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Is it possible to make a toggleable button that changes text when clicked

I have made a JFrame that shows a start button, and changes to stop when clicked. How to make it so that it changes its text to start when stop is clicked. Here is the source code:
public class FRMCountdown extends JFrame {
private JPanel contentPane;
/**
* Launch the application.
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
FRMCountdown frame = new FRMCountdown();
frame.setVisible(true);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
}
/**
* Create the frame.
*/
public FRMCountdown() {
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setBounds(100, 100, 450, 300);
contentPane = new JPanel();
contentPane.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(5, 5, 5, 5));
setContentPane(contentPane);
contentPane.setLayout(null);
JButton Start_Stop_btn = new JButton("Start");
Start_Stop_btn.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
Start_Stop_btn.setText("Stop");
}
});
Start_Stop_btn.setBounds(10, 188, 89, 23);
contentPane.add(Start_Stop_btn);
}
}

Oracle has a helpful tutorial, Creating a GUI With Swing. Skip the Learning Swing with the NetBeans IDE section.
Swing was designed to be used with layout managers. I used a FlowLayout to place one JButton. Null layouts and absolute positioning lead to problems.
Java field names start with a lower case letter, Java method names start with a lower case letter. Java class names start with an upper case letter.
Here's the modified code.
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class ToggleJButton {
public static void main(String[] args) {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
new ToggleJButton();
}
});
}
public ToggleJButton() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Toggle JButton");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(createMainPanel(), BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
private JPanel createMainPanel() {
JPanel panel = new JPanel(new FlowLayout());
panel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(5, 100, 5, 100));
JButton startStopButton = new JButton("Start");
startStopButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
JButton button = (JButton) event.getSource();
String text = button.getText();
if (text.contentEquals("Start")) {
text = "Stop";
} else {
text = "Start";
}
button.setText(text);
}
});
panel.add(startStopButton);
return panel;
}
}

Update JLabel text

I'm working on a simple GUI. On Button press i want to increase/decrease a variable and update the corresponding JLabel.
class JFrameSetUp
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class JFrameSetUp extends JFrame implements ActionListener {
private int RecHeight = 0;
private int RecWidth = 0;
//Here Buttons
JButton HeightIncrease = new JButton("+");
JButton HeightDecrease = new JButton("-");
JLabel height = new JLabel(Integer.toString(RecHeight));
JLabel width = new JLabel(Integer.toString(RecWidth));
GridLayout gridLayout = new GridLayout(2, 4);
public JFrameSetUp(){
}
public void addComponentsToPane(final Container pane){
//Create GridPanel and set Layout
JPanel grid = new JPanel();
grid.setLayout(gridLayout);
//Create buttondrawPanel and set Layout
JPanel buttondraw = new JPanel();
buttondraw.setLayout(new GridLayout(2, 0));
//Adding Components to GridPanel
//Adding Layouts to pane
pane.add(grid, BorderLayout.NORTH);
pane.add(new JSeparator(), BorderLayout.CENTER);
pane.add(buttondraw, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
//Setting up ActionListener to Buttons
if (e.getSource() == this.HeightDecrease) {
RecHeight -= 1;
height.setText(Integer.toString(RecHeight));
} else if (e.getSource() == this.HeightIncrease) {
RecHeight += 1;
height.setText(Integer.toString(RecHeight));
}
}
}
Class with MainMethod
import javax.swing.JFrame;
public class Program {
public static void main(String[] args) {
javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
private static void createAndShowGUI() {
//Create and set up the window.
JFrameSetUp frame = new JFrameSetUp();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
//Set up the content pane.
frame.addComponentsToPane(frame.getContentPane());
//Display the window.
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}
I'm aware, that's kind a newbish question. I think I'm wrong with my Code Structure. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

