    super(viewer);
    this.viewer = viewer;
  }

  @Override
  protected CellEditor getCellEditor(Object element) {
    return new TextCellEditor(viewer.getTable());
  }

  @Override
  protected boolean canEdit(Object element) {
    return true;
  }

  @Override
  protected Object getValue(Object element) {
    return ((Person) element).getFirstName();
  }

  @Override
  protected void setValue(Object element, Object value) {
    ((Person) element).setFirstName(String.valueOf(value));
    viewer.update(element, null);
  }
} 

package de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.edit;

import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.TableViewer;

import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.model.Person;

public class LastNameEditingSupport extends FirstNameEditingSupport {

  private final TableViewer viewer;

  public LastNameEditingSupport(TableViewer viewer) {
    super(viewer);
    this.viewer = viewer;
  }

  @Override
  protected Object getValue(Object element) {
    return ((Person) element).getLastName();
  }

  @Override
  protected void setValue(Object element, Object value) {
    ((Person) element).setLastName(String.valueOf(value));
    viewer.update(element, null);
  }
} 

package de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.edit;

import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.CellEditor;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.ComboBoxCellEditor;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.EditingSupport;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.TableViewer;

import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.model.Person;

public class GenderEditingSupport extends EditingSupport {

  private final TableViewer viewer;

  public GenderEditingSupport(TableViewer viewer) {
    super(viewer);
    this.viewer = viewer;
  }

  @Override
  protected CellEditor getCellEditor(Object element) {
    String[] gender = new String[2];
    gender[0] = "male";
    gender[1] = "female";

    return new ComboBoxCellEditor(viewer.getTable(), gender);
  }

  @Override
  protected boolean canEdit(Object element) {
    return true;
  }

  @Override
  protected Object getValue(Object element) {
    Person person = (Person) element;
    if (person.getGender().equals("male")) {
      return 0;
    }
    return 1;

  }

  @Override
  protected void setValue(Object element, Object value) {
    Person pers = (Person) element;
    if (((Integer) value) == 0) {
      pers.setGender("male");
    } else {
      pers.setGender("female");
    }
    viewer.update(element, null);
  }
} 

package de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.edit;

import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.CellEditor;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.CheckboxCellEditor;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.EditingSupport;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.TableViewer;
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;

import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.model.Person;

public class MarriedEditingSupport extends EditingSupport {

  private final TableViewer viewer;

  public MarriedEditingSupport(TableViewer viewer) {
    super(viewer);
    this.viewer = viewer;
  }

  @Override
  protected CellEditor getCellEditor(Object element) {
    return new CheckboxCellEditor(null, SWT.CHECK | SWT.READ_ONLY);

  }

  @Override
  protected boolean canEdit(Object element) {
    return true;
  }

  @Override
  protected Object getValue(Object element) {
    Person person = (Person) element;
    return person.isMarried();

  }

  @Override
  protected void setValue(Object element, Object value) {
    Person pers = (Person) element;
    pers.setMarried((Boolean) value);
    viewer.update(element, null);
  }
} 

Now assign EditorSupport objects to your TableColumnViewers in your View class. Replace the existing method createColumns() with the following one and adjust your imports.

// This will create the columns for the table
  private void createColumns(final Composite parent, final TableViewer viewer) {
    String[] titles = { "First name", "Last name", "Gender", "Married" };
    int[] bounds = { 100, 100, 100, 100 };

    // First column is for the first name
    TableViewerColumn col = createTableViewerColumn(titles[0], bounds[0], 0);
    col.setLabelProvider(new CellLabelProvider() {
      @Override
      public void update(ViewerCell cell) {
        cell.setText(((Person) cell.getElement()).getFirstName());
      }
    });
    col.setEditingSupport(new FirstNameEditingSupport(viewer));

    // Second column is for the last name
    col = createTableViewerColumn(titles[1], bounds[1], 1);
    col.setLabelProvider(new CellLabelProvider() {
      @Override
      public void update(ViewerCell cell) {
        cell.setText(((Person) cell.getElement()).getLastName());
      }
    });
    col.setEditingSupport(new LastNameEditingSupport(viewer));

