How to repaint JPanel from outside its parent JFrame? - java

I can add/remove elements to/from a panel and repaint it when the method used to fill the panel is called by one of its parent JFrame events, but I can not repaint it by events from other classes even if their sources have been added to it, or that is how I understand the problem for now.
I want to understand what is going on here, Thank you.
Main Class
public class Principal extends JFrame implements ActionListener{
private static Principal instPrincipal = null;
private SubClass subClassInst =new SubClass();
public JPanel panelPrincipal;
public static Principal getInstance() {
if (instPrincipal != null)
return instPrincipal ;
else {
instPrincipal = new Principal ();
return instPrincipal ;
}
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
Object source = event.getSource();
try {
if(source == btnSub)
{
subClassInst.fillPanelPrincipal();
}
}
catch (Exception e) {
// TODO: handle exception
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
Sub Classes Example
public class SubClass implements ActionListener {
private JPanel tempPanel;
private JButton btnSave;
private Principal instPrincipal;
public void fillPanelPrincipal() {
instPrincipal = Principal.getInstance();
instPrincipal.panelPrincipal.removeAll();
//Start adding elements..
tempPanel = new JPanel();
instPrincipal.panelPrincipal.add(tempPanel);
btnSave = new JButton("Save");
btnSave.addActionListener(this);
tempPanel.add(btnSave);
//End.
instPrincipal.panelPrincipal.repaint();
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
instPrincipal = Principal.getInstance();
Object source = event.getSource();
if (source == btnSave) {
// modify local data, Database .. ; //work but need to be repainted on panelPrincipal
instPrincipal.panelPrincipal.repaint();//does not work
}
}
}
Update
To clarify the problem more, I have one single JPanel on a JFrame and there are different classes to fill it for multiple functionalities, I call their methods using JMenuItems on the main frame, these Classes implement ActionListener, passing the panel didn't work, and also the method I am trying here.
I thought about changing the design to use CardLayout, but it was very difficult.

You are calling Principal as a static reference, so how is it supposed to know what frame to repaint? You should pass the instance of the JFrame through the constructor of the subclass. Like so:
private SubClass subClassInst = new SubClass(this);
And create the constructor like this
private JFrame parent;
public SubClass(JFrame parent) { this.parent = parent; }
You can then use it like so
this.parent.repaint();

