Having JTabbedPanes with many tabs can be awkward concerning keyboard usage. Per-tab mnemonics are not really an option because they really limit the number of available mnemonics for the tabs own valuable content!

Facing this problem, I created the TabSwitcher utility applicable to any JTabbedPane:

new TabSwitcher(tabbedpane, KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_T, KeyEvent.ALT_DOWN_MASK));

TabSwitcher will automatically pop up when the given KeyStroke occurs on the JTabbedPane. It reflects the current number of tabs with their resp. titles and icons, computes a reasonable set of mnemonics and offers them as a JPopupMenu right at the position of the currently selected tab.

For the usage is mnemonic-like, I suggest to use an ALT-combination for the KeyStroke (Alt-T in my sample above).



Find the sourcecode here and a usage sample here.