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Utilize a ActionListener object from a separate JFrame class to main class

I am building a GUI program in which specific code takes place when a certain condition is meant (JButton is pressed). I have a seperate class that constructs my Jframe called "MyFrame" .
Essentially I want to know the proper way to use my use a ActionListener/ ActionEvent from my "MyFrame" class in conjunction when a JButton is pressed in which it would correlate properly in the main class.
For example i am able to initiate specific code when a JButton is pressed in my MyFrame class through the actionPerformed provided method by java in my Myframe class, I am just puzzled on how I can make the same thing work through my main class as well.
Any assistance would be appreciated
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
MyFrame mf;
mf= new MyFrame();
Expenses exp ;
BudgetSystem system ;
ActionEvent e ;
}
}
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
class MyFrame extends JFrame implements ActionListener {
JFrame myFrame;
JPanel myPanel;
JLabel greetText ;
JButton addReportButton;
JButton exitButton;
ActionListener event ;
BorderLayout layout ;
MyFrame() {
myFrame = new JFrame();
myPanel = new JPanel();
greetText = new JLabel();
addReportButton = new JButton();
exitButton = new JButton();
myPanel.setBorder(null);
myFrame.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400,300));
greetText.setText("Please choose one of the following options to begin:" );
myPanel.add(greetText);
myFrame.add(myPanel);
addReportButton.setText("Add a budget report");
addReportButton.addActionListener(this);
myPanel.add(addReportButton);
exitButton.setText("Close Program");
exitButton.addActionListener(this);
myPanel.add(exitButton);
myFrame.setVisible(true);
myFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
myFrame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
myFrame.pack();
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
/*
if (e.getSource()==addReportButton)
{
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(myFrame,"This button Works!");
}
else if (e.getSource()== dummyButton)
{
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(myFrame,"This is the dummy button ! , you are targeting specific buttons now ! ... YOU ROCK :) ");
}else
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(myFrame,"This is does not work :( ");
*/
}
}
I tried to make a specific ActionEvent object in main but that did not work properly.
I also tried to use a MyFrame object to access the actionPerformed method in java but that doesnt seem to work either.

If your goal is to add listeners to a JButton from another class, one option is to give the class that holds the JButton a public method that allows this to happen, for instance:
public void addMyButtonListener(ActionListener listener) {
myButton.addActionListener(listener);
}
This would allow any object that holds an instance of the class that holds the JButton to call this method and pass in a listener.
For instance:
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.*;
public class AddOutsideActionListener {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> {
SomeGUI mainPanel = new SomeGUI();
mainPanel.addMyButtonListener(e -> {
String message = "Message from the main method";
String title = "Message";
int type = JOptionPane.PLAIN_MESSAGE;
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(mainPanel, message, title, type);
});
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Some GUI");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(mainPanel);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
});
}
}
class SomeGUI extends JPanel {
public static final int PREF_W = 600;
public static final int PREF_H = 400;
private JButton myButton = new JButton("My Button");
public SomeGUI() {
add(myButton);
setPreferredSize(new Dimension(PREF_W, PREF_H));
}
public void addMyButtonListener(ActionListener listener) {
myButton.addActionListener(listener);
}
}

How to switch JPanels in a JFrame from within the panel?

So, I'm trying to make a basic functional menu for a simple game. I tried to do this by creating 2 JPanels, one for the actual game, and another for my menu.
What I'm trying to do is have a button on my Menu panel that when pressed, switches the JPanel being displayed in the parent JFrame from that of the menu to that of the actual game.
Here is my code:
class Menu extends JPanel
{
public Menu()
{
JButton startButton = new JButton("Start!");
startButton.addActionListener(new Listener());
add(startButton);
}
private class Listener implements ActionListener
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
Container container = getParent();
Container previous = container;
System.out.println(getParent());
while (container != null)
{
previous = container;
container = container.getParent();
}
previous.setContentPane(new GamePanel());
}
}
}
As you can see, I created a Listener for my start button. Inside the listener, I used a while loop to get to the JFrame, via the getParent() method. The program is getting the JFrame object, however it's not letting me call the setContentPane method...
Does anyone know how to get this to work, or a better way to switch back and forth between a menu and game?