Related

Java Observer/Observable update

I've tried to apply the Observable/Observer pattern but there is something wrong with my code when I try to change a the textfield of a JTextPane.
I've got 3 classes, Play, Controller and SecondWindow here are a sample of their code.
public class Play() {
Controller c = new Controller();
SecondWindow sw = new SecondWindow();
c.addObserver(sw)
c.setText("blabla");
}
My class Controller:
public class Controller extends Observable(){
private String text ="";
private static Controller getInstance() {
if (instance == null) {
instance = new Controller();
}
return instance;
}
public void setText(String s) {
text = s;
setChanged();
notifyObservers();
}
}
and SecondWindow:
public class SecondWindow extends JFrame implements Observer{
private JPanel contentPane;
private Controller c;
private JTextPane txt = new JTextPane();
public SecondWindow () {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
SecondWindow frame = new SecondWindow();
frame.setVisible(true);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
}
public SecondWindow() {
initComponents();
createEvents();
c = Controller.getInstance();
}
public void initComponents() {
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setBounds(1000, 0, 300,500);
contentPane = new JPanel();
contentPane.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(5, 5, 5, 5));
setContentPane(contentPane);
contentPane.setLayout(null);
txt.setBounds(0, 0, 280, 460);
txt.enable(false);
contentPane.add(txt);
}
public void update(Observable arg0 , Object arg1){
// Things to change here
}
I can't manage to put the variable c in the textField (like a txt.setText(c.getText) instruction). I'm sure that it reads the method update, but I don't know how to make sure it works.
Hint: Per the Observerable API the notifyObservers method has an overload that accepts any object as a parameter:
public void notifyObservers(Object arg)
This can even be a String. And as per the Observer API, this object is then passed into the update method in the observer, and you can use it there.
void update(Observable o,
Object arg)
arg - an argument passed to the notifyObservers method.
Separate side issue here:
contentPane.setLayout(null);
For most Swing aficionados, seeing this is like hearing nails on a chalkboard -- it's painful. While null layouts and setBounds() might seem to Swing newbies like the easiest and best way to create complex GUI's, the more Swing GUI'S you create the more serious difficulties you will run into when using them. They won't resize your components when the GUI resizes, they are a royal witch to enhance or maintain, they fail completely when placed in scrollpanes, they look gawd-awful when viewed on all platforms or screen resolutions that are different from the original one. Instead you will want to study and learn the layout managers and then nest JPanels, each using its own layout manager to create pleasing and complex GUI's that look good on all OS's.
Side issue number two: your code is not Swing thread safe, since the Swing GUI could very well be notified by the observable off of the Swing event dispatch thread or EDT. While it is not likely to cause frequent or serious problems with this simple program, in general it would be better to use a SwingPropertyChangeSupport and PropertyChangeListeners rather than Observer / Observable if you can.
Next Side Issue
This:
public class Controller extends Observable(){
isn't compilable / kosher Java. Same for the duplicate parameter-less constructors for the SecondWindow class. Yes, we know what you're trying to do, but it's hard enough trying to understand someone else's code, you really don't want to make it harder by posting kind-of sort-of uncompilable code, trust me.
For example, something simple could be implemented in Swing using PropertyChangeListeners, like so:
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
public class Play2 {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Model2 model2 = new Model2();
View2 view2 = new View2();
new Controller2(model2, view2);
view2.show();
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
try {
TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(1);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
// one of the few times it's OK to ignore an exception
}
String text = String.format("Counter Value: %d", i);
model2.setText(text);
}
}
}
import java.beans.PropertyChangeListener;
import javax.swing.event.SwingPropertyChangeSupport;
public class Model2 {
private SwingPropertyChangeSupport pcSupport = new SwingPropertyChangeSupport(this);
public static final String TEXT = "text"; // name of our "bound" property
private String text = "";
public String getText() {
return text;
}
public void setText(String text) {
String oldValue = this.text;
String newValue = text;
this.text = text;
pcSupport.firePropertyChange(TEXT, oldValue, newValue);
}
public void addPropertyChangeListener(PropertyChangeListener listener) {
pcSupport.addPropertyChangeListener(listener);
}
public void removePropertyChangeListener(PropertyChangeListener listener) {
pcSupport.removePropertyChangeListener(listener);
}
public void addPropertyChangeListener(String name, PropertyChangeListener listener) {
pcSupport.addPropertyChangeListener(name, listener);
}
public void removePropertyChangeListener(String name, PropertyChangeListener listener) {
pcSupport.removePropertyChangeListener(name, listener);
}
}
import javax.swing.*;
public class View2 {
private JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
private JTextField textField = new JTextField(10);
public View2() {
textField.setFocusable(false);
mainPanel.add(new JLabel("Text:"));
mainPanel.add(textField);
}
public JPanel getMainPanel() {
return mainPanel;
}
public void setText(String text) {
textField.setText(text);
}
public void show() {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("View");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(getMainPanel());
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
});
}
}
import java.beans.PropertyChangeEvent;
import java.beans.PropertyChangeListener;
public class Controller2 {
private Model2 model2;
private View2 view2;
public Controller2(Model2 model2, View2 view2) {
this.model2 = model2;
this.view2 = view2;
model2.addPropertyChangeListener(Model2.TEXT, new ModelListener());
}
private class ModelListener implements PropertyChangeListener {
#Override
public void propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent pcEvt) {
view2.setText((String) pcEvt.getNewValue());
}
}
}

