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How to Add text to JTextArea

Im creating a programme using java. I want the user to enter some text, then push the button so the text entered shows in the label. However, I have 2 problems. First, the text are isn´t displaying when I execute the app. Second, I don´t know how to allow the user to type in the area. Im new in java so that´s why Im asking. Here is the code. Thank you.
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
class Boton extends JFrame implements ActionListener {
JButton boton;
JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea();
JLabel etiqueta = new JLabel();
public Boton() {
setLayout(null);
boton = new JButton("Escribir");
boton.setBounds(100, 150, 100, 30);
boton.addActionListener(this);
add(boton);
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if (e.getSource() == boton) {
try {
String texto = textArea.getText();
etiqueta.setText(texto);
Thread.sleep(3000);
System.exit(0);
} catch (Exception excep) {
System.exit(0);
}
}
}
}
public class Main{
public static void main(String[] ar) {
Boton boton1 =new Boton();
boton1.setBounds(0,0,450,350);
boton1.setVisible(true);
boton1.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
}

Problems:
You never add the JTextArea into your GUI, and if it doesn't show, a user cannot directly interact with it.
You are calling Thread.sleep on the Swing event thread, and this will put the entire application to sleep, meaning the text that you added will not show.
Other issues include use of null layouts and setBounds -- avoid doing this.
Solutions:
Set the JTextArea's column and row properties so that it sizes well.
Since your JTextArea's text is going into a JLabel, a component that only allows a single line of text, I wonder if you should be using a JTextArea at all. Perhaps a JTextField would work better since it allows user input but only one line of text.
Add the JTextArea to a JScrollPane (its viewport actually) and add that to your GUI. Then the user can interact directly with it. This is most easily done by passing the JTextArea into a JScrollPane's constructor.
Get rid of the Thread.sleep and instead, if you want to use a delay, use a Swing Timer. check out the tutorial here
For example:
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.Window;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Main2 {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// create GUI in a thread-safe manner
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> createAndShowGui());
}
private static void createAndShowGui() {
BotonExample mainPanel = new BotonExample();
JFrame frame = new JFrame("GUI");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(mainPanel);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}
class BotonExample extends JPanel {
private JLabel etiqueta = new JLabel(" ");
private JButton boton = new JButton("Escribir");
// jtext area rows and column properties
private int rows = 5;
private int columns = 30;
private JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea(rows, columns);
public BotonExample() {
// alt-e will activate button
boton.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_E);
boton.addActionListener(e -> {
boton.setEnabled(false); // prevent button from re-activating
String text = textArea.getText();
etiqueta.setText(text);
// delay for timer
int delay = 3000;
Timer timer = new Timer(delay, e2 -> {
// get current window and dispose ofit
Window window = SwingUtilities.getWindowAncestor(boton);
window.dispose();
});
timer.setRepeats(false);
timer.start(); // start timer
});
// create JPanels to add to GUI
JPanel topPanel = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEADING, 5, 5));
topPanel.add(new JLabel("Etiqueta:"));
topPanel.add(etiqueta);
JPanel bottomPanel = new JPanel();
bottomPanel.add(boton);
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(textArea);
// use layout manager and add components
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
add(topPanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);
add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
add(bottomPanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_END);
}
}

textarea.setText("Text"); // this will insert text into the text area
textarea.setVisable(true); // this will display the text area so you can type in it
textarea.setSize(500,500); // set size of the textarea so it actually shows
The user should be able to type in the TA when it is displayed and just do a getText to pull the text

How to construct a JTextfield, and how to use the method selectAll()

I want to construct a Swing component JTextField, here is my Code
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class JTextFieldGui{
JTextField textField;
JLabel labelInput;
JLabel labelOutput;
public static void main(String[] args) {
JTextFieldGui gui = new JTextFieldGui();
gui.go();
}
public void go(){
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
JPanel panelInput = new JPanel();
JPanel panelOutput = new JPanel();
labelInput = new JLabel("Your first name: ");
labelOutput = new JLabel("Enter your name, and you will see it here.");
textField = new JTextField(20);
JButton enter = new JButton("Enter");
JButton selectAll = new JButton("Select all text");
frame.setSize(300,200);
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
panelInput.setLayout(new BoxLayout(panelInput, BoxLayout.X_AXIS));
textField.addActionListener(new LabelActionListener());
enter.addActionListener(new LabelActionListener());
selectAll.addActionListener(new TextFieldActionlistener());
frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.NORTH, panelInput);
panelInput.add(labelInput);
panelInput.add(textField);
panelInput.add(enter);
panelInput.add(selectAll);
frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.CENTER, panelOutput);
panelOutput.add(labelOutput);
}
class LabelActionListener implements ActionListener{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event){
labelOutput.setText(textField.getText());
}
}
class TextFieldActionlistener implements ActionListener{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event){
textField.selectAll();
}
}
}
Question1: I define the width of the text field in 20 columns, but it always take up a row, like image:
Question2: how to use the selectAll() method, I use it in a listener of the button selectAll, but when I click the button, nothing happens, why