    // Now the gender
    col = createTableViewerColumn(titles[2], bounds[2], 2);
    col.setLabelProvider(new ColumnLabelProvider() {
      @Override
      public String getText(Object element) {
        Person p = (Person) element;
        return p.getGender();
      }
    });
    col.setEditingSupport(new GenderEditingSupport(viewer));

    // // Now the status married
    col = createTableViewerColumn(titles[3], bounds[3], 3);
    col.setLabelProvider(new ColumnLabelProvider() {
      @Override
      public String getText(Object element) {
        return null;
      }

      @Override
      public Image getImage(Object element) {
        if (((Person) element).isMarried()) {
          return CHECKED;
        } else {
          return UNCHECKED;
        }
      }
    });
    col.setEditingSupport(new MarriedEditingSupport(viewer));

  } 

Run your application. You should now be able to modify the content of the JFace table.

The following will add a filter to the table by using the "Search" field. The user can enter search pattern in the Search box and only data which fits to the pattern will be displayed.

Create a new Class "de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.filter.PersonFilter.java"

package de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.filter;

import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.Viewer;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.ViewerFilter;

import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.model.Person;

public class PersonFilter extends ViewerFilter {

  private String searchString;

  public void setSearchText(String s) {
    // Search must be a substring of the existing value
    this.searchString = ".*" + s + ".*";
  }

  @Override
  public boolean select(Viewer viewer, 
      Object parentElement, 
      Object element) {
    if (searchString == null || searchString.length() == 0) {
      return true;
    }
    Person p = (Person) element;
    if (p.getFirstName().matches(searchString)) {
      return true;
    }
    if (p.getLastName().matches(searchString)) {
      return true;
    }

    return false;
  }
} 

Add to your search text field a keyListener which updates the filter and the viewer. You need also to define a new field "private PersonFilter filter;" and change the createPartControl() method.

private PersonFilter filter;
  //// .... more fields 
  
  public void createPartControl(Composite parent) {
    GridLayout layout = new GridLayout(2, false);
    parent.setLayout(layout);
    Label searchLabel = new Label(parent, SWT.NONE);
    searchLabel.setText("Search: ");
    final Text searchText = new Text(parent, SWT.BORDER | SWT.SEARCH);
    searchText.setLayoutData(new GridData(GridData.GRAB_HORIZONTAL
        | GridData.HORIZONTAL_ALIGN_FILL));
    createViewer(parent);
    // Set the sorter for the table
    comparator = new MyViewerComparator();
    viewer.setComparator(comparator);

    // New to support the search
    searchText.addKeyListener(new KeyAdapter() {
      public void keyReleased(KeyEvent ke) {
        filter.setSearchText(searchText.getText());
        viewer.refresh();
      }

    });
    filter = new PersonFilter();
    viewer.addFilter(filter);
  } 

Run the example, filtering should work.

First create the following helper class which will determine which occurrence of the search string is in the column.

package de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.util;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class SearchUtil {
  
/**
   * Searches "searchTerm" in "content" and returns an array of int pairs
   * (index, length) for each occurrence. The search is case-sensitive. The
   * consecutive occurrences are merged together.<code>
  Examples:
   content = "123123x123"
   searchTerm = "1"
   --> [0, 1, 3, 1, 7, 1]
   content = "123123x123"
   searchTerm = "123"
   --> [0, 6, 7, 3]
  </code>
   * 
   * @param searchTerm
   *            can be null or empty. int[0] is returned in this case!
   * @param content
   *            a not-null string (can be empty!)
   * @return an array of int pairs (index, length)
   */
  public static int[] getSearchTermOccurrences(final String searchTerm,
      final String content) {
    if (searchTerm == null || searchTerm.length() == 0) {
      return new int[0];
    }
    if (content == null) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException("content is null");
    }
    final List<Integer> list = new ArrayList<Integer>();
    int searchTermLength = searchTerm.length();
    int index;
    int fromIndex = 0;
    int lastIndex = -1;
    int lastLength = 0;
    while (true) {
      index = content.indexOf(searchTerm, fromIndex);
      if (index == -1) {
        // no occurrence of "searchTerm" in "content" starting from
        // index "fromIndex"
        if (lastIndex != -1) {
          // but there was a previous occurrence
          list.add(Integer.valueOf(lastIndex));
          list.add(Integer.valueOf(lastLength));
        }
        break;
      }
      if (lastIndex == -1) {
        // the first occurrence of "searchTerm" in "content"
        lastIndex = index;
        lastLength = searchTermLength;
      } else {
        if (lastIndex + lastLength == index) {
          // the current occurrence is right after the previous
          // occurrence
          lastLength += searchTermLength;
        } else {
          // there is at least one character between the current
          // occurrence and the previous one
          list.add(Integer.valueOf(lastIndex));
          list.add(Integer.valueOf(lastLength));
          lastIndex = index;
          lastLength = searchTermLength;
        }
      }
      fromIndex = index + searchTermLength;
    }
    final int n = list.size();
    final int[] result = new int[n];
    for (int i = 0; i != n; i++) {
      result[i] = list.get(i);
    }
    return result;
  }

