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dispose method only works once then fails to function

I'm having trouble with the functionality of dispose for my checkerboard (called Checkers) . For each checkerboard that I have, i want to be able to remove it by using dispose before calling another instance of my interface. Here is my progress so far:
Checkers class:
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.Color.*;
import java.awt.event.MouseListener;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.util.Random;
public class Checkers extends JFrame
{
Random random = new Random();
private final int ROWS = 2;
private final int COLS = 5;
private final int GAP = 2;
private final int NUM = ROWS * COLS;
private int i;
public int score;
private JPanel pane = new JPanel(new GridLayout(ROWS,COLS, GAP,GAP));
private JPanel pane2 = new JPanel();
private JPanel pane3 = new JPanel();
private JButton btn1 = new JButton("Play A Game");
private JButton btn2 = new JButton("Exit");
private JButton btn3 = new JButton("Easy");
private JButton btn4 = new JButton("Intermediate");
private JButton btn5 = new JButton("Difficult");
private JLabel lbl1 = new JLabel ("score: " + score);
private JLabel gameLost = new JLabel("You lose! You got: " + score + " points");
private MyPanel [] panel = new MyPanel[NUM];
private Color col1 = Color.RED;
private Color col2 = Color.WHITE;
private Color col3 = Color.GREEN;
private Color tempColor;
public Checkers()
{
super("Checkers");
setSize(600,600);
setVisible(true);
setBackground(Color.BLACK);
setBoard();
}
public void setBoard()
// roates colors on the checkbaord
{
for (int i = 0; i < panel.length; i++) {
panel[i] = new MyPanel(this);
pane.add(panel[i]);
if (i % COLS == 0) {
tempColor = col1;
col1 = col2;
col2 = tempColor;}
if (i % 2 == 0) {
panel[i].setBackground(col1);}
else {
panel[i].setBackground(col2);}
}
//pane background colour and the size of this pane.
pane.setBackground(Color.BLACK);
pane.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(300,300));
//pane background colour and size of this pane.
pane2.setBackground(Color.white);
pane2.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(300,300));
//directions on the board where these panes appear.
add(pane, BorderLayout.WEST);
add(pane2, BorderLayout.EAST);
pane2.add(lbl1);
pane2.setLayout(new BoxLayout(pane2, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
}
public void incrementScore(){
score++;
lbl1.setText("Score: " + Integer.toString(score));
}
//This is the method for resetting via dispose - only works once.
public void restartBoard(){
this.dispose();
new Checkers();
}
}
And also the MyPanel class
public class MyPanel extends JPanel implements MouseListener {
private final Checkers checkers;
public MyPanel(Checkers checkers) {
this.checkers = checkers;
addMouseListener(this);
}
#Override
public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
setBackground(Color.BLACK);
checkers.incrementScore();
}
#Override
public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {
}
#Override
public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent e) {
}
#Override
public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent e) {
}
#Override
public void mouseExited(MouseEvent e) {
}
}
EXPECTED RESULT - What i'd like to do is be able to close the current version of interface by using the dispose method, and then opening a new instance of said interface.
ACTUAL RESULT - When opening an interface, then calling dispose method, it will work once. once you try to remove the 2nd interface when creating a 3rd interface, dispose will not function, and I cant see why this is.
Any help is welcome.

For what it's worth, this is an MCVE that shows your likely problem:
import java.awt.Dimension;
import javax.swing.*;
public class CheckersTest {
private static void createAndShowGui() {
Checkers checkers = new Checkers();
JButton restartButton = new JButton("Restart");
restartButton.addActionListener(event -> checkers.restartBoard());
JPanel restartPanel = new JPanel();
restartPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400, 400));
restartPanel.add(restartButton);
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Checkers Test");
frame.add(restartPanel);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> createAndShowGui());
}
}
class Checkers extends JFrame {
public Checkers() {
setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 200));
pack();
setLocationByPlatform(true);
setVisible(true);
}
public void restartBoard(){
this.dispose();
new Checkers();
}
}
The restart button refers to the original Checkers instance and so will not close any new instances created. The solution would be to get the restart method out of Checkers, create a Checkers field, and make sure the restart method refers to the visible Checkers instance:
import java.awt.Dimension;
import javax.swing.*;
public class CheckersTest {
private static Checkers checkers = new Checkers(); // holds reference
private static void restartBoard() {
if (checkers != null) {
checkers.dispose();
checkers = new Checkers(); // assign to reference field
}
}
private static void createAndShowGui() {
// !! Checkers checkers = new Checkers();
JButton restartButton = new JButton("Restart");
// !! restartButton.addActionListener(event -> checkers.restartBoard());
restartButton.addActionListener(event -> restartBoard());
JPanel restartPanel = new JPanel();
restartPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400, 400));
restartPanel.add(restartButton);
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Checkers Test");
frame.add(restartPanel);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> createAndShowGui());
}
}
class Checkers extends JFrame {
public Checkers() {
setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 200));
pack();
setLocationByPlatform(true);
setVisible(true);
}
}
Notes:
Again a much better design is not to swap JFrames but rather JPanel views
Note that the MCVE has code that reproduces the problem but avoids code not related to the problem. So it shows the restartBoard method, it compiles, but avoids game code since this is not relevant to the problem.