I define the width of the text field in 20 columns, but it always take up a row,
This is the rule of a BoxLayout. A component is resized to fill the space available. A JTextField doesn't have a maximum size so it grows. The buttons and label do have a maximum size so they don't grow.
Don't use a BoxLayout, just use a FlowLayout. It will automatically leave space between each component which is a better layout.
I use it in a listener of the button selectAll, but when I click the button, nothing happens, why
Focus is still on the button. The selected text only displays when the text field has focus.
So in he listener code you need to add:
textField.requestFocusInWindow();
The following code is old:
frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.NORTH, panelInput);
you don't need to get the content pane. You can just add the component to the frame.
the constraint should be the second parameter
there are new constraints to make the names more meaningful
So the code should be:
frame.add(panelInput, BorderLayout.PAGE_START, panelInput);
See the section from the Swing tutorial on How to Use BorderLayout for more information.

How to use buttons to switch to a specific JPanel?

Instead of going to the next panel using JPanel().next and JPanel().previous I'd like to switch to a specific panel using a button.
Say I have 3 pages, by using the button labelled 'Go to page 3', it will take me to a panel I have created for page 3; and on that page I'd have more buttons that would take me back to page 1, or page 2 even. Say if I had a tenth page, a button could take me straight to it and I wouldn't have to click a next button.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
/* Here we are first declaring our class that will act as the
* base for other panels or in other terms the base for CardLayout.
*/
public class CardLayoutExample
{
private static final String CARD_JBUTTON = "Card JButton";
private static final String CARD_JTEXTFIELD = "Card JTextField";
private static final String CARD_JRADIOBUTTON = "Card JRadioButton";
private static void createAndShowGUI()
{
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Card Layout Test");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
// This JPanel is the base for CardLayout for other JPanels.
final JPanel contentPane = new JPanel();
contentPane.setLayout(new CardLayout(20, 20));
/* Here we are making objects of the Window Series classes
* so that, each one of them can be added to the JPanel
* having CardLayout.
*/
Window1 win1 = new Window1();
contentPane.add(win1, CARD_JBUTTON);
Window2 win2 = new Window2();
contentPane.add(win2, CARD_JTEXTFIELD);
Window3 win3 = new Window3();
contentPane.add(win3, CARD_JRADIOBUTTON);
/* We need two JButtons to go to the next Card
* or come back to the previous Card, as and when
* desired by the User.
*/
JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel();
final JButton page1Button = new JButton("Go to page 1");
final JButton page5Button = new JButton("Go to Page 5");
final JButton page10Button = new JButton("Go to Page 10");
buttonPanel.add(page1Button);
buttonPanel.add(page5Button);
buttonPanel.add(page10Button);
/* Adding the ActionListeners to the JButton,
* so that the user can see the next Card or
* come back to the previous Card, as desired.
*/
page1Button.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
{
CardLayout cardLayout = (CardLayout) contentPane.getLayout();
cardLayout.previous(contentPane);
}
});
page5Button.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
{
CardLayout cardLayout = (CardLayout) contentPane.getLayout();
cardLayout.next(contentPane);
}
});
//page10Button.addActionListener(new ActionListener();
//Code to navigate to page 10...
// Adding the contentPane (JPanel) and buttonPanel to JFrame.
frame.add(contentPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.add(buttonPanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_END);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String... args)
{
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
}
I have my methods set up for when I click a button, but it only navigates to the next page, not the one I want.
What other alternatives of .next and .previous are there? I want to go to a specific page.
Thanks for your help.