Like so :
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.CardLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class CardLayoutDemo extends JFrame {
public final String YELLOW_PAGE = "yellow page";
public final String RED_PAGE = "red page";
private final CardLayout cLayout;
private final JPanel mainPane;
boolean isRedPaneVisible;
public CardLayoutDemo(){
setTitle("Card Layout Demo");
setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
mainPane = new JPanel();
mainPane.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(250,150));
cLayout = new CardLayout();
mainPane.setLayout(cLayout);
JPanel yellowPane = new JPanel();
yellowPane.setBackground(Color.YELLOW);
JPanel redPane = new JPanel();
redPane.setBackground(Color.RED);
mainPane.add(YELLOW_PAGE, yellowPane);
mainPane.add(RED_PAGE, redPane);
showRedPane();
JButton button = new JButton("Switch Panes");
button.addActionListener(e -> switchPanes() );
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
add(mainPane,BorderLayout.CENTER);
add(button,BorderLayout.SOUTH);
pack();
setVisible(true);
}
void switchPanes() {
if (isRedPaneVisible) {showYelloPane();}
else { showRedPane();}
}
void showRedPane() {
cLayout.show(mainPane, RED_PAGE);
isRedPaneVisible = true;
}
void showYelloPane() {
cLayout.show(mainPane, YELLOW_PAGE);
isRedPaneVisible = false;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
new CardLayoutDemo();
}
}

repaint() method does not paint new frame

I have looked at a lot of answers but i still cannot find a solution. I have a JFrame and two JPanels. I want to remove the one panel and replace it with the second when a button is pressed, but the repaint() method does not refresh the frame. Please help.
Here is my code for the frame:
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import static javax.swing.JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE;
public class MainFrame
{
static JFrame mainFrame;
int height = 650;
int width = 1042;
public MainFrame()
{
mainFrame = new JFrame();
mainFrame.setBounds(0, 0, width, height);
mainFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
mainFrame.setResizable(false);
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
new MainMenu();
mainFrame.setVisible(true);
}
}
This is the code for my MainMenu panel
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import static java.awt.Color.CYAN;
import static java.awt.Color.red;
public class MainMenu extends MainFrame
{
public MainMenu()
{
components();
}
//variable decleration
JPanel menuPanel;
JLabel title;
JButton periodicTable;
private void components()
{
int buttonW = 500;
int buttonH = 50;
//creating panel
menuPanel = new JPanel();
menuPanel.setLayout(null);
menuPanel.setBackground(CYAN);
//creating title label
title = new JLabel("Application Title", SwingConstants.CENTER);
title.setFont(new Font("Calibri Body", 0, 50));
title.setBounds(width / 3 - buttonW / 2, 50, buttonW, buttonH + 10);
//creating periodic table button
periodicTable = new JButton();
periodicTable.setText("Periodic Table");
periodicTable.setBounds(width / 3 - buttonW / 2, 50 + buttonH + 60, buttonW, buttonH);
periodicTable.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
{
periodicTableActionPerformed(event);
}
});
//adding components to panel
menuPanel.add(title);
menuPanel.add(periodicTable);
//adding panel to MainFrame
mainFrame.add(menuPanel);
}
private void periodicTableActionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
{
mainFrame.remove(menuPanel);
mainFrame.repaint();
new PeriodicTable();
mainFrame.repaint();
}
}
And finally my PeriodicTable panel
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class PeriodicTable extends MainFrame
{
public PeriodicTable()
{
periodicComponents();
}
JPanel ptPanel;
private void periodicComponents()
{
ptPanel = new JPanel();
ptPanel.setLayout(null);
ptPanel.setBackground(Color.RED);
mainFrame.add(ptPanel);
}
}

I have no idea why you are extending MainFrame. Looks unnecessary to me.
I want to remove the one panel and replace it with the second when a button is pressed
Then use a CardLayout. Read the section from the Swing tutorial on How to Use CardLayout for a working example.
The tutorial will show you how to better structure your code.

Your PeriodicTable extends MainFrame. When creating new PeriodicTable you create with it new MainFrame which has its own instance of JFrame (MainFrame.mainFrame). You need to add that panel to existing mainFrame in MainMenu
I suggest removing changing your PeriodicTable class like this:
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class PeriodicTable extends JPanel // Not MainFrame, but new custom panel
{
public PeriodicTable()
{
periodicComponents();
}
private void periodicComponents()
{
// You don't need ptPanel anymore, because `this` is JPanel
setLayout(null);
setBackground(Color.RED);
}
}
and change your actionPerformed function to something like this:
private void periodicTableActionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
{
mainFrame.remove(menuPanel); // Remove old panel
mainFrame.add(new PeriodicTable()); // Create and add to existing mainFrame
mainFrame.repaint(); // Just one repaint at the end
// I think it will work even without repaint, because add and remove should schedule repainting as well
}