Can't get Jframe to close when user hits (X)

I cannot get my Jframe to close when a user hits the (X) button. I tried many ways to do them but none of them work.
I tried:
JFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
Nothing happens. My main class extends jframe and implements action listener. What am I doing wrong?
My code:
package com.xflare.Bot;
import static java.lang.System.out;
import java.awt.*;
import java.lang.String;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
public class Main extends JFrame implements ActionListener{
private static Frame frame;
private static boolean debug = true;
private static boolean enabled = true;
private static JButton exitbutton; // reference to the button object
private static JButton webbutton; // reference to the button object
private static JButton aboutbutton; // reference to the button object
public static void main(String[] args) {
new Main().start();
}
private void start(){
//start up
printSystem("starting");
//create frame
printSystem("Creating a frame...");
createFrame();
//create button(s)
createQuitButton();
createWebButton();
createAboutButton();
//Spawn init.
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
getFrame().setResizable(false);
getFrame().setVisible(true);
printSystem("Started up successfully!");
}
private void createFrame(){
Main.frame = new Frame("app");
frame.setSize(600, 300);
}
private void createQuitButton(){
exitbutton = new JButton("Exit!");
getFrame().setLayout(null);
exitbutton.setBounds(225,45,150,75);//setBounds(x,y,width,height)
exitbutton.setActionCommand("exit");
exitbutton.addActionListener(this);
getFrame().add(exitbutton);
}
private void createWebButton(){
webbutton = new JButton("Open hacked browser");
getFrame().setLayout(null);
webbutton.setBounds(225,130,150,75);//setBounds(x,y,width,height)
webbutton.setActionCommand("web");
webbutton.addActionListener(this);
getFrame().add(webbutton);
}
private void createAboutButton(){
aboutbutton = new JButton("About");
getFrame().setLayout(null);
aboutbutton.setBounds(225,215,150,75);//setBounds(x,y,width,height)
aboutbutton.setActionCommand("about");
aboutbutton.addActionListener(this);
getFrame().add(aboutbutton);
}
private Frame getFrame(){
return Main.frame;
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
String actionCommand = ((JButton) e.getSource()).getActionCommand();
printDebug("Button " + actionCommand + " was pressed.");
if(actionCommand.equals("exit")){
exitbutton.setVisible(false);
shutdown();
}
else if(actionCommand.equals("about")){
aboutbutton.setVisible(false);
webbutton.setVisible(false);
exitbutton.setVisible(false);
showAbout();
}
else{
printCritical("Unknown button pressed!");
}
}
private void showAbout(){
}
private void shutdown(){
printSystem("Attempting to shut down...");
enabled = false;
printSystem("Shut down successful!");
System.exit(0);
}
private boolean debugEnabled(){
return debug;
}
private String getVersion(){
return "1.0.0";
}
private String getCodename(){
return "[BeastReleased]";
}
private static void printSystem(String var){
out.println("System> " + var);
}
private static void printError(String var){
out.println("Error> " + var);
}
private static void printCritical(String var){
out.println("Critical> " + var);
}
private void printDebug(String var){
if(debugEnabled()) {
out.println("Debug> " + var);
}
}
}
Link to same code: http://pastebin.com/1fDbjm74

