By using itemStateChanged(ItemListener) you can track selecting and deselecting checkbox (and do whatever you want based on it):
myCheckBox.addItemListener(new ItemListener() {
@Override
public void itemStateChanged(ItemEvent e) {
if(e.getStateChange() == ItemEvent.SELECTED) {//checkbox has been selected
//do something...
} else {//checkbox has been deselected
//do something...
};
}
});
Java Swing itemStateChanged docu should help too. By using isSelected() method you can just test if actual is checkbox selected:
if(myCheckBox.isSelected()){_do_something_if_selected_}