Clicking a button within a JFrame passes an data to a JPanel

I have a Jframe with two buttons: '1' and '2'. Clicking the button '1' should display the capital letter A in the JPanel.
Code fore my JFrame:
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
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.JPanel;
public class DrawFrame extends JFrame{
private final int WIDTH = 500;
private final int HEIGHT = 300;
private JButton number1;
private JButton number2;
private JPanel numberPanel;
private DrawPanel graphicsPanel;
public DrawFrame()
{
createSelectionPanel();
createGraphicsPanel();
this.setSize(WIDTH, HEIGHT);
this.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
this.setVisible(true);
}
private void createSelectionPanel()
{
numberPanel = new JPanel();
number1 = new JButton("1");
number2 = new JButton("2");
numberPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(2,2));
numberPanel.add(number1);
numberPanel.add(number2);
this.add(numberPanel, BorderLayout.WEST);
}
private void createGraphicsPanel()
{
//instantiate drawing panel
graphicsPanel = new DrawPanel();
//add drawing panel to right
add(graphicsPanel);
}
private class Number1ButtonListener implements ActionListener {
public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent event) {
Number number = new Number();
number.setNumber('A');
}
}
//creates a drawing frame
public static void main(String[] args)
{
DrawFrame draw = new DrawFrame();
}
}
Code for my JPanel
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.event.MouseMotionListener;
public class DrawPanel extends JPanel{
public Coordinates current;
public DrawPanel(){
//nothing drawn initially
current = null;
//set white background for drawing panel
setBackground(Color.WHITE);
//add mouse listeners
MouseHandler mouseHandler = new MouseHandler();
this.addMouseListener(mouseHandler);
this.addMouseMotionListener(mouseHandler);
}
public void paint(Graphics g){
super.paint(g);
if(current!=null){
I want to replace "A" with number.getNumber()
g.drawString("A", current.getX(), current.getY());
}
}
//class to handle all mouse events
private class MouseHandler extends MouseAdapter implements MouseMotionListener
{
public void mousePressed(MouseEvent event)
{
current = new Coordinates(event.getX(), event.getY());
}
public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent event)
{
repaint();
}
}
}
I'm not sure if this is possible. So sorry if I am mistaken in my logic. Please provide an alternate way for me to approach this problem. Appreciate any guidance.
Thanks!

The Coordinates and Number classes weren't included, so I had to modify the code somewhat.
Here's the GUI I created.
The first thing I did was create a model class for the GUI. By creating a model class, I could make the display string and the drawing coordinate available to the view and the controller classes. This is a simple example of the model / view / controller pattern.
package com.ggl.drawing;
import java.awt.Point;
public class GUIModel {
private String displayString;
private Point coordinate;
public GUIModel(String displayString) {
this.displayString = displayString;
}
public Point getCoordinate() {
return coordinate;
}
public void setCoordinate(int x, int y) {
this.coordinate = new Point(x, y);
}
public void setCoordinate(Point coordinate) {
this.coordinate = coordinate;
}
public void setDisplayString(String displayString) {
this.displayString = displayString;
}
public String getDisplayString() {
return displayString;
}
}
Now that we have a model, lets look at the DrawFrame class.
package com.ggl.drawing;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
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.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class DrawFrame implements Runnable {
private final int WIDTH = 500;
private final int HEIGHT = 300;
private JFrame frame;
private GUIModel model;
public DrawFrame() {
this.model = new GUIModel("A");
}
#Override
public void run() {
frame = new JFrame("Draw Letters");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(createSelectionPanel(), BorderLayout.WEST);
frame.add(new DrawPanel(WIDTH, HEIGHT, model), BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
private JPanel createSelectionPanel() {
JPanel numberPanel = new JPanel();
ButtonListener listener = new ButtonListener();
JButton number1 = new JButton("A");
number1.addActionListener(listener);
JButton number2 = new JButton("B");
number2.addActionListener(listener);
numberPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(0, 2));
numberPanel.add(number1);
numberPanel.add(number2);
return numberPanel;
}
private class ButtonListener implements ActionListener {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
model.setDisplayString(event.getActionCommand());
}
}
// creates a drawing frame
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new DrawFrame());
}
}
I started the Java Swing application on the Event Dispatch thread with the call to the SwingUtilities invokeLater method.
I separated the JFrame construction from the 2 JPanels construction. I used a JFrame, rather than extend a JFrame. The only time you should extend any Java class is if you want to override one or more of the class methods.
I used the same ButtonListener for both JButtons. I'm guessing what you want, but I drew either an "A" or a "B", depending on which button you left clicked.
Let's look at the DrawPanel class.
package com.ggl.drawing;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Point;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class DrawPanel extends JPanel {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 3443814601865936618L;
private GUIModel model;
public DrawPanel(int width, int height, GUIModel model) {
this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(width, height));
this.model = model;
// add mouse listeners
MouseHandler mouseHandler = new MouseHandler();
this.addMouseListener(mouseHandler);
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
if (model.getCoordinate() != null) {
Point p = model.getCoordinate();
Font font = g.getFont().deriveFont(48F);
g.setFont(font);
g.drawString(model.getDisplayString(), p.x, p.y);
}
}
// class to handle all mouse events
private class MouseHandler extends MouseAdapter {
#Override
public void mousePressed(MouseEvent event) {
model.setCoordinate(event.getPoint());
}
#Override
public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent event) {
DrawPanel.this.repaint();
}
}
}
The major change I made in this class was to use the paintComponent method, rather than the paint method. The paintComponent method is the correct method to override.
I set the size of the drawing panel in the DrawPanel constructor. It's much better to let Swing figure out the size of the JFrame. That's what the pack method in the DrawFrame run method does.
I increased the font size so you can see the drawn letter better.
I removed the mouse motion listener code, as it wasn't needed.
I hope this was helpful to you.

