Java - Linking a JTextField variable with another class variable - java

What I want to achieve is very simple.
I have 2 classes. "SpeedingTicket" & "SpeedingTicket GUI".
Inside my GUI I have 1 textbox name txtSpeedLimit & a button.
Inside my SpeedingTicket class I have a variable "int speedingTicket".
Inside my SpeedingTicket class I also have a get & set method for "speedingTicket".
I know how to get and set text using JTextFields, but I want to be able to:
receive input from the "txtSpeedLimit", and store that value into the "txtSpeedLimit" instance variable in the "SpeedTicket" class. I can then check for validation etc when I come to adding the vehicle speed.
Maybe this isn't the most efficient way of dealing with this program. Maybe I should scrap the instance variables in SpeedingTicket, and deal with it all in the GUI.
Any advice would be hugely appreciated.
Basically what I'm trying to do is this:
class confirmHandler implements ActionListener{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
String val = txtSpeedLimit.getText();
int realNum = speed.getSpeedLimit() = txtSpeedLimit; < but obviously that doesn't work, but I want the textbox link to the variable.
EDIT: If we take away the GUI, all I want my program to do is the following:
Speed Limit: 50 < enterd via textfield
Speed: 60 < entered via textfield
if the speed is blah blah (ive already coded this).. then output a result to one of my labels.
I achieved this without making a GUI and making it only console based, but instead of the user typing it via the console, I want it to be typed via textfields.
THe values that are entered into the textfields should be stored in the two variables (speed and speedlimit) that are in the SpeedingTicket class.

You can update a value in:
public class SpeedingTicket {
int speedingTicket;
public SpeedingTicket() {
speedingTicket = 500;
}
public int getSpeedingTicket() {
return speedingTicket;
}
}
by:
public class SpeedingTicketGUI extends JPanel{
SpeedingTicket st;
SpeedingTicketGUI() {
st = new SpeedingTicket();
setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT));
JTextField txtField = new JTextField(10);
txtField.setText(""+st.getSpeedingTicket());
add(txtField);
JButton btn = new JButton("Update");
btn.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
setSpeedingTicket(txtField.getText());
}
});
add(btn);
}
private void setSpeedingTicket(String text) {
try {
int speedTicket = Integer.parseInt(text);
st.setSpeedingTicket(speedTicket);
System.out.println("Speeding ticket set to " +st.getSpeedingTicket());
} catch (NumberFormatException ex) {
System.out.println("Invalid value " +text);
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}
public static void main(String[] args){
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Speeding Ticket");
frame.setSize(400,100);
frame.add(new SpeedingTicketGUI());
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}

You don't need to store values in JText or any GUI componenets...
Use global static variables. For example:
public static int speed_limit;
You can access this variable from ANY method,class, etc.

There are multiple ways to do it.
You can detect textfield changes by using a DocumentListener or if you want (not recommended) by a KeyListener.
The Listener could be implemented directly by your gui class or by your other class. If you want more abstraction you could implement the DocumentListener by your gui class and create a method
public void addSpeedChangeListener(SpeedChangeListener scl) {
this.speedChangeListeners.add(scl);
}
Your SpeedChangeListener could be very simple:
public interface SpeedChangeListener {
public void speedChanged(int value);
}
Then your second class implements the SpeedChangeListener and calls addSpeedChangeListener(this) on your gui class. Inside the gui class, your document listener calls speedChanged(val) for every listener registered.
EDIT
You can also use the Button and call the speedChanged on every listener inside the actionPerformed method of the ActionListener.

I think it would be easier to use a JOptionDialog which pop ups when the button is clicked. That way you can easily get input and also validate the input straight away.