This: setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
needs to be called on the JFrame that you're actually displaying, Main.frame. You're not doing this.
getFrame().setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
getFrame().setVisible(true);
You've got too many Frame / JFrames. Your class extends JFrame but you're not displaying it. You've also got a Frame variable called frame, (NOT a JFrame variable) that you are displaying, and of course since this is not a JFrame, you can't make JFrame method calls, like the one above on it.
Simplify: create ONE JFrame not a Frame, and call this method on it and set it visible. So either get rid of the frame variable and use the class itself, the this, as your JFrame, and display it, or don't have your class extend JFrame and use your frame variable, but make it a JFrame object not a Frame object, since Frame does not have the setDefaultCloseOperation(...) method.
Also you're over-using static modifiers where they shouldn't be used. All your fields should be instance (non-static) fields.
Also, use of null layouts and setBounds will bite you in the end. For instance when I run your program, portions of the middle button's text are missing because its size has been artificially constrained in a bad way. Much better is to us layout managers to your advantage. For example:....
Please have a look at this program structure:
import java.awt.CardLayout;
import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.Window;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import javax.swing.*;
public class MyMain extends JPanel {
public static final String MENU_PANEL = "MENU";
public static final String ABOUT_PANEL = "About";
private CardLayout cardLayout = new CardLayout();
public MyMain() {
JPanel aboutPanel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
JLabel aboutLabel = new JLabel("About");
aboutLabel.setFont(aboutLabel.getFont().deriveFont(Font.BOLD, 32));
aboutPanel.add(aboutLabel);
JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0, 1, 10, 10));
buttonPanel.add(createButton(new ExitAction("Exit!", KeyEvent.VK_X)));
buttonPanel.add(createButton(new OpenBrowserAction("Open Hacked Browser", KeyEvent.VK_O)));
buttonPanel.add(createButton(new AboutAction("About", KeyEvent.VK_A, this)));
JPanel menuPanel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
int ebGap = 40;
menuPanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(ebGap, ebGap, ebGap, ebGap));
menuPanel.add(buttonPanel);
setLayout(cardLayout);
add(menuPanel, MENU_PANEL);
add(aboutPanel, ABOUT_PANEL);
}
private JButton createButton(Action action) {
JButton button = new JButton(action);
Font btnFont = button.getFont().deriveFont(Font.BOLD, 20);
button.setFont(btnFont);
return button;
}
private static void createAndShowGui() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("My Main Application");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.getContentPane().add(new MyMain());
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> createAndShowGui());
}
public void showPanel(String cardLayoutKey) {
cardLayout.show(this, cardLayoutKey);
}
}
class ExitAction extends AbstractAction {
public ExitAction(String name, int mnemonic) {
super(name);
putValue(MNEMONIC_KEY, mnemonic);
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
Component comp = (Component) e.getSource();
if (comp != null) {
Window win = SwingUtilities.getWindowAncestor(comp);
if (win != null) {
win.dispose();
}
}
}
}
class OpenBrowserAction extends AbstractAction {
public OpenBrowserAction(String name, int mnemonic) {
super(name);
putValue(MNEMONIC_KEY, mnemonic);
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
System.out.println("Open Browswer");
}
}
class AboutAction extends AbstractAction {
private MyMain myMain;
public AboutAction(String name, int mnemonic, MyMain myMain) {
super(name);
putValue(MNEMONIC_KEY, mnemonic);
this.myMain = myMain;
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if (myMain != null) {
myMain.showPanel(MyMain.ABOUT_PANEL);
}
}
}

You are calling the setDefaultCloseOperation method on the wrong place. Here's what you should do:
private void start(){
//start up
printSystem("starting");
//create frame
printSystem("Creating a frame...");
createFrame();
//Spawn init.
getFrame().setResizable(false);
getFrame().setVisible(true);
printSystem("Started up successfully!");
}
private void createFrame(){
Main.frame = new Frame("app");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setSize(600, 300);
}

