We Keep Coding

Getting information from a text field JFrame form in a different class

Okay so I'm making a Library admin program and I have created a special frame where the user would enter details about a new book. However my method for adding a new book is in a separate class (methods). My question is how can I get the information the user enters in the text fields? Do I have to use something like getters, or is there an easier way. Also keep in mind that I am using the GUI layout (thing) in netbeans, and that I have already actually made the form. (I know it's frowned upon but I'm pressed for time and this is how we were taught.) This is a school project by the way. Thanks.

Okay so I'm making a Library admin program and I have created a special frame where the user would enter details about a new book.
Usually, a detail window should be a dialog, and likely a modal dialog. I suggest that you display this information in a modal JDialog, not a JFrame. Do this and it will make extracting information from the detail window much easier.
However my method for adding a new book is in a separate class (methods). My question is how can I get the information the user enters in the text fields? Do I have to use something like getters, or is there an easier way.
This begs the question -- what's so hard about using getters? And in fact his is exactly what I suggest that you use! Please note that your question essentially boils down to, "how can I get information on the state of one class's object from within another class's object", and for this getter methods are almost mandatory.
Also keep in mind that I am using the GUI layout (thing) in netbeans, and that I have already actually made the form. (I know it's frowned upon but I'm pressed for time and this is how we were taught.) This is a school project by the way.
This is unrelated to your current problem and should have little effect on its solution other than if you've hard-coded your "form" as a JFrame, then scrap it and re-do it as a JPanel.
I suggest:
Create an addEditBook modal JDialog
Give it getter methods to allow outside classes to be able to query its textfields for their contents.
Display the dialog from the main program.
Since it is modal the main program's code flow will pause until the dialog has been dealt with.
In your OK and Cancel button, set the dialog's state (OK_STATE or CANCEL_STATE) and close the dialog. The easiest way to do this actually is to use a JOptionPane as your modal dialog since it has mechanism for just this sort of thing. This is easily accomplished if your addEditBook is geared to create a JPanel, one that you display in the JOptionPane.
Program flow will then resume in your main program from right after where you showed the dialog
query the dialog for the contents of its fields.
For examples of the JOptionPane solutions, including option panes that request information from multiple fields similar to your window above, please see:
How can I make a JFrame modal like a JOptionPane?
Multiple input in JOptionPane.showInputDialog
Edit
You state in comment:
Oh and I was wondering how can I make the field of a normal JOptionpane input dialogue come up with a word already in it like for editing it will show the information stored already?
Please see the example answers that I have listed above as you'll see that they're not examples of a "normal JOptionPane" but rather JOptionPanes that display a GUI that you create. And just the same as it's easy to query the state of this GUI after it is displayed, it's just as easy to set the state of the GUI via setter methods before it is displayed.

My question is how can I get the information the user enters in the
text fields? Do I have to use something like getters, or is there an
easier way
You need to add actionListeners for you buttons, which means you will be overriding a method called actionPerformed. You basically need to associate your actionListeners with your 'Ok' and 'Cancel' buttons. When the 'ok' button is pressed, you should get a callback in the associated actionPerformed method. Then you should try to fetch the values of your textfiled using the getText method. Collect all the fileds and set the bean you have created to store that data. Then you can call your business logic to save/modify the books info.

JOptionPane vs. JDialog

This is a crosspost to the thread in Javaranch (includes some images): http://www.coderanch.com/t/567472/GUI/java/Optimal-solution-creating-multiple-dialog
I'm trying to develop a simple swing desktop application where I imagine alot of different dialog's jumping around to fetch user input. Would need to present labels, textfields, passwordfields, combobxes, checkboxes etc in various dialog windows.
For example: creating the database firsthand, creating the first admin account, adding users, changing user accounts etc.
I have an understanding that JOptionPane is used to create simple quick & easy modal dialog's. I would really like to know why one would choose one over another in this case. Which one is more preferable to use: JOptionPane vs. JDialog
Also I could use some pointers how one should appropriately design and implement this.
Thank you.

Here's a statement I found on the Java website that says one key point about the difference between the two.
How to make Dialogs
A Dialog can be modal. When a modal Dialog is visible, it blocks user input to all other windows in the program. JOptionPane creates JDialogs that are modal. To create a non-modal Dialog, you must use the JDialog class directly.
So it sounds like you would use JOptionPane if you want a user to have to make a choice and close the box before returning to the main screen. If you use a JDialog box, then they can just click around it and get back to the main screen without making a choice. For example, say you wanted to make a user choose the number of results before clicking submit, you wouldn't want them to be able to click around that window and click submit. You would use JOptionPane to force them to select a value first before going back to submit.