Java, changing active card for another class

Looking at other answers, i have followed exactly what they say, but i just keep getting the nullPointerException error. I have 4 classes, the 2 below, a GUI class and main menu class. Main manages the card layout and i would like a button in the Insert class to change the "Active" card to main menu class.
Main:
public class Main extends JPanel implements ChooserListener{
MainMenu mm;
Insert InsertCustomer;
public JPanel mPanel;
CardLayout cl;
private String c;
public Main(){
super();
//add mPanel, set to CardLayout and add the Main
mPanel = new JPanel();
this.add(mPanel);
cl = new CardLayout();
mPanel.setLayout(cl);
//add classes
mm = new MainMenu(this);
InsertCustomer = new Insert();
//add classes to mPanel
mPanel.add(mm, "mm");
mPanel.add(InsertCustomer, "InsertCustomer");
}
public void tell(Object o) {
c = o.toString();
cl.show(mPanel, c);
}
public void swapView(String key) {
CardLayout cl = (CardLayout)(mPanel.getLayout());
cl.show(mPanel, key);
}
}
Insert:
public class Insert extends JPanel{
private JButton logoutbutton;
private LogoutListener lListener;
public Insert() {
super();
//BUTTONS
//logout button
JButton logoutbutton = new JButton("Main Menu");
this.add(logoutbutton);
lListener = new LogoutListener(null);
logoutbutton.addActionListener(lListener);
}
private class LogoutListener implements ActionListener{
private Main main;
public LogoutListener(Main main){
this.main = main;
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
main.swapView("mm");
}
}
}
lListener = new LogoutListener(null);
Your LogoutListener takes your Main-class, but you give him null. Of course you will get a NullPointerException (at least on your logoutButton-click).
Your problem in next lines :
lListener = new LogoutListener(null);
main.swapView("mm");
You need to put reference to your Main class, not null as you done. Because of your main in LogoutListener is null and you catch NPE.
Simple solution is to transfer reference of your Main to Insert with help of constructor and then transfer that to LogoutListener.

Java: How to use a cardholder with multiple classes

I'm programming in Java, trying to use a cardholder in order to switch between 2 JPanels which are each an extension of their own class. I think I understand the basic concepts but I am having errors in my current revision, when calling the classes. I'm getting a null pointer exception and I think it's a structural problem but I'm not sure how or why.
The main method points to this class
public class Skeleton implements ActionListener{
JPanel cardHolder;
CardLayout cards;
String cardA = "A";
String cardB = "B";
JPanel Jboard;
JPanel Jmenu;
JFrame frame2;
Board board;
Menu menu;
boolean menuSet;
boolean boardSet;
Timer timer;
public class Switcher implements ActionListener{
String card;
Switcher(String card){
this.card = card;
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
cards.show(cardHolder, card);
}
}
public Skeleton(JFrame frame){
JPanel menu = new Menu();
JPanel board = new Board();
JFrame frame2 = frame;
timer = new Timer(5, this);
timer.start();
cardHolder = new JPanel();
cards = new CardLayout();
cardHolder.setLayout(cards);
cardHolder.add(menu, cardA);
cardHolder.add(board, cardB);
frame2.add(cardHolder);
frame2.revalidate();
frame2.setVisible(true);
}
public JFrame getSkeleton(){
return frame2;
}
public JPanel getCardHolder(){
return cardHolder;
}
public void checkStatus(){
if (menuSet == true){
new Switcher(cardB);
boardSet = false;
}
if (boardSet == true){
new Switcher(cardA);
menuSet = false;
}
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
menuSet = menu.getMenuset();
boardSet = board.getBoardset();
checkStatus();
}
}
This is the board class, one of the JPanels I'm trying to switch between
public class Board extends JPanel{
boolean boardset;
Menu menu = new Menu();
public Board(){
setBackground(Color.WHITE);
}
public JPanel getPanel(){
return this;
}
public void setBoardset(boolean x){
boardset = x;
}
public boolean getBoardset(){
return boardset;
}
}
Here is the other JPanel class, which contains a button used to switch to the other JPanel class. This is also the original starting JPanel used.
public class Menu extends JPanel implements ActionListener{
boolean menuset;
public Menu(){
setBackground(Color.BLACK);
JButton button = new JButton("hello");
button.addActionListener(this);
this.add(button);
}
public JPanel getPanel(){
return this;
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
menuset = true;
}
public void setMenuset(boolean x){
menuset = x;
}
public boolean getMenuset(){
return menuset;
}
}
Like I said, I'm getting a null pointer exception. It is occuring on this line of the Skeleton() class
menuSet = menu.getMenuset();
The line above is right after the actionPerformed event above (from the timer), and I have tested the timer a little, it works doing basic print statements but whenever I try to use the 'menu' or 'board' instance inside the actionPerformed, I get this null pointer exception.
I would appreciate any advice. I get the idea that the way I'm doing this may be a little convoluted. If anyone has any suggestions on a better way to do this it would also be helpful. My main goal is to be able to call 2 separate classes from one main class containing a cardholder. That way I can separate the code in order to keep everything isolated and in order.
Your Skeleton class has a "menu" member but it isn't set anywhere that I can see. The constructor declares its own "menu" local variable, which is local to the constructor and hides the member. Setting "menu" inside the constructor won't set the member. I don't see anywhere else where the "menu" member is set, unless I've missed something or unless another class in the same package is setting it.