I've got a few problems resizing Java Swing Components

I am building a Java Swing app, which I want it will work this way:
When you resize the window, the JScrollPane object (which is within a JSplitPane) should redimension its minimum, maximum and preferred size taking as reference the current window width.
I fixed this settings on the method componentResized() of ComponentAdapter class, however, it doesn't work as suppose must do.
This is the code. I wish you test it on your pc and can help me.
Thanks a lot for your time payed.
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.geom.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class ComVisor extends JFrame
{
private JList imagesList;
private JPanel imagePanel;
private JSplitPane mainPanel;
private JScrollPane scrollPanelRight;
private int width;
public ComVisor(String nameApplication)
{
setFrame(nameApplication);
setComponents();
}
private void setFrame(String nameApplication)
{
setLayout(new BorderLayout(1, 3));
setTitle(nameApplication);
setMinimumSize(new Dimension(400, 200));
setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setSize(new Dimension(Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize()));
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
this.addWindowListener(
new WindowAdapter()
{
#Override
public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e)
{
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(ComVisor.this, nameApplication + "-Salida");
return;
}
}
);
this.addComponentListener(
new ComponentAdapter()
{
#Override
public void componentResized(ComponentEvent E)
{
width = getWidth();
scrollPanelRight.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(width / 3, 0));
scrollPanelRight.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(width / 7, 0));
scrollPanelRight.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(width / 5 * 4, 0));
return;
}
}
);
}
private void setComponents()
{
String[] a = {"dsdsdsd", "dsdsdkkhskj", "dskhkjdhskjdhksdh", "sdskdhskjhds"};
JButton b = new JButton("Soy un boton xD");
JPanel p = new JPanel();
imagesList = new JList(a);
p.add(b);
imagesList.setVisibleRowCount(100);
scrollPanelRight = new JScrollPane(imagesList);
mainPanel = new JSplitPane(JSplitPane.HORIZONTAL_SPLIT, scrollPanelRight, p);
add(mainPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
return;
}
private class Manejador implements ActionListener
{
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent listener)
{
return;
}
}
}
and this is the main class, which calls a Comvisor object
import static javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater;
public class Principal
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
invokeLater(
new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
new ComVisor("ComVisor").setVisible(true);
return;
}
}
);
return;
}
}

Spacing errors while printing vector to JTextArea

So I'm working on making a database system built on top of a Java Swing GUI... I have one button that works to add a person/thing to a vector (in this case the database):
// Database
Vector<String> db = new Vector<String>();
Here is the button's actionlistener to add:
new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
String newStudent = student.getText();
db.addElement(newStudent);
This part all seems to be working fine, however, when I go to print out the vector on a JTextArea using a string buffer, there are odd spacing issues in the text on the JTextArea
Here is the StringBuffer and section where I print the vector onto the JTextArea:
StringBuffer dbb = new StringBuffer();
for (int i = 0; i < db.size(); i++) {
dbb.append(db.get(i) + '\n');
}
// printDB is the JTextArea
printDB.setText(dbb.toString());
add(printDB);
Screenshot of spacing issues:
Screenshot
Any Ideas on what might be causing this? The spacing seems to be linear as well (1space, 2spaces, 3spaces...)
Link to full project if needed (Sorry for bad code in general lol i'm just beginning): Full Code
Sorry if linear isn't the right word btw I couldn't think of another way to describe it
Code:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.Vector.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Database extends JFrame implements ActionListener, EventListener {
// Database
Vector<String> db = new Vector<String>();
// Main Menu Buttons:
JButton addStudent = new JButton("Add Student");
JButton deleteStudent = new JButton("Delete Button");
JButton deleteAll = new JButton("Delete All Students");
JButton printAll = new JButton("Print Database");
JTextArea welcome = new JTextArea("Welcome!");
// Add Student Menu:
JTextField student = new JTextField();
JButton submit = new JButton("Add Student");
// Print Students
JTextArea printDB = new JTextArea();
JButton returnMenu = new JButton("Return to Menu");
public Database() {
super("DatabaseGUI");
setSize(800, 600);
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setLayout(null);
setResizable(false);
welcome.setBackground(this.getForeground());
add(welcome);
welcome.setSize(60, 15);
welcome.setLocation(386, 300);
add(addStudent);
addStudent.setSize(150, 50);
addStudent.setLocation(25, 100);
add(deleteStudent);
deleteStudent.setSize(150, 50);
deleteStudent.setLocation(625, 100);
add(deleteAll);
deleteAll.setLocation(225, 100);
deleteAll.setSize(150, 50);
add(printAll);
printAll.setLocation(425, 100);
printAll.setSize(150, 50);
addStudent.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
welcome.setVisible(false);
addStudent.setVisible(false);
deleteStudent.setVisible(false);
deleteAll.setVisible(false);
printAll.setVisible(false);
add(student);
add(submit);
submit.setVisible(true);
submit.setSize(150, 30);
submit.setLocation(425, 250);
student.setVisible(true);
student.setSize(150, 30);
student.setLocation(275, 250);
submit.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
String newStudent = student.getText();
db.addElement(newStudent);
student.setText(null);
student.setVisible(false);
submit.setVisible(false);
welcome.setVisible(true);
addStudent.setVisible(true);
deleteStudent.setVisible(true);
deleteAll.setVisible(true);
printAll.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
});
printAll.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
welcome.setVisible(false);
addStudent.setVisible(false);
deleteStudent.setVisible(false);
deleteAll.setVisible(false);
printAll.setVisible(false);
StringBuffer dbb = new StringBuffer();
for (int i = 0; i < db.size(); i++) {
dbb.append(db.get(i) + '\n');
}
printDB.setText(dbb.toString());
add(printDB);
printDB.setSize(300, 400);
printDB.setEditable(false);
printDB.setLocation(100, 100);
printDB.setVisible(true);
add(returnMenu);
returnMenu.setVisible(true);
returnMenu.setSize(200, 30);
returnMenu.setLocation(500, 400);
returnMenu.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
returnMenu.setVisible(false);
printDB.setVisible(false);
welcome.setVisible(true);
addStudent.setVisible(true);
deleteStudent.setVisible(true);
deleteAll.setVisible(true);
printAll.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
});
setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Database student = new Database();
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
}
}

