Happens, if the column has a graphic. To reproduce, run the example below and see the column's text truncated. Double-click into the resize-region and watch it getting wider, text no longer truncated.

The reason probably is the same that resulted in the crappy code in TableSkinUtils.resizeColumnToFitContent:

// c&p from core

        TableColumnHeader header = tableSkin.getTableHeaderRow().getColumnHeaderFor(tc);
        // wrong: calculate width requirement manually
        double headerTextWidth = Utils.computeTextWidth(header.label.getFont(), tc.getText(), -1);
        Node graphic = header.label.getGraphic();
       // wrong: asymetric handling of text vs graphic
        double headerGraphicWidth = graphic == null ? 0 : graphic.prefWidth(-1) + header.label.getGraphicTextGap();

Had been wondering about the manual calc - after all a Label knows exactly what it needs, right? - and what's different for the graphics - here it uses the prefWidth, no chance to do differently as there's no knowledge, right? - until I noticed that the initial auto-size happens at a time when the label's skin has not yet been applied.

A fix would have to move the auto-size effort to a time when the skin has been set. Listening to the label's skinProperty (vs. listening to the header's sceneProperty) might do the trick.


The example:

import java.util.Locale;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.collections.FXCollections;
import javafx.scene.Parent;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.TableColumn;
import javafx.scene.control.TableView;
import javafx.scene.control.cell.PropertyValueFactory;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

/**
 * TableColumn: auto-size broken when column has graphic
 */
public class TableColumnGraphicSizeBug extends Application {

    private Parent getContent() {
        TableView<Locale> table = new TableView<>(FXCollections.observableArrayList(
                Locale.getAvailableLocales()));
        TableColumn<Locale, String> countryCode = new TableColumn<>("Code");
        countryCode.setCellValueFactory(new PropertyValueFactory<>("country"));
        // arbitrary graphic
        countryCode.setGraphic(new Button("X"));
        table.getColumns().addAll(countryCode);
        BorderPane pane = new BorderPane(table);
        return pane;
    }

    @Override
    public void start(Stage primaryStage) throws Exception {
        primaryStage.setScene(new Scene(getContent(), 800, 400));
        primaryStage.show();
    }
    
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        launch(args);
    }

}