Creating an actionlistener from a method in another class

Hi well my code so far does something like this: Click a button, opens a combobox. I want to select an option on the ComboBox and depending on which option is picked i want to open another combobox using getSelectIndex().
Here are parts of my code which are relevant. I know I have to make the other comboboxes not visible or removed but at the moment I'm just trying to make a combobox appear. As you can see i have inserted the actionlistener for the button which works and opens the combobox.however when selecting a string in the combobox no event occurs. However when I run it, no comboboxes appear.
public class Work extends JFrame {
// variables for JPanel
private JPanel buttonPanel;
private JButton timeButton;
public Work()
{
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
buttonPanel = new JPanel();
buttonPanel.setBackground(Color.RED);
buttonPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400, 500));
add(buttonPanel,BorderLayout.WEST);
timeButton = new JButton("Time");
buttonPanel.add(timeButton);
buttontime clickTime = new buttontime(); // event created when time button is clicked
timeButton.addActionListener(clickTime);
Time timeObject = new Time();
timeObject.SelectTime();
buttontime2 selectDest = new buttontime2();
timeObject.getAirportBox().addActionListener(selectDest);
}
public class buttontime implements ActionListener { //creating actionlistener for clicking on timebutton to bring up a combobox
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent clickTime) {
Time timeObject = new Time();
timeObject.SelectTime();
add(timeObject.getTimePanel(),BorderLayout.EAST);
timeObject.getTimePanel().setVisible(true);
timeObject.getTimePanel().revalidate() ;
timeObject.getAirportBox().setVisible(true);
}
}
public class buttontime2 implements ActionListener{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent selectDest) {
Time timeObject = new Time();
timeObject.SelectTime();
if(timeObject.getAirportBox().getSelectedIndex() == 1) {
timeObject.getEastMidBox().setVisible(true);
}
else if(timeObject.getAirportBox().getSelectedIndex() == 2) {
timeObject.getBirmBox().setVisible(true);
}
else if(timeObject.getAirportBox().getSelectedIndex() == 3) {
timeObject.getMancbox().setVisible(true);
}
else if(timeObject.getAirportBox().getSelectedIndex() == 4) {
timeObject.getHeathBox().setVisible(true);
}
}
}
public static void main (String args[]) {
events mainmenu = new events(); //object is created
mainmenu.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
mainmenu.setSize(800,500);
mainmenu.setVisible(true);
mainmenu.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
mainmenu.setTitle("Learning how to use GUI");
mainmenu.setBackground(Color.BLUE);
mainmenu.setResizable(false);
}
}
my other class TIME
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
class Time
{
private JComboBox timeAirportbox;//comboboxes declared
private JComboBox eastMidbox;
private JComboBox mancBox;
private JComboBox heathBox;
private JComboBox birmBox;
private String[] airport = {"","EM", "Bham", "Manc", "Heath"};//array of airports declared
private String[] destination = {"","NY", "Cali", "FlO", "MIAMI", "Tokyo"};//array of destinations declared
