We Keep Coding

Can we store JButtons in an array?

I am trying to make a small application in Java Swing using JFrame form. I added buttons from palette to panel in specific positions and now want to add these buttons to an array but I don't know the data type used for array that holds these designed buttons. I searched for it but didn't find anything related to my problem. I am new to coding and have very limited knowledge about Java - any help will be greatly appreciated.

I you want to have a flexible list of buttons, just declare a List of JButton.
List<JButton> listOfButton = new ArrayList<>();

JButton[] buttons = new JButton[10];
Just like any other arrays.

Here i am writing the code by using which i added my buttons to arrayList and getting it back.
// creating an ArrayList
ArrayList<JButton> btn = new ArrayList<JButton>();
// adding Buttons to ArrayList
btn.addAll(Arrays.asList(Button1, Button2, Button3,........));
//instead of writng btn.add(Button1);btn.add(Button2); and so on, use addAll();
// getting buttons from ArrayList
for (int i = 0; i < btn.size(); i++){
btn.get(i);
}

Displaying a random number into a Textfield using jFrame

How would I display a random number into a text field on jFrame? My method for generating a random number is in a different class.
Random rn = new Random();
int i = rn.nextInt(51);
System.out.println(i);
How would I make the number appear in the textfield?

You don't have to use a seperate class.
Just do as following.
Random rn = new Random();
JTextField textField = //initialize your text field here
Then set the random number as,
textField.setText(Integer.toString(rn.nextInt(51)));

Is it possible to place components randomly without container in Swing window builder?

The only way, as far as I know, to put a JButton or a JLabel is via creating the GUI structure through Containers and placing those components on it.
Are there other methods to add components randomly into the frame and resize accordingly ,as can be done in Visual C# for example? What is the method to do it?

Yes.
You could use a null Layout and then place components using setBounds().
For example:
JPanel panel = new JPanel(null);
for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
JButton b = new JButton("JButton-"+i);
b.setBounds(50+i*10, 50+i*10, 100, 100);
panel.add(b);
}
If you want random placing, you could random the first 2 (x,y) values.
You will need to provide on your own valid values to be placed inside the parent container.

Dynamically generated jbuttons

I'm trying to make a GUI for that simulates elevators in a building (really to test threading/c-scan), but when generating the buttons for the elevator control panel and the buttons for each individual floor, I'm kind of stuck. I thinking about trying to generate a new pair of buttons for each floor, and generating a new control panel per elevator. Also there's the difficulty of having a variable amount of floors. Anyway my question what is this best way to go about doing this? Perhaps it's not necessary to generate new buttons for everything and just use one set and change what the actions do per floor/elevator? I'm asking because I'm not very familiar with GUIs. Thanks for the help

If all the elevators, and the control panel are the same, you can use a singular method and pass in the elevator or the control panel. CustomPanel extends JPanel and has a method foo.
public void createElevatorButtons(final CustomPanel panel) {
ArrayList<JButton> buttons = new ArrayList<>(); //arraylist of buttons we can keep track of
JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel(); //the visible component
for(int i = 1; i <= numberOfFloors;i++) {
JButton button = new JButton(String.valueOf(i)); //creates buttons for floors 1 to max
buttons.add(button);
buttonPanel.add(button);
}
panel.add(buttonPanel);
//add the action listeners
for(JButton button : buttons) {
button.addActionListener( new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
JButton floor = (JButton) e.getSource();
int floorNumber = Integer.parseInt(floor.getText());
panel.foo(floorNumber); //we tell the elevator/panel/whatever to do something, you will have to extend JPanel to do foo
}
});
}
}

In this case that the number of floors is variable you can create an array of buttons:
JButton[] buttons = new JButton[MAX_NUMBER_OF_FLOORS];
Then when you determine the exact of number of floors at runtime, you can go to instantiate and add the buttons:
for(int i=0; i<numberOfFloors; i++) {
buttons[i] = new JButton();
controlPanel.add(buttons[i]);
}
Something like this should work.
Assign MAX_NUMBER_OF_FLOORS a big number like 100, there should be a possible limit given by the problem.

Java GUI - Getting random value from array

So I have this 2d array of buttons and I have an array of images. I want to get the images on the buttons but I want the images to be on random buttons every time the program starts. Like this:What I want it to look like. Right now I can only get one color to be on all of the buttons by changing the value of icons when I make the new JButton. What I think I need to do is have Math.Random() set to a variable and to get a random value from the array of images and then put the variable in icons[] when i declare the new JButton but I don't know if this is right and don't know how to do it. I did some searching and tried using this:
var randomValue = icons[Math.floor(Math.random() * icons.length)];
but I get an error saying
possible loss of precision, required int, found double.
Help would be greatly appreciated. If you want me to post the entire code let me know.
// 2D Array of buttons
buttons = new JButton[8][8];
for(int row=0; row<8; row++)
{
for (int col=0; col<8; col++)
{
buttons[row][col] = new JButton(icons[0]);
buttons[row][col].setLocation(6+col*70, 6+row*70);
buttons[row][col].setSize(69,69);
getContentPane().add(buttons[row][col]);
}
}
// Array of images
public static ImageIcon[] icons = {new ImageIcon("RedButton.png"),
new ImageIcon("OrangeButton.png"),
new ImageIcon("YellowButton.png"),
new ImageIcon("GreenButton.png"),
new ImageIcon("BlueButton.png"),
new ImageIcon("LightGrayButton.png"),
new ImageIcon("DarkGrayButton.png")};

I'd simplify this greatly by putting all my ImageIcons in an ArrayList, calling java.util.Collections.shuffle(...) on the ArrayList, and then passing out the ImageIcons from the shuffled ArrayList in order. Or if your buttons allow for repeated icons, then use a java.util.Random variable, say called random and simply call random.nextInt(icons.length) to get a random index for my array.
As an aside, please for your own sake, don't use null layout and absolute positioning. Your grid of JButtons is begging to be held in a GridLayout-using JPanel. Begging.
As an aside, why are you posting questions on the same project but using different names? You've similar posts but different user names in both of your other posts here:
JButtons won't update on button click
My New Game JButton is not working?

Before you set the icons on the JButton use this shuffle function...
public ImageIcon[] shuffle(ImageIcon[] icons)
{
int index = 0;
ImageIcon temp = 0;
for(int i = icons.length -1; i > 0; i--)
{
index = r.nextInt(i + 1);
temp = icons[index];
icons[index] = icons[i];
icons[i] = temp;
}
return icons;
}