OK, all I know so far is that you want the text displayed in a JPanel to change if a button is pressed. If so, then your code looks to be way too complex for the job. Suggestions include:
Give the DrawingPanel a setter method, say, setText(String text), that allows outside classes to change the text that it displays.
Within that method, set a field of DrawingPanel, say called text, and call repaint().
Override DrawingPanel's paintComponent not its paint method, and call the super's method within your override.
Within the paintComponent method, call drawString to draw the String held by the text field, if the field is not null.
Give your buttons ActionListeners or AbstractActions that call the DrawingPanel's setText(...) method, setting the text to be displayed.
For example:
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import javax.swing.*;
public class DrawAorB extends JPanel {
private DrawingPanel drawingPanel = new DrawingPanel();
public DrawAorB() {
JPanel btnPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1, 0, 5, 5));
btnPanel.add(new JButton(new ButtonAction("A")));
btnPanel.add(new JButton(new ButtonAction("B")));
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
add(drawingPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
add(btnPanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_END);
}
private class ButtonAction extends AbstractAction {
public ButtonAction(String name) {
super(name);
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
String text = e.getActionCommand();
drawingPanel.setText(text);
}
}
private static void createAndShowGui() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("DrawAorB");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.getContentPane().add(new DrawAorB());
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
createAndShowGui();
}
});
}
}
class DrawingPanel extends JPanel {
private static final int PREF_W = 200;
private static final int PREF_H = PREF_W;
private String text = null;
public void setText(String text) {
this.text = text; // set the JPanel's text
repaint(); // and draw it
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
if (text != null) {
int x = getWidth() / 2;
int y = getHeight() / 2;
// use FontMetrics if you want to center text better
g.drawString(text, x, y);
}
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
if (isPreferredSizeSet()) {
return super.getPreferredSize();
}
return new Dimension(PREF_W, PREF_H);
}
}
Even simpler, easier, and probably better would be to display the text within a JLabel as it's much easier to center this text.

Adding images to JButtons

I want to add images to my JButtons. I have tried to add the rollover icon command to one of my buttons, but I keep getting an exception even though eclipse doesn't say that there are any errors. I have saved the images in workspace/projectname/src where the class files are, and they are called a and b, and they are JPEG images.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class button extends JFrame {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
private JButton hi;
private JButton custom;
public button() {
super("The title");
setLayout(new FlowLayout());
hi = new JButton("Hi button");
Icon a = new ImageIcon(getClass().getResource("a.JPEG"));
Icon b = new ImageIcon(getClass().getResource("b.JPEG"));
custom = new JButton("custom", a);
custom.setRolloverIcon(b);
add(custom);
add(hi);
HandlerClass handler = new HandlerClass();
hi.addActionListener(handler);
custom.addActionListener(handler);
}
private class HandlerClass implements ActionListener {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, String.format("%s", event.getActionCommand()));
}
}
}
import javax.swing.JFrame;
public class buttonm {
public static void main(String[] args) {
button hello = new button();
hello.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
hello.setSize(350,100);
hello.setVisible(true);
}
}

the Button class
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Button extends JFrame {
private JButton button;
private JPanel p;
public Button() {
super("The title");
p = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
button = new JButton();
ImageIcon icon = new ImageIcon(getClass().getResource("button2.jpg"));
button.setIcon(icon);
button.setDisabledIcon(icon);
setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setSize(400, 400);
p.add(button);
add(p);
}
}
your main class
public static void main(String[] args) {
Button btn = new Button();
btn.setVisible(true);
}