Related

FocusListener on JTextField not working

I've created an application that uses FocusListener to make sure a text fieid's value is always positive. When the user inputs negative value and then click the "tab" key to move focus away from the text field, the value will be multiplied by -1 so that the resulted value is positive. However, when I ran the application, the text field didn't change. I am not sure what I did wrong, and will appreciate any help.
Here is my code:
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class AlwaysPositive extends JFrame implements FocusListener {
JTextField posField = new JTextField("30",5);
public AlwaysPositive() {
super("AlwaysPositive");
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
JPanel pane = new JPanel();
JTextField posField = new JTextField("30",5);
JButton ok= new JButton("ok");
posField.addFocusListener(this);
pane.add(posField);
pane.add(ok);
add(pane);
setVisible(true);
}
public void focusLost(FocusEvent event) {
try {
float pos = Float.parseFloat(posField.getText());
if (pos < 0)
pos = pos*-1;
posField.setText("" + pos);
} catch (NumberFormatException nfe) {
posField.setText("0");
}
}
public void focusGained(FocusEvent event) {
}
public static void main(String[] arguments) {
AlwaysPositive ap = new AlwaysPositive();
}
}
The main problem is you are shadowing your variables
You declare
JTextField posField = new JTextField("30",5);
As an instance variable, but in your constructor, you redeclare it again...
public AlwaysPositive() {
//...
JTextField posField = new JTextField("30",5);
posField.addFocusListener(this);
//...
}
Add attach the focus listener to it, but in the focusLost method, you are referring to the instance variable, which isn't the one that is actually on the screen
Start by changing the declaration within the constructor
public AlwaysPositive() {
//...
posField = new JTextField("30",5);
posField.addFocusListener(this);
//...
}
However, there are better solutions to use then FocusListener.
For example, you could use an InputVerifier that will allow you to verify the value of the field and make decisions about whether focus should be moved or not.
Take a look at How to Use the Focus Subsystem and Validating Input in particular
You could also use a DocumentFilter to restrict what the user can actually enter, filtering the input as the user types it. Take a look at Text Component Features and Implementing a Document Filter in particular.
You can also take a look at these examples for more ideas
When you create object of same name inside a method, the listener is set to the method object and not to the Class object.

How do I pass the values from one class to another?

I have this gui pop up panel and it got things to filled up like packets number, distance etc. Once users fill in the information, he will click ok, the gui will close and my other gui class which has calculation method should receives all data that are filled in earlier gui. How do I store that data? I know I can store in temp file but I don't want to do that. I hope you can enlighten me.
import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.Applet;
class Example extends Applet implements ActionListener
{
TextField txt = new TextField(10);
Button goButton = new Button("Go");
String data = new String ();
public void init ()
{
add(txt);
add(goButton);
goButton.addActionListener(this);
}
public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent e)
{
String cmd = e.getActionCommand();
if (cmd.equals("Go"))
{
// preserve data
data = txt.getText();
repaint();
}
}
}
You should create an intermediate class that represents the data.
After the GUI has been filled in and the submit button clicked, parse the data and fill in the fields in your class.
For example:
public class MyData {
public String Name;
public String Address;
}
Then, fire a method in your calculation method that takes this class as a parameter:
public void Calculate(MyData data) {
...
}
For more advanced handling, look into "interfaces" in Java - that's the standard way this is done.