You're adding an ActionListener to the submit button repeatedly within the addStudent ActionListener, meaning as addStudent is pressed, more and more ActionListeners will be added to submit and this is not what you want.
Suggestions:
Add an ActionListener just once to your JButtons and not within other event listeners which may be called multiple times. Consider adding all ActionListeners within your class constructor.
Side recs:
Don't use absolute positioning and null layouts. 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.
Learn how to use and then use CardLayout to allow you to cleanly and easily swap your views.
For example,
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.CardLayout;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.Window;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import javax.swing.*;
#SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class Database2 extends JPanel {
// constants for the cards
public static final String WELCOME = "welcome";
public static final String ADD_STUDENT = "add student";
public static final String DISPLAY_DATA = "display data";
private JTextArea displayTextArea = new JTextArea(15, 20);
private JTextField addStudentField = new JTextField(10);
private CardLayout cardLayout = new CardLayout();
private List<String> db = new ArrayList<>();
public Database2() {
// prepare JTextArea
displayTextArea.setWrapStyleWord(true);
displayTextArea.setLineWrap(true);
displayTextArea.setFocusable(false);
// set layout as CardLayout and add all JPanels with constants
setLayout(cardLayout);
add(createWelcomePanel(), WELCOME);
add(createAddStudentPanel(), ADD_STUDENT);
add(createDisplayDataPanel(), DISPLAY_DATA);
}
private JPanel createWelcomePanel() {
ShowStudentPanelAction showStudentAction = new ShowStudentPanelAction("Add Student");
DisplayDataAction displayDataAction = new DisplayDataAction("Display Data");
JButton addStudentButton = new JButton(showStudentAction);
JButton displayDataButton = new JButton(displayDataAction);
JPanel topPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1, 0, 5, 0));
topPanel.add(addStudentButton);
topPanel.add(displayDataButton);
topPanel.add(new JButton(new ExitAction("Exit", KeyEvent.VK_X)));
JLabel welcomeLabel = new JLabel("Welcome", SwingConstants.CENTER);
// make JLabel text bigger
welcomeLabel.setFont(welcomeLabel.getFont().deriveFont(Font.BOLD, 42f));
// and give it a border 30 points wide
int ebGap = 30;
welcomeLabel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(ebGap, ebGap,
ebGap, ebGap));
JPanel welcomePanel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
ebGap = 4;
welcomePanel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(ebGap, ebGap, ebGap, ebGap));
welcomePanel.add(topPanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);
welcomePanel.add(welcomeLabel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
return welcomePanel;
}
private JPanel createAddStudentPanel() {
AddStudentAction addStudentAction = new AddStudentAction("Add Student");
addStudentField.setAction(addStudentAction);
JPanel addStudentPanel = new JPanel();
addStudentPanel.add(addStudentField);
addStudentPanel.add(new JButton(addStudentAction));
return addStudentPanel;
}
private JPanel createDisplayDataPanel() {
JPanel displayDataPanel = new JPanel();
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(displayTextArea);
scrollPane.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);
displayDataPanel.add(scrollPane);
displayDataPanel.add(new JButton(new ReturnToWelcomeAction("Return")));
return displayDataPanel;
}
private class ShowStudentPanelAction extends AbstractAction {
public ShowStudentPanelAction(String name) {
super(name);
int mnemonic = (int) name.charAt(0);
putValue(MNEMONIC_KEY, mnemonic);
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
cardLayout.show(Database2.this, ADD_STUDENT);
addStudentField.requestFocusInWindow();
addStudentField.selectAll();
}
}
private class DisplayDataAction extends AbstractAction {
public DisplayDataAction(String name) {
super(name);
int mnemonic = (int) name.charAt(0);
putValue(MNEMONIC_KEY, mnemonic);
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
for (String studentName : db) {
sb.append(studentName + "\n");
}
displayTextArea.setText(sb.toString());
cardLayout.show(Database2.this, DISPLAY_DATA);
}
}
private class AddStudentAction extends AbstractAction {
public AddStudentAction(String name) {
super(name);
int mnemonic = (int) name.charAt(0);
putValue(MNEMONIC_KEY, mnemonic);
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
String studentText = addStudentField.getText();
db.add(studentText);
cardLayout.show(Database2.this, WELCOME);
}
}
private class ReturnToWelcomeAction extends AbstractAction {
public ReturnToWelcomeAction(String name) {
super(name);
int mnemonic = (int) name.charAt(0);
putValue(MNEMONIC_KEY, mnemonic);
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
cardLayout.show(Database2.this, WELCOME);
}
}
private class ExitAction extends AbstractAction {
public ExitAction(String name, int mnemonic) {
super(name);
putValue(MNEMONIC_KEY, mnemonic);
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
Window window = SwingUtilities.getWindowAncestor(Database2.this);
if (window != null) {
window.dispose();
}
}
}
private static void createAndShowGui() {
Database2 mainPanel = new Database2();
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Database2");
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();
}
});
}
}