You never register any ActionListeners to the buttons...
HeightIncrease.addActionListener(this);
HeightDecrease.addActionListener(this);
You also never add the buttons to the GUI
buttondraw.add(HeightIncrease);
buttondraw.add(HeightDecrease);
You also never add the labels to the GUI either...
grid.add(height);
grid.add(width);
I reworked the code, because your example was messing with my mind, hope you don't mind...
It's conceptually the same idea, just done slightly more efficently
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JSeparator;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.UnsupportedLookAndFeelException;
public class Test {
public static void main(String[] args) {
new Test();
}
public Test() {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} catch (ClassNotFoundException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException | UnsupportedLookAndFeelException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Testing");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(new TestPane());
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
public class TestPane extends JPanel {
private int recHeight = 0;
private int recWidth = 0;
//Here Buttons
JButton heightIncrease = new JButton("+");
JButton heightDecrease = new JButton("-");
JLabel height = new JLabel(Integer.toString(recHeight));
JLabel width = new JLabel(Integer.toString(recWidth));
GridLayout gridLayout = new GridLayout(2, 4);
public TestPane() {
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
//Create GridPanel and set Layout
JPanel grid = new JPanel();
grid.setLayout(gridLayout);
grid.add(height);
grid.add(width);
//Create buttondrawPanel and set Layout
JPanel buttondraw = new JPanel();
buttondraw.setLayout(new GridLayout(2, 0));
heightIncrease.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
recHeight += 1;
height.setText(Integer.toString(recHeight));
}
});
heightDecrease.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
recHeight -= 1;
height.setText(Integer.toString(recHeight));
}
});
buttondraw.add(heightIncrease);
buttondraw.add(heightDecrease);
//Adding Components to GridPanel
//Adding Layouts to pane
add(grid, BorderLayout.NORTH);
add(new JSeparator(), BorderLayout.CENTER);
add(buttondraw, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
}
}
}
I would encourage you to spend some time having a look at How to Use Buttons, Check Boxes, and Radio Buttons and How to Write an Action Listeners for more details

After changing the value call
frame.repaint();

Good to see you learning Java! A few things I should point out.
Firstly, your variable names are good, but they don't follow the Java naming convention. Even though it seems small, it's just good practice to follow.
Of course, your actual problem; the action listener you've implemented is on the JFrame. (See how you extend JFrame and implement ActionListener?) This ActionListener should be on the button. You'll can do this a few ways.
Method 1: By adding it inline with your code
JButton heightButton = new JButton("Increase Height");
heightButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
#Override
public void run(){
//run method here
}
});
Method 2: Create a class which implements ActionListener
class ButtonListener implements ActionListener{
#Override
public void run(){
//actionListener code here
}
}
And then instantiate an object of this type and add it directly to your code.
ActionListner buttonListener = new ButtonListener(); //or ButtonListener buttonListener = new ButtonListener();
JButton heightButton = new JButton("Increase Height");
heightButton.addActionListener(buttonListener);
Of course, as in MadProgrammers answer, don't forget to add the labels and such to your JFrame or JPanel. Good luck learning Java!

I bet that your program just shows nothing, isn't it? That's because in addComponentsToPane method, you didn't add any component but empty JPanels. After the comment //Adding Components to GridPanel, you should:
buttondraw.add(HeightIncrease);
buttondraw.add(HeightDecrease);
grid.add(height);
grid.add(width);
Then, to listen to button event, you should also add :
HeightIncrease.addActionListener(this);
HeightDecrease.addActionListener(this);
"this" is because your frame JFrameSetUp implements ActionListener, so when either bootton is clicked the method actionPerformed is invoked.
As JLabel.setText method will repaint itself and consequently its component hierarchi is repainted as well, you haven't to do anything othr.

How to pass value JList item from JFrame into another JFrame (just value)?