} 

Change the class View to the following. We will only use StyledCellLabelProvider for the firstName. Most of the code changes are in method createColumns() plus a view variable definitions.

package de.vogella.jface.tableviewer;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.ArrayContentProvider;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.CellLabelProvider;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.ColumnLabelProvider;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.StyledCellLabelProvider;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.TableViewer;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.TableViewerColumn;
import org.eclipse.jface.viewers.ViewerCell;
import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.custom.StyleRange;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.KeyAdapter;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.KeyEvent;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.SelectionAdapter;
import org.eclipse.swt.events.SelectionEvent;
import org.eclipse.swt.graphics.Color;
import org.eclipse.swt.graphics.Image;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.GridData;
import org.eclipse.swt.layout.GridLayout;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Composite;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Label;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Table;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.TableColumn;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Text;
import org.eclipse.ui.part.ViewPart;

import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.edit.FirstNameEditingSupport;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.edit.GenderEditingSupport;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.edit.LastNameEditingSupport;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.edit.MarriedEditingSupport;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.filter.PersonFilter;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.model.ModelProvider;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.model.Person;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.sorter.MyViewerComparator;
import de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.util.SearchUtil;

public class View extends ViewPart {
  public static final String ID = "de.vogella.jface.tableviewer.view";
  private MyViewerComparator comparator;

  private TableViewer viewer;
  private PersonFilter filter;
  // We use icons
  private static final Image CHECKED = Activator.getImageDescriptor("icons/checked.gif").createImage();
  private static final Image UNCHECKED = Activator.getImageDescriptor("icons/unchecked.gif").createImage();
  private Text searchText;
  private static Color colorYellow = Display.getCurrent().getSystemColor(SWT.COLOR_YELLOW);

  public void createPartControl(Composite parent) {
    GridLayout layout = new GridLayout(2, false);
    parent.setLayout(layout);
    Label searchLabel = new Label(parent, SWT.NONE);
    searchLabel.setText("Search: ");
    searchText = new Text(parent, SWT.BORDER | SWT.SEARCH);
    searchText.setLayoutData(new GridData(GridData.GRAB_HORIZONTAL
        | GridData.HORIZONTAL_ALIGN_FILL));
    createViewer(parent);
    // Set the sorter for the table
    comparator = new MyViewerComparator();
    viewer.setComparator(comparator);

    // New to support the search
    searchText.addKeyListener(new KeyAdapter() {
      public void keyReleased(KeyEvent ke) {
        filter.setSearchText(searchText.getText());
        viewer.refresh();
      }

    });
    filter = new PersonFilter();
    viewer.addFilter(filter);
  }

  private void createViewer(Composite parent) {
    viewer = new TableViewer(parent, SWT.MULTI | SWT.H_SCROLL
        | SWT.V_SCROLL | SWT.FULL_SELECTION | SWT.BORDER);
    createColumns(parent, viewer);
    final Table table = viewer.getTable();
    table.setHeaderVisible(true);
    table.setLinesVisible(true);

    viewer.setContentProvider(new ArrayContentProvider());
    // Get the content for the viewer, setInput will call getElements in the
    // contentProvider
    viewer.setInput(ModelProvider.INSTANCE.getPersons());
    // Make the selection available to other views
    getSite().setSelectionProvider(viewer);

