You can use a NavigationFilter for this.
Here is an example to get you started:
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.text.*;
public class NavigationFilterPrefixWithBackspace extends NavigationFilter
{
private int prefixLength;
private Action deletePrevious;
public NavigationFilterPrefixWithBackspace(int prefixLength, JTextComponent component)
{
this.prefixLength = prefixLength;
deletePrevious = component.getActionMap().get("delete-previous");
component.getActionMap().put("delete-previous", new BackspaceAction());
component.setCaretPosition(prefixLength);
}
public void setDot(NavigationFilter.FilterBypass fb, int dot, Position.Bias bias)
{
fb.setDot(Math.max(dot, prefixLength), bias);
}
public void moveDot(NavigationFilter.FilterBypass fb, int dot, Position.Bias bias)
{
fb.moveDot(Math.max(dot, prefixLength), bias);
}
class BackspaceAction extends AbstractAction
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
JTextComponent component = (JTextComponent)e.getSource();
if (component.getCaretPosition() > prefixLength)
{
deletePrevious.actionPerformed( null );
}
}
}
public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception {
JTextField textField = new JTextField("Prefix_", 20);
textField.setNavigationFilter( new NavigationFilterPrefixWithBackspace(7, textField) );
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Navigation Filter Example");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.getContentPane().add(textField);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo( null );
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}
I believe this is a how a JFormattedTextField works. So I’m not sure if you can use this with a formatted text field as is may replace the default behaviour.