Calling String from another method - Java

I am trying to use this String called "username" from another method, but I can't seem to figure out what to do.
I have this bit of code right here, which assigns a text field's entry to a variable, but I can't seem to use this variable in another method
//Configuring content pane
JFormattedTextField formattedTextField = new JFormattedTextField();
formattedTextField.setBounds(129, 36, 120, 20);
UsernameFrame.getContentPane().add(formattedTextField);
UsernameFrame.setVisible(true);
//Assigning text field entry to variable
String username = formattedTextField.getText();
Now, I am trying to use this variable in the method pasted below, but I don't know what I am missing..
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
if(username.length() < 5){
}
//Execute when the button is pressed
System.out.println("The button has been pressed");
}
This is probably something really simple I am missing, thanks for your help guys.
(full code)
http://pastebin.com/RMszazd4
Declare username right after your class declaration like this:
public class App {
private String username;
public static void main(String[] args) {
...
}
...
}
If these are two separate methods you will need to reassign the username variable again or you can create a global variable outside of your methods.
You might want to pass in the string variable "username"as a parameter to another method since it would not recognize the scope of your string in another method unless its declared global.
You don't appear to have a way of reading the JFormattedTextField. If I understand what you're trying to do correctly, you could declare formattedTextField as an instance variable, and then declare username inside the listener:
public class Frame {
JFrame UsernameFrame = new JFrame("Welcome");
private JFormattedTextField formattedTextField;
....
btnSubmit.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
String username = formattedTextField.getText();
if (username.length() < 5) {
}
// Execute when the button is pressed
System.out.println("The button has been pressed");
}
});
Now you have a reference to the text of the JFormattedTextField to do what you will with each time the button is pressed.

Clearing a JTextArea from another class

I'm very new to Java and I'm setting myself the challenge on writing a Caesar shift cipher decoder. I'm basically trying to clear a JTextArea from another class. I have two classes, a GUI class called CrackerGUI and a shift class. The JtextArea is in the GUI class along with the following method:
public void setPlainTextBox(String text)
{
plainTextBox.setText(text);
}
The GUI class also has a clear button with the following:
private void btnClearActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
Shift classShift = new Shift();
classShift.btnClear();
}
Lastly i have the method in the shift class to clear the JTextArea.
public class Shift extends CrackerGUI {
public void btnClear()
{
CrackerGUI gui = new CrackerGUI();
gui.setPlainText(" ");
System.out.println("testing");
}
}
The testing text is printing out to console but the JTextArea wont clear. I'm not sure as to why :). I am sure it's a very simple mistake but it has me baffled. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
You're misusing inheritance to solve a problem that doesn't involve inheritance. Don't have Shift extend CrackerGUI and don't create a new CrackerGUI object inside of the btnClear() method since neither CrackerGUi is the one that's displayed. Instead have Shift hold a reference to the displayed CrackerGUI object and have it call a public method of this object.
e.g.,
public class Shift {
private CrackerGUI gui;
// pass in a reference to the displayed CrackerGUI object
public Shift(CrackerGUI gui) {
this.gui = gui;
}
public void btnClear() {
//CrackerGUI gui = new CrackerGUI();
gui.setPlainText(" ");
System.out.println("testing");
}
}
You also should probably not be creating new Shift objects in your GUI's actionPerformed methods, but rather use only one Shift object that is a class field.
The btnClear method clears the text area of a new CrackerGUI instance. It's like if you wanted to clear a drawing on a sheet of paper by taking a new blank sheet and clearing it. The original sheet of paper will keep its drawing.
You need to pass the gui instance to your Shift:
public class Shift {
private CrackerGUI gui;
public Shift(CrackerGUI gui) {
this.gui = gui;
}
public void btnClear() {
this.gui.setPlainText(" ");
}
}
and in the CrackerGUI class :
private void btnClearActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
Shift classShift = new Shift(this);
classShift.btnClear();
}
Assuming CrackerGUI is your GUI, you should have the following instead:
public class CrackerGUI {
public void setPlainTextBox(String text)
{
plainTextBox.setText(text);
}
public void btnClear()
{
setPlainTextBox("");
System.out.println("testing");
}
}
One last thing, never make your GUI elements public! You should ask the GUI to clear itself and leave that knowledge of clearing elements hidden inside it.
You could try using static methods, as you would end up creating a new gui, then displaying that one, in stead of the current one already displayed.
This would require the parent class to be static too, which may cause errors in some of your methods, just a heads up.
Or else, you could create your own setText method:
void setText(JTextField t, String s){
t.setText(s);
}
that may enable you to directly edit components in the current GUI.