    // Layout the viewer
    GridData gridData = new GridData();
    gridData.verticalAlignment = GridData.FILL;
    gridData.horizontalSpan = 2;
    gridData.grabExcessHorizontalSpace = true;
    gridData.grabExcessVerticalSpace = true;
    gridData.horizontalAlignment = GridData.FILL;
    viewer.getControl().setLayoutData(gridData);
  }

  public TableViewer getViewer() {
    return viewer;
  }

  // This will create the columns for the table
  private void createColumns(final Composite parent, final TableViewer viewer) {
    String[] titles = { "First name", "Last name", "Gender", "Married" };
    int[] bounds = { 100, 100, 100, 100 };

    // First column is for the first name
    TableViewerColumn col = createTableViewerColumn(titles[0], bounds[0], 0);
    col.setLabelProvider(new StyledCellLabelProvider() {
      @Override
      public void update(ViewerCell cell) {
        String search = searchText.getText();
        Person person = (Person) cell.getElement();
        String cellText = person.getFirstName();
        cell.setText(cellText);
        if (search != null && search.length() > 0) {
          int intRangesCorrectSize[] = SearchUtil
              .getSearchTermOccurrences(search, cellText);
          List<StyleRange> styleRange = new ArrayList<StyleRange>();
          for (int i = 0; i < intRangesCorrectSize.length / 2; i++) {
            int start = intRangesCorrectSize[i];
            int length = intRangesCorrectSize[++i];
            StyleRange myStyledRange = new StyleRange(start,
                length, null, colorYellow);

            styleRange.add(myStyledRange);
          }
          cell.setStyleRanges(styleRange
              .toArray(new StyleRange[styleRange.size()]));
        } else {
          cell.setStyleRanges(null);
        }

        super.update(cell);

      }
    });
    col.setEditingSupport(new FirstNameEditingSupport(viewer));

    // Second column is for the last name
    col = createTableViewerColumn(titles[1], bounds[1], 1);
    col.setLabelProvider(new CellLabelProvider() {
      @Override
      public void update(ViewerCell cell) {
        cell.setText(((Person) cell.getElement()).getLastName());
      }
    });
    col.setEditingSupport(new LastNameEditingSupport(viewer));

    // Now the gender
    col = createTableViewerColumn(titles[2], bounds[2], 2);
    col.setLabelProvider(new ColumnLabelProvider() {
      @Override
      public String getText(Object element) {
        Person p = (Person) element;
        return p.getGender();
      }
    });
    col.setEditingSupport(new GenderEditingSupport(viewer));

    // // Now the status married
    col = createTableViewerColumn(titles[3], bounds[3], 3);
    col.setLabelProvider(new ColumnLabelProvider() {
      @Override
      public String getText(Object element) {
        return null;
      }

      @Override
      public Image getImage(Object element) {
        if (((Person) element).isMarried()) {
          return CHECKED;
        } else {
          return UNCHECKED;
        }
      }
    });
    col.setEditingSupport(new MarriedEditingSupport(viewer));

  }

  private TableViewerColumn createTableViewerColumn(String title, int bound,
      final int colNumber) {
    final TableViewerColumn viewerColumn = new TableViewerColumn(viewer,
        SWT.NONE);
    final TableColumn column = viewerColumn.getColumn();
    column.setText(title);
    column.setWidth(bound);
    column.setResizable(true);
    column.setMoveable(true);
    column.addSelectionListener(getSelectionAdapter(column, colNumber));
    return viewerColumn;
  }

  private SelectionAdapter getSelectionAdapter(final TableColumn column,
      final int index) {
    SelectionAdapter selectionAdapter = new SelectionAdapter() {
      @Override
      public void widgetSelected(SelectionEvent e) {
        comparator.setColumn(index);
        int dir = comparator.getDirection();
        viewer.getTable().setSortDirection(dir);
        viewer.refresh();
      }
    };
    return selectionAdapter;
  }

  
/**
   * Passing the focus request to the viewer's control.
   */
  public void setFocus() {
    viewer.getControl().setFocus();
  }
} 

Run the example, if you search now the selected content should get highlighted should work.

If you are not familiar with Eclipse Commands, please have a look at the following tutorial: Eclipse Commands Tutorial

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http://www.vogella.com/articles/EclipseJFaceTable/download/checkedpics.zip The checkbox pictures for the JFace Labelprovider