When adding to a card layout, you can specify a "key" that you can reference later when attempting to show a specific panel.
The sample below should get you started:
CardLayout myCardLayout = new CardLayout();
JPanel myCardLayoutPanel = new JPanel(myCardLayout);
myCardLayoutPanel.add(myComponent, "A_KEY");
myCardLayout.show(myCardLayoutPanel,"A_KEY");
Additionally you should check out the docs

How to display one Jframe at a time? [duplicate]

I'm trying to make a little game that will first show the player a simple login screen where they can enter their name (I will need it later to store their game state info), let them pick a difficulty level etc, and will only show the main game screen once the player has clicked the play button. I'd also like to allow the player to navigate to a (hopefully for them rather large) trophy collection, likewise in what will appear to them to be a new screen.
So far I have a main game window with a grid layout and a game in it that works (Yay for me!). Now I want to add the above functionality.
How do I go about doing this? I don't think I want to go the multiple JFrame route as I only want one icon visible in the taskbar at a time (or would setting their visibility to false effect the icon too?) Do I instead make and destroy layouts or panels or something like that?
What are my options? How can I control what content is being displayed? Especially given my newbie skills?

A simple modal dialog such as a JDialog should work well here. The main GUI which will likely be a JFrame can be invisible when the dialog is called, and then set to visible (assuming that the log-on was successful) once the dialog completes. If the dialog is modal, you'll know exactly when the user has closed the dialog as the code will continue right after the line where you call setVisible(true) on the dialog. Note that the GUI held by a JDialog can be every bit as complex and rich as that held by a JFrame.
Another option is to use one GUI/JFrame but swap views (JPanels) in the main GUI via a CardLayout. This could work quite well and is easy to implement. Check out the CardLayout tutorial for more.
Oh, and welcome to stackoverflow.com!

Here is an example of a Login Dialog as #HovercraftFullOfEels suggested.
Username: stackoverflow Password: stackoverflow
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.util.Arrays;
import javax.swing.*;
public class TestFrame extends JFrame {
private PassWordDialog passDialog;
public TestFrame() {
passDialog = new PassWordDialog(this, true);
passDialog.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
JFrame frame = new TestFrame();
frame.getContentPane().setBackground(Color.BLACK);
frame.setTitle("Logged In");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setExtendedState(JFrame.MAXIMIZED_BOTH);
}
});
}
}
class PassWordDialog extends JDialog {
private final JLabel jlblUsername = new JLabel("Username");
private final JLabel jlblPassword = new JLabel("Password");
private final JTextField jtfUsername = new JTextField(15);
private final JPasswordField jpfPassword = new JPasswordField();
private final JButton jbtOk = new JButton("Login");
private final JButton jbtCancel = new JButton("Cancel");
private final JLabel jlblStatus = new JLabel(" ");
public PassWordDialog() {
this(null, true);
}
public PassWordDialog(final JFrame parent, boolean modal) {
super(parent, modal);
JPanel p3 = new JPanel(new GridLayout(2, 1));
p3.add(jlblUsername);
p3.add(jlblPassword);
JPanel p4 = new JPanel(new GridLayout(2, 1));
p4.add(jtfUsername);
p4.add(jpfPassword);
JPanel p1 = new JPanel();
p1.add(p3);
p1.add(p4);
JPanel p2 = new JPanel();
p2.add(jbtOk);
p2.add(jbtCancel);
JPanel p5 = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
p5.add(p2, BorderLayout.CENTER);
p5.add(jlblStatus, BorderLayout.NORTH);
jlblStatus.setForeground(Color.RED);
jlblStatus.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.CENTER);
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
add(p1, BorderLayout.CENTER);
add(p5, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
pack();
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
setDefaultCloseOperation(DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter() {
#Override
public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e) {
System.exit(0);
}
});
jbtOk.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if (Arrays.equals("stackoverflow".toCharArray(), jpfPassword.getPassword())
&& "stackoverflow".equals(jtfUsername.getText())) {
parent.setVisible(true);
setVisible(false);
} else {
jlblStatus.setText("Invalid username or password");
}
}
});
jbtCancel.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
setVisible(false);
parent.dispose();
System.exit(0);
}
});
}
}

I suggest you insert the following code:
JFrame f = new JFrame();
JTextField text = new JTextField(15); //the 15 sets the size of the text field
JPanel p = new JPanel();
JButton b = new JButton("Login");
f.add(p); //so you can add more stuff to the JFrame
f.setSize(250,150);
f.setVisible(true);
f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
Insert that when you want to add the stuff in. Next we will add all the stuff to the JPanel:
p.add(text);
p.add(b);
Now we add the ActionListeners to make the JButtons to work:
b.addActionListener(this);
public void actionPerforemed(ActionEvent e)
{
//Get the text of the JTextField
String TEXT = text.getText();
}
Don't forget to import the following if you haven't already:
import java.awt.event*;
import java.awt.*; //Just in case we need it
import java.x.swing.*;
I hope everything i said makes sense, because sometimes i don't (especially when I'm talking coding/Java) All the importing (if you didn't know) goes at the top of your code.

