Ive been wrestling for nearly a day with what ought to be a simple
algorithm. I'm trying to find leafs on a JTree where the data emanates from
a given file (which has an integer index), whereby I delete the leaf itself,
and the entire branch all the way up to the root node such that the branch
is deleted up to a point where it may be required for other leaf nodes. That
is, no branch should end in a leaf node unless it is of a LeafInfo class,
specified below. Ive enclosed my code (the current state of it anyways!) --
if anyone has any insight on this, please share it with me. THank you -Ike

private void killTheKids(MutableTreeNode nodetokill, int fileno){
      // jTree.collapsePath((TreePath)jTree.getModel().getRoot());
       Enumeration e = nodetokill.children();
       while(e.hasMoreElements()) {
           MutableTreeNode child = (MutableTreeNode) e.nextElement();
           if(child.isLeaf()){
               LeafInfo nodeInfo =(LeafInfo)
(((DefaultMutableTreeNode)child).getUserObject());

               try{
                   if(/*(child.getAllowsChildren() &&
(child.children()==null || child.getChildCount()==0)) || !(child instanceof
LeafInfo)|| */(nodeInfo.fno==fileno)){
                       //System.out.println(child.getClass());
                       nodetokill.remove(child);//child.removeFromParent();
                       child=null;
                       //while if the the parent of nodetokill is either a
leaf or has no more children, remove it
                       MutableTreeNode m = nodetokill;
                       while(m!=null && (m.isLeaf() ||
m.getChildCount()==0)){
                           MutableTreeNode
mm=(MutableTreeNode)m.getParent();
                           if(mm!=null){
                               mm.remove(m);

                           }
                           m=null;
                           m=mm;
                       };
                       return;
                   }
               }catch(Exception ex){
                   ex.printStackTrace();
                   e=null;//to break at
               }

           }else{
               killTheKids(child,fileno);
           }
       }

   }

public class LeafInfo {
       public String LeafName;
       public int fno;
       public long mybyteCount;
       //double distanceFromLeft, /*distanceFromRight,*/ itemHeight,
shelfLength;
       public LeafInfo(String LeafName, int fno, long mybyteCount) {
           this.LeafName = LeafName;
           this.fno=fno;
           this.mybyteCount=mybyteCount;
       }

       public String toString() {
           return LeafName;
       }
   }