Check out http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/components/dialog.html it pretty much has everything you would need.
As i understand it, JOptionPane is great for what it can do, but you can't really change the functionality beyond that (not easily). JDialog is better to inherit from if you want to create your own custom Dialogs.

What is the best way to make clickable text in java?

This is for an application so I don't want a hyperlink. I first tried using a Jbutton without all of border/background stuff and then hooking up an actionListener to it but I couldn't get it to the point where I thought it looked nice. I also tried using a JLabel and hooking up a mouse listener to that but I also couldn't get it to look right.
Basically I would like a way using swing to make a button exactly like a url link in an application. What is the standard way of doing this?

but I couldn't get it to the point where I thought it looked nice
You might want to go into greater detail on just what "looked nice" means. I can see you solving this by either a JButton or a JLabel, but the key is perhaps not to look for another solution but to play with the settings of the button or the label til they look nice. If you can't find a nice solution, then post your code (an SSCCE would work best of all) and perhaps we can help you.

that isn't answer to your question but are you tried to add ButtonModel to your JButton example here

It is a rather heavy hammer to use, but SwingX has a JXHyperLink control that is probably exactly what you want. The source is at http://java.net/projects/swingx/sources/svn/content/trunk/swingx-core/src/main/java/org/jdesktop/swingx/JXHyperlink.java?rev=4027 and you can see an article about it at http://www.javalobby.org/java/forums/t18617.html.
It is old, but SwingX continues to do good things.

It's you're trying to make a desktop application which looks like HTML inside a browser, you might try using some of the richer Swing text components in a read-only mode. You could use a mouse-listener to map X/Y clicks to a particular character of text, and then cause an action to occur on that basis.

How to trigger Java Swing InputVerifier on enter in JComboBox (actionPerformed)?

I have a Swing JComboBox with an InputVerifier set correctly.
I am using the combo box to set an integer.
If I type "cat" in the field and hit tab, my InputVerifier triggers and resets the value to "0".
If I type "cat" and hit enter, my InputVerifier is never called from actionPerformed. Do I need to explicitly call my InputVerifier from actionPerformed?
What's the best model to validate my JComboBox on tab and enter? It seems like this is something that should be given to me "for free" by the swing model.

The problem is "hit Tab" and "hit Enter" mean two different things in Java Swing. But those two actions mean the same thing to you, me, and the user.
Swing has no single mechanism to detect "when the user is done entering data". Instead, Swing focuses on the mechanics of "is this field losing keyboard focus" and "is the user pressing Enter key while inside a field".
Semantically those two actions mean the same thing from the user's perspective: "I'm done. Here's my input.". But, from what I can tell, Swing fails to offer a way to detect that user intention. I'm as surprised as you by the lack of such a feature, as this seems to be the most basic function of a form in a GUI. What we need, but don't have, is a "dataEntered" event.
There is a workaround…
In a similar context (JTextField instead of JComboBox) the Sun/Oracle Java Tutorial provides the example InputVerificationDemo where a class is created that:
Extends InputVerifier (to handle tabbing/clicking where focus is about to be lost)
Implements ActionListener (to handle pressing Enter key without leaving field)
The good thing about this workaround is that you can locate your handling code all in one place. The downside is that you still have the hassle of:
Creating a separate class.
Instantiating that class.
Passing that instance to both the setInputVerifier and addActionListener methods of your widget (JTextField, etc.).

This is the expected behavior of InputVerifier: the TAB key attempts to change focus, while the ENTER key does not. You can bind the ENTER key to a different action, as described in the tutorial How to Use Key Bindings. Also, consider the informative article Key Bindings, which includes a handy utility application.

When using an editable combo box, focus is on a JTextField which is used as the editor of the combo box. You can add an ActionListener to this text field.
In the ActionListener you could try invoking the transferFocus() method which should be equivalent to tabbing our of the text field. If that doesn't work then tha actionListener should invoke the same editing code as the InputVerifier.

Java - Efficient way to get specific input from user

I am trying to get my options straight with some inputs that I want to enter in an application I am developing.
I want the user to input a list(of Strings) of which the size will be his decision.
I have thought of some crude solutions, like going with JOptionPane until user enters a specific input, but I would like a solution where the user can see his previous entries before he submits them all (unlike the JOptionPane solution). So I guess my question is, if there's any fast/easy way to do this - similar to JOptionPane's easiness and speed, instead of making a whole JPane design for it.
Thanks

I don't know of a fast and easy solution like JOptionPane. I think your best bet is to create a one-column JTable inside a scroll pane. There's a fairly straight-forward JTable tutorial that should get you started.