private JPanel timePanel;
public void SelectTime() {
//combobox objects created
timePanel = new JPanel();
timePanel.setBackground(Color.BLUE);
timePanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400, 400));
timeAirportbox = new JComboBox(airport);//array is inserted into the JComboBox
timePanel.add(timeAirportbox);
timeAirportbox.setVisible(false);
eastMidbox = new JComboBox(destination);
timePanel.add(eastMidbox);
eastMidbox.setVisible(false);
mancBox = new JComboBox(destination);
timePanel.add(mancBox);
mancBox.setVisible(false);
heathBox = new JComboBox(destination);
timePanel.add(heathBox);
heathBox.setVisible(false);
birmBox = new JComboBox(destination);
timePanel.add(birmBox);
birmBox.setVisible(false);
}
public JPanel getTimePanel() {
return timePanel;
}
public JComboBox getAirportBox() {
return timeAirportbox;
}
public JComboBox getEastMidBox() {
return eastMidbox;
}
public JComboBox getMancbox() {
return mancBox;
}
public JComboBox getHeathBox() {
return heathBox;
}
public JComboBox getBirmBox() {
return birmBox;
}
}
The Time object that is built in Work constructor is not used:
Time timeObject = new Time();
timeObject.SelectTime();
buttontime2 selectDest = new buttontime2();
timeObject.getAirportBox().addActionListener(selectDest);
As you are only applying the action listener selectedDest to the combobox of that timeObject, which is not used, then the listener will never be called.
You can do two things to make it work:
Move the code that creates the listener and assign it to the combox in the first listener buttontime
Create the Time object only once and store it as a member of your Work instance. As your listener is a non-static inner classes of the Work class, it will be able to use it instead of creating a new Time object.
Edit: I didn't see that in your second listener, you were AGAIN building a new Time object. This object is really a different one than the one you have created earlier, so modifying one will not affect the other. You really should create the Time object once and store it as a member variable of your Work class, and then use this object in your listeners instead of recreating it.
To be clear, do it like this:
public class Work extends JFrame {
// ...
private Time timeObject;
public Work() {
// ...
timeObject = new Time();
timeObject.SelectTime();
buttontime2 selectDest = new buttontime2();
timeObject.getAirportBox().addActionListener(selectDest);
}
public class buttontime implements ActionListener {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent clickTime) {
// use timeObject, don't create it and don't call SelectTime()
// example:
add(timeObject.getTimePanel(),BorderLayout.EAST);
// ....
}
}
public class buttontime2 implements ActionListener {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent clickTime) {
// use timeObject, don't create it and don't call SelectTime()
}
}
}
Also to note:
You should not extends JFrame, there is no reason to do so. Refactor your code so that your frame is just a member variable of your Work class.
Follow Java standard code conventions, especially use case properly with class names: buttonlistener should be ButtonListener, and method should start with lowercase: SelectTime should be selectTime.

