Как изменить внешний вид области отображения JComboBox

• взгляните на Combo Box Prompt от @camickr,

• определенная подсказка не может вернуть какое-либо значение из JComboBox.getSelectedXxx

РЕДАКТИРОВАТЬ

BasicComboBoxRenderer или ListCellRenderer могут сделать это таким образом.

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class TestHighLightRow {

    public void makeUI() {
        Object[] data = {"One", "Two", "Three"};
        JComboBox comboBox = new JComboBox(data);
        comboBox.setPreferredSize(comboBox.getPreferredSize());
        comboBox.setRenderer(new HighLightRowRenderer(comboBox.getRenderer()));
        JFrame frame = new JFrame();
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.getContentPane().add(comboBox);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                new TestHighLightRow().makeUI();
            }
        });
    }

    public class HighLightRowRenderer implements ListCellRenderer {

        private final ListCellRenderer delegate;
        private int height = -1;

        public HighLightRowRenderer(ListCellRenderer delegate) {
            this.delegate = delegate;
        }

        @Override
        public Component getListCellRendererComponent(JList list, Object value, int index, boolean isSelected, boolean cellHasFocus) {
            Component component = delegate.getListCellRendererComponent(list, value, index, isSelected, cellHasFocus);
            Dimension size = component.getPreferredSize();
            if (index == 0) {
                component.setBackground(Color.red);
                if (component instanceof JLabel) {
                    ((JLabel) component).setHorizontalTextPosition(JLabel.CENTER);
                }
            }
            return component;
        }
    }
}

РЕДАКТИРОВАТЬ2

JComboBox имеет два состояния

• редактируемый

• non_editable

в основном все значения могут быть доступны из UIManager, ярлыков

import java.awt.*;
import java.util.Vector;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.plaf.ColorUIResource;
import javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalComboBoxButton;

public class MyComboBox {

    private Vector<String> listSomeString = new Vector<String>();
    private JComboBox someComboBox = new JComboBox(listSomeString);
    private JComboBox editableComboBox = new JComboBox(listSomeString);
    private JComboBox non_EditableComboBox = new JComboBox(listSomeString);
    private JFrame frame;

    public MyComboBox() {
        listSomeString.add("-");
        listSomeString.add("Snowboarding");
        listSomeString.add("Rowing");
        listSomeString.add("Knitting");
        listSomeString.add("Speed reading");
//
        someComboBox.setPrototypeDisplayValue("xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx");
        someComboBox.setFont(new Font("Serif", Font.BOLD, 16));
        someComboBox.setEditable(true);
        someComboBox.getEditor().getEditorComponent().setBackground(Color.YELLOW);
        ((JTextField) someComboBox.getEditor().getEditorComponent()).setBackground(Color.YELLOW);
//
        editableComboBox.setPrototypeDisplayValue("xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx");
        editableComboBox.setFont(new Font("Serif", Font.BOLD, 16));
        editableComboBox.setEditable(true);
        JTextField text = ((JTextField) editableComboBox.getEditor().getEditorComponent());
        text.setBackground(Color.YELLOW);
        JComboBox coloredArrowsCombo = editableComboBox;
        Component[] comp = coloredArrowsCombo.getComponents();
        for (int i = 0; i < comp.length; i++) {
            if (comp[i] instanceof MetalComboBoxButton) {
                MetalComboBoxButton coloredArrowsButton = (MetalComboBoxButton) comp[i];
                coloredArrowsButton.setBackground(null);
                break;
            }
        }
//
        non_EditableComboBox.setPrototypeDisplayValue("xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx");
        non_EditableComboBox.setFont(new Font("Serif", Font.BOLD, 16));
//
        frame = new JFrame();
        frame.setLayout(new GridLayout(0, 1, 10, 10));
        frame.add(someComboBox);
        frame.add(editableComboBox);
        frame.add(non_EditableComboBox);
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setLocation(100, 100);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        UIManager.put("ComboBox.background", new ColorUIResource(Color.yellow));
        UIManager.put("JTextField.background", new ColorUIResource(Color.yellow));
        UIManager.put("ComboBox.selectionBackground", new ColorUIResource(Color.magenta));
        UIManager.put("ComboBox.selectionForeground", new ColorUIResource(Color.blue));
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                MyComboBox aCTF = new MyComboBox();
            }
        });
    }
}