I have write a test with two class.
The first JPanel, Gestion: JFrame with jlist + button (the button open the Jlist 2, PanelTest)
The second JPanel, PanelTest: JFrame and I want to recover in String, the select value item in the JFrame Gestion (JList)
How to do that ?
Gestion.java:
package IHM;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.List;
import javax.swing.JDialog;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.border.EmptyBorder;
import javax.swing.event.DocumentListener;
import javax.swing.event.ListSelectionEvent;
import javax.swing.event.ListSelectionListener;
import javax.swing.JList;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.sql.SQLException;
public class Gestion extends JFrame {
private DocumentListener myListener;
public String test;
private JPanel contentPane;
/**
* Launch the application.
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
Gestion frame = new Gestion();
frame.setVisible(true);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
}
public String getTest() {
return test;
}
/**
* Create the frame.
* #throws Exception
*/
public Gestion() throws Exception {
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setBounds(100, 100, 450, 300);
contentPane = new JPanel();
contentPane.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(5, 5, 5, 5));
contentPane.setLayout(new BorderLayout(0, 0));
setContentPane(contentPane);
final PanelTest panel2 = new PanelTest();
JPanel panel = new JPanel();
contentPane.add(panel, BorderLayout.NORTH);
String choix[] = {" Pierre", " Paul", " Jacques", " Lou", " Marie"};
final JList list = new JList(choix);
panel.add(list);
list.addListSelectionListener(new ListSelectionListener() {
public void valueChanged(ListSelectionEvent arg0) {
test = (String) list.getSelectedValue();
System.out.println(test);
// PanelTest.setValue(test);
}
});
JPanel panel_1 = new JPanel();
contentPane.add(panel_1, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
JButton btnNewButton = new JButton("New button");
btnNewButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
new PanelTest().setVisible(true);
fermerFenetre();
}
});
panel_1.add(btnNewButton);
}
public void fermerFenetre(){
this.setVisible(false);
}
}
PanelTest.java
package IHM;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
public class PanelTest extends JFrame {
public String tyty;
private JPanel contentPane;
private JTextField textField;
/**
* Launch the application.
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
PanelTest frame = new PanelTest();
frame.setVisible(true);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
}
/**
* Create the frame.
*/
public PanelTest() {
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setBounds(100, 100, 450, 300);
contentPane = new JPanel();
contentPane.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(5, 5, 5, 5));
contentPane.setLayout(new BorderLayout(0, 0));
setContentPane(contentPane);
textField = new JTextField();
contentPane.add(textField, BorderLayout.WEST);
textField.setColumns(10);
}
}

Suggestions:
Make your list variable a field, not a local variable, or else make it a final local variable so that it is accessible inside of the anonymous ActionListener.
Obtain the selected list item in your ActionListener where you launch the 2nd window.
Pass that String into your PanelTest object via a String parameter.
The second window should be a dialog such as a JDialog, not a JFrame.
As an aside, you'll rarely want to have your GUI classes extend top level windows such as JFrames or JDialogs as that greatly limits the flexibility of your GUI code.
For example,
import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.Dialog.ModalityType;
import java.awt.Window;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import javax.swing.*;
#SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class Gestion2 extends JPanel {
private static final String CHOIX[] = { " Pierre", " Paul", " Jacques",
" Lou", " Marie" };
private JList<String> choixList = new JList<>(CHOIX);
public Gestion2() {
JPanel listPanel = new JPanel();
listPanel.add(new JScrollPane(choixList));
JPanel btnPanel = new JPanel();
btnPanel.add(new JButton(new ListSelectAction("Select Item and Press")));
setLayout(new BoxLayout(this, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
add(listPanel);
add(btnPanel);
}
private class ListSelectAction extends AbstractAction {
public ListSelectAction(String name) {
super(name);
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
String selectedItem = choixList.getSelectedValue();
if (selectedItem != null) {
PanelTest2 panelTest2 = new PanelTest2(selectedItem);
Component component = (Component) e.getSource();
Window win = SwingUtilities.getWindowAncestor(component);
// JOptionPane example
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(win, panelTest2,
"JOptionPane Example", JOptionPane.PLAIN_MESSAGE);
// or JDialog example
JDialog dialog = new JDialog(win, "JDialog Example",
ModalityType.APPLICATION_MODAL);
dialog.add(panelTest2);
dialog.pack();
dialog.setLocationRelativeTo(win);
dialog.setVisible(true);
}
}
}
private static void createAndShowGui() {
Gestion2 mainPanel = new Gestion2();
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Gestion2");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
frame.getContentPane().add(mainPanel);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
createAndShowGui();
}
});
}
}
#SuppressWarnings("serial")
class PanelTest2 extends JPanel {
private String selectedItem;
private JTextField textField = new JTextField(10);
public PanelTest2(String selectedItem) {
this.selectedItem = selectedItem;
textField.setText(selectedItem);
add(new JLabel("Selected Item:"));
add(textField);
}
public String getSelectedItem() {
return selectedItem;
}
}