action listener in another class - java

it is possible to have two class, and in one something like
arrayButtons[i][j].addActionListener(actionListner);
and in another
ActionListener actionListner = new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
for (int j = 0; j < arrayButtons.length; j++) {
for (int i = 0; i < arrayButtons[j].length; i++) {
if (arrayButtons[j][i] == e.getSource()) {
if ((gameNumber == 2) && (playHand.getNumberOfCards() == 0)) {
if (player[j].getCard(i).getSuit() == Suit.HEARTS.toString() && player[j].hasSuitBesideHearts())
//second game
messageOnTable("xxx");
else{
arrayButtons[j][i].setVisible(false);
test[j].setIcon(player[j].getCard(i).getImage());
pnCardNumber[j].setText(Integer.toString(player[j].getCard(i).getNumber()));
pnCardName[j].setText(player[j].getCard(i).toString());
pnCardSuit[j].setText(player[j].getCard(i).getSuit());
playHand.addCard(player[j].getCard(i), j);
player[j].removeCard(i);
}
}
}
//and more
the reason of that is because i need to separate the button (swing) to the action listener
how i can do ?
thanks
Not only it is possible to separate these two, it's also recommended (see MVC pattern - it's very much about separating screen controls like buttons, and the logics of your program)
The easiest way that comes to my mind is to do write a named class that implements ActionListener interface, something like this:
public class SomeActionListener implements ActionListener{
private JTextField textField1;
private JComboBox combo1;
private JTextField textField2;
//...
public SomeActionListener(JTextField textField1, JComboBox combo1,
JTextField textField2){
this.textField1=textField1;
this.combo1=combo1;
this.textField2=textField2;
//...
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
//cmd
}
}
And then add it to your buttons:
ActionListener actionListener = new SomeActionListener(textField1, combo1, textField2);
someButton.addActionListener(actionListener);
To answer: "my problem is that action listener have many variables of swing like buttons for example,so, when i change to another class, i have problems with that"
Your action listener class could have a constructor that takes a parameter of the type of the view class:
public class Listener implements ActionListener {
private final MyViewClass mView;
public Listener(MyViewClass pView) {
mView = pView;
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
// can use mView to get access to your components.
mView.get...().doStuff...
}
}
Then in your view:
Listener l = new Listener(this);
button.addActionListener(l);
you can do it easily by using nested classes,
but i think the best way is pass the parent object as a parameter to the construct of object and using it as an action handler;
//**parent class - Calculator **//
public class Calculator extends JFrame implements ActionListener{
private DPanel dPanel;
private JTextField resultText;
public Calculator(){
// set calc layout
this.setLayout(new BorderLayout(1,1));
dPanel = new DPanel(this); // here is the trick ;)
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
String command = e.getActionCommand();
resultText.setText(command);
// **** your code ****/
}
}
//**inner class - DPanel**//
public class DPanel extends JPanel{
private JButton digitsButton[];
private JButton dotButton,eqButton;
public DPanel(Calculator parent){
//layout
this.setLayout(new GridLayout(4,3,1,1));
// digits buttons
digitsButton = new JButton[10];
for (int i=9;i>=0;i--){
digitsButton[i] = new JButton(i+"");
digitsButton[i].addActionListener(parent); // using parent as action handler ;)
this.add(digitsButton[i]);
}
}
}
It's a bit off topic but you should definately not use the == operator to compare Strings as you appear to be doing on this line:
if (player[j].getCard(i).getSuit() == Suit.HEARTS.toString()
This is because Strings are pointers, not actual values, and you may get unexpected behaviour using the == operator. Use the someString.equals(otherString) method instead. And also
"String to compare".equals(stringVariable)
is alot better than the other way around
stringVariable.equals("String to compare to")
because in the first example you avoid getting a NullPointerException if stringVariable is null. It just returns false.
Yes, it can be done. It's very simple; in one class you have your buttons, in the other class you just need to implement an ActionListener and just make your //cmd
to separate that button's function. To do this, you need to use e.getActionCommand().equals(buttonActionCommand).
Sample code:
public class Click implements ActionListener{
public Click(
//input params if needed
){
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if( e.getActionCommand().equals(buttonActionCommand){
//cmd
}
}
}
To add that listener on your button just do:
buttonTest.addActionListener(new Click());

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