Instead of adding the game directly to JFrame, you can add your content to JPanel (let's call it GamePanel) and add this panel to the frame. Do the same thing for login screen: add all content to JPanel (LoginPanel) and add it to frame. When your game will start, you should do the following:
Add LoginPanel to frame
Get user input and load it's details
Add GamePanel and destroy LoginPanel (since it will be quite fast to re-create new one, so you don't need to keep it memory).

About java GUI and clear JFrame to show new content?

I'm learning Java and GUI. I have some questions, and the first is if there are any major difference between creating a subclass of JFrame and an instance of JFrame. It seems like like a subclass is more powerful? I also wonder if it's necessary to use this code when creating a GUI:
Container contentPane = getContentPane();
contentPane.setLayot(new Flowlayout());
I add my GUI class, it's a simple test so far, to a task that I have to hand in. When a user has entered some text in the textfield and press the button to continue to the next step, how do I do to clear the frame and show a new content or is there a special way to do this is in Java? I guess there must be better to use the same window instead of creating a new!? Help id preciated! Thanks
// Gui class
import java.awt.FlowLayout; // layout
import java.awt.event.ActionListener; // listener
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent; // event
import javax.swing.JFrame; // windows properties
import javax.swing.JLabel; // row of text
import javax.swing.JTextField; // enter text
import javax.swing.JOptionPane; // pop up dialog
import javax.swing.JButton; // buttons
// import.javax.swing.*;
public class Gui extends JFrame {
private JLabel text1;
private JTextField textInput1;
private JTextField textInput2;
private JButton nextButton;
// constructor creates the window and it's components
public Gui() {
super("Bank"); // title
setLayout(new FlowLayout()); // set default layout
text1 = new JLabel("New customer");
add(text1);
textInput1 = new JTextField(10);
add(textInput1);
nextButton = new JButton("Continue");
add(nextButton);
// create object to handle the components (action listener object)
frameHandler handler = new frameHandler();
textInput1.addActionListener(handler);
nextButton.addActionListener(handler);
}
// handle the events (class inside another class inherits contents from class outside)
private class frameHandler implements ActionListener {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event){
String input1 = "";
// check if someone hits enter at first textfield
if(event.getSource() == textInput1){
input1 = String.format(event.getActionCommand());
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, input1);
}
else if(event.getSource() == nextButton){
// ??
}
}
}
}

This small code might help you explain things :
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class FrameDisplayTest implements ActionListener
{
/*
* Creating an object of JFrame instead of extending it
* has no side effects.
*/
private JFrame frame;
private JPanel panel, panel1;
private JTextField tfield;
private JButton nextButton, backButton;
public FrameDisplayTest()
{
frame = new JFrame("Frame Display Test");
// If you running your program from cmd, this line lets it comes
// out of cmd when you click the top-right RED Button.
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
panel = new JPanel();
panel1 = new JPanel();
tfield = new JTextField(10);
nextButton = new JButton("NEXT");
backButton = new JButton("BACK");
nextButton.addActionListener(this);
backButton.addActionListener(this);
panel.add(tfield);
panel.add(nextButton);
panel1.add(backButton);
frame.setContentPane(panel);
frame.setSize(220, 220);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
{
JButton button = (JButton) ae.getSource();
if (tfield.getText().length() > 0)
{
if (button == nextButton)
{
/*
* this will remove the first panel
* and add the new panel to the frame.
*/
frame.remove(panel);
frame.setContentPane(panel1);
}
else if (button == backButton)
{
frame.remove(panel1);
frame.setContentPane(panel);
}
frame.validate();
frame.repaint(); // prefer to write this always.
}
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
/*
* This is the most important part ofyour GUI app, never forget
* to schedule a job for your event dispatcher thread :
* by calling the function, method or constructor, responsible
* for creating and displaying your GUI.
*/
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
new FrameDisplayTest();
}
});
}
}

if you want to switch (add then remove) JComponents, then you have to
1) add/remove JComponents and then call
revalidate();
repaint()// sometimes required
2) better and easiest choice would be implements CardLayout

If your requirement is to make a wizard, a panel with next and prev buttons, and on clicking next/prev button showing some component. You could try using CardLayout.
The CardLayout manages two or more components (usually JPanel instances) that share the same display space. CardLayout let the user choose between the components.
How to Use CardLayout

If your class extends JFrame, you can do:
getContentPane().removeAll();