Do Operations on the same Object/List from different ActionListeners

I have this GUI setup. tl;dr is: its a gui and a MenuItem calls myActionListener.
There is also an Object o in this class.
I want this object o be accessible by the myActionListener as well as a myActionListener2 etc..
But i cant even call any of the Object methods.
public class MenuDemo implements ActionListener,ItemListener{
// My Object
Object o = new Object();
o.addParam();// wont work
public JMenuBar createMenuBar() {
JMenuBar menuBar;
JMenu menu, submenu;
JMenuItem menuItem;
menu = new JMenu("A Menu");
menuBar.add(menu);
menuItem = new JMenuItem("Title");
menuItem.addActionListener(new myListener());
menu.add(menuItem);
return menuBar;
}
public Container createContentPane() {
//Create the content-pane-to-be.
JPanel contentPane = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
contentPane.setOpaque(true);
//Create a scrolled text area.
output = new JTextArea(5, 30);
output.setEditable(false);
scrollPane = new JScrollPane(output);
//Add the text area to the content pane.
contentPane.add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
return contentPane;
}
public Container createContentPane() {
//Create the content-pane-to-be.
JPanel contentPane = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
contentPane.setOpaque(true);
//Create a scrolled text area.
output = new JTextArea(5, 30);
output.setEditable(false);
scrollPane = new JScrollPane(output);
//Add the text area to the content pane.
contentPane.add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
return contentPane;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
//Schedule a job for the event-dispatching thread:
//creating and showing this application's GUI.
Database db = new Database();
final int test = 5;
javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
Ive been trying to figure this out for a while but it seems like i cant find any help or maybe im going at it in the wrong way?

As I said in comment, you can pass a reference of the Object to different objects of type/subtype of an ActionListener:
Main class:
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
public class Main extends JFrame
{
private JButton btn;
Object o;
public Main()
{
setLayout(new FlowLayout());
o = new String("Hello Beautiful!");
btn = new JButton("Click!");
//Passing the reference `o` to the constructor
btn.addActionListener(new JButtonListener(o));
add(btn);
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setVisible(true);
pack();
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run()
{
new Test1();
}
});
}
}
Class that implements ActionListener:
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
public class JButtonListener implements ActionListener
{
private Object _obj;
public JButtonListener(Object obj)
{
_obj = obj;
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, _obj.toString());
}
}

How would I use a button in Java to open Jframe over existing Jframe

I have 2 frames, the first frame has the nothing more and a button, which leads to another frame which will have all the components, like tabs which have more components.
The code I am using is:
button_1.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
JFrame Frame_2 = new JFrame();
Frame_1.setVisible(false);
Frame_2.setVisible(true);
}
});
this is creating a new separate frame , but i want to create new JFrame over existing JFrame
update
#VinceEmigh +1
Thanks for the detail custom solution. It shows that someone is really willing to help, I am a self learner , started just 3 months ago so your code is bit difficult to understand, but the idea of using cardlayout did the work and i came up with a solution.
JFrame guiFrame = new JFrame();
CardLayout cards;
JPanel cardPane;
JButton B_1 = new JButton("Next Card");
B_1.setActionCommand("Next Card");
B_1.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
{
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
{
cards.next(cardPane);
}
});
cards = new CardLayout();
cardPane = new JPanel();
cardPane.setLayout(cards);
cards.show(cardPane, "Main");
JPanel Card_1 = new JPanel();
JLabel background_1 = new JLabel(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\ME\\Desktop\\Back1.jpg"));
Card_1.add(background_1);
Card_1.add(B_1);
JPanel Card_2 = new JPanel();
JLabel background_2 = new JLabel(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\ME\\Desktop\\Back2.jpg"));
Card_2.add(background_2);
cardPane.add(Card_1, "Main");
cardPane.add(Card_2, "Sub");

You shouldnt use 2 frames. You should use 1 frame, then switch between panels in the frame using CardLayout. Unless you're referring to nesting a frame within a frame, creating 2 different frames for 1 applicarion is typically bad practice, and should be avoided if possible.
Set your frames layout to CardLayout, add 2 panels to your frame. One panel contains the button, the other has the components.
When your button event triggers throuhh an actionlistener, switch out the panels using the cardlayout you put for the frames layout.
import java.awt.CardLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class App extends JFrame {
private CardLayout cl = new CardLayout();
private JPanel firstPanel = new FirstPanel();
private JPanel secondPanel = new SecondPanel();
public App() {
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setSize(500, 500);
setLayout(cl);
add(firstPanel, "first");
add(secondPanel, "second");
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
setVisible(true);
}
public void switchPanel(String name) {
cl.show(getContentPane(), name);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
App app = new App();
}
});
}
class FirstPanel extends JPanel implements ActionListener {
private JButton button = new JButton("Button");
public FirstPanel() {
button.addActionListener(this);
add(button);
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if(e.getSource() == button) {
switchPanel("second");
}
}
}
class SecondPanel extends JPanel { }
}