updating Swing JTextField

I can't .setText(...) for a JTextField outside of the class that creates the gui. I'm very confused and I feel like there is something basic I am missing. I need some help here.
Here is what I am doing:
In a class (called MainClass) I create an instance of a class that creates my gui
TestText gui = new TestText();
with a constructor that sets the default settings (a JTextField and a button with a listener). Then I call the a setter that I wrote, where I pass it a string that is to set the text of the JTextField:
gui.setText("new");
But "new" doesn't show up on the gui.
I know my setter works from within the class because if I make a call to the setter from the button that I created in gui then the changes show up on the gui.
The part that really confuses me is this: If I call my getter just before my setter, then it returns the old value. Then if I call the getter again after I call the setter then it returns the new value, while the gui continues to show the old value. I thought that maybe it just isn't repainting the gui so I tried all kinds of permutations of .invalidate(), .validate(), .update() and .repaint(), all from the MainClass and from inside the setter. But none did anything.
Is it possible that I somehow have 2 different instances of the gui and I'm only editing one of them?
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
public class TestText {
private JTextField textField;
private JButton button;
private JPanel frame;
JFrame jFrame;
public void setText(String text) {
textField.setText(text);
}
public String getText() {
return textField.getText();
}
public TestText() {
this.textField.setText("98.6");
this.jFrame = new JFrame("TestText");
button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
setText("new (button)");
}
});
}
public void setData(TestText data) {
data.setText("new (setData)");
}
public void getData(TestText data) {
}
public boolean isModified(TestText data) {
return false;
}
public void createGui(String[] args) {
jFrame.setContentPane(new TestText().frame);
jFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
jFrame.pack();
jFrame.setVisible(true);
}
}
and then here's the main class that I'm trying to create the gui from:
public class MainClass {
public static void main(String[] args) {
TestText gui = new TestText();
gui.createGui(null);
System.out.println(gui.getText());
gui.setData(gui);
System.out.println(gui.getText());
gui.setText("new (MainClass)");
System.out.println(gui.getText());
}
}
It looks like you're missing the reference to the text field I think...
gui.referenceToTextField.setText("new word");
EDIT: Very nice SSCCE! However, there are several problems (not in the order provided, necessarily).
You are overriding the setText() method. Don't do this unless you want the method to do something different—why you would want to do this I have no idea.
You aren't even using the args array in the createGui() method. You can create methods without specifying any parameters/arguments.
The getData() method is, right now, useless (If I were you, given what you're trying to accomplish, I would remove the method entirely). I'm assuming, from the apt method name (another good thing to do), that you want to retrieve the data from the text field. Put this line inside the method (and change the word void to String) and you should be set!
return textField.getText();
Truthfully, this shouldn't even run due to a NullPointerException. You aren't initializing any of the components other than the JFrame. You need to do things like textField = new JTextField(20).
Even if you could run this, the button wouldn't work at all because the button hasn't been told that it does anything. To do this call button.addActionListener() with the name of the listening class as the argument. If the GUI and listening classes happen to be in one class together (like I will show you in a minute), the argument is simply this.
You aren't adding any components to the frame. For every component you wish to put into your frame, you must call add(Component cmpt).
Having said this, I think I'm just going to try to recreate what you're trying to do here into one class. You don't really need two separate classes unless the listening portion is excessively long.
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class TestText extends JFrame implements ActionListener {
JTextField textField = new JTextField(20);
JButton set = new JButton("Set Text");
JButton get = new JButton("Get Text");
public TestText() {
super();
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
add(textField);
set.addActionListener(this); //this tells the program that the button actually triggers an event
add(set);
get.addActionListener(this);
add(get);
pack();
setVisible(true);
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
if (event.getSource() == set) {
textField.setText(JOptionPane.showInputDialog(null, "Enter a new word for the text field:"));
} else {
System.out.println(textField.getText());
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
TestText tt = new TestText();
}
}
After doing some reading I think it is due to my code not accessing the Event Dispatch Thread like #camickr suggested. Here is some documentation that helped me solve my problem.

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