Я не уверен, что вы имеете в виду, но вот фактический код, который, безусловно, более понятен, чем я, пытаясь это объяснить:)
/**
* Reports a bound property update to listeners
* that have been registered to track updates of
* all properties or a property with the specified name.
* <p>
* No event is fired if old and new values are equal and non-null.
* <p>
* This is merely a convenience wrapper around the more general
* {@link #firePropertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent)} method.
*
* @param propertyName the programmatic name of the property that was changed
* @param oldValue the old value of the property
* @param newValue the new value of the property
*/
public void firePropertyChange(String propertyName, Object oldValue, Object newValue) {
if (oldValue == null || newValue == null || !oldValue.equals(newValue)) {
firePropertyChange(new PropertyChangeEvent(this.source, propertyName, oldValue, newValue));
}
}