GUI multiple frames switch

I am writing a program for a black jack game. It is an assignment we are not to use gui's but I am doing it for extra credit I have created two frames ant they are working. On the second frame I want to be able to switch back to the first when a button is pressed. How do I do this?
first window.............
import javax.swing.* ;
import java.awt.event.* ;
import java.awt.* ;
import java.util.* ;
public class BlackJackWindow1 extends JFrame implements ActionListener
{
private JButton play = new JButton("Play");
private JButton exit = new JButton("Exit");
private JPanel pane=new JPanel();
private JLabel lbl ;
public BlackJackWindow1()
{
super();
JPanel pane=new JPanel();
setTitle ("Black Jack!!!!!") ;
JFrame frame = new JFrame("");
setVisible(true);
setSize (380, 260) ;
setLocation (450, 200) ;
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation (JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE) ;
setLayout(new FlowLayout());
play = new JButton("Start");
exit = new JButton("exit");
lbl = new JLabel ("Welcome to Theodores Black Jack!!!!!");
add (lbl) ;
add(play, BorderLayout.CENTER);
play.addActionListener (this);
add(exit,BorderLayout.CENTER);
exit.addActionListener (this);
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
{
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
BlackJackWindow2 bl = new BlackJackWindow2();
if (event.getSource() == play)
{
bl.BlackJackWindow2();
}
else if(event.getSource() == exit){
System.exit(0);
}
}
second window....
import javax.swing.* ;
import java.awt.event.* ;
import java.awt.* ;
import java.util.* ;
public class BlackJackWindow2 extends JFrame implements ActionListener
{
private JButton hit ;
private JButton stay ;
private JButton back;
//private JLabel lbl;
public void BlackJackWindow2()
{
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
JPanel pane=new JPanel();
setTitle ("Black Jack!!!!!") ;
JFrame frame = new JFrame("");
setVisible(true);
setSize (380, 260) ;
setLocation (450, 200) ;
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation (JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE) ;
setLayout(new FlowLayout());
hit = new JButton("Hit");
stay = new JButton("stay");
back = new JButton("return to main menu");
// add (lbl) ;
add(hit, BorderLayout.CENTER);
hit.addActionListener (this) ;
add(stay,BorderLayout.CENTER);
stay.addActionListener (this) ;
add(back,BorderLayout.CENTER);
back.addActionListener (this) ;
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
{
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
BlackJackWindow1 bl = new BlackJackWindow1();
if (event.getSource() == hit)
{
//code for the game goes here i will complete later
}
else if(event.getSource() == stay){
//code for game goes here i will comeplete later.
}
else
{
//this is where i want the frame to close and go back to the original.
}
}
}

The second frame needs a reference to the first frame so that it can set the focus back to the first frame.
Also your classes extend JFrame but they are also creating other frames in their constructors.

A couple of suggestions:
You're adding components to a JPanel that uses FlowLayout but are using BorderLayout constants when doing this which you shouldn't do as it doesn't make sense:
add(play, BorderLayout.CENTER);
Rather, if using FlowLayout, just add the components without those constants.
Also, rather than swap JFrames, you might want to consider using a CardLayout and swapping veiws in a single JFrame. For instance:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class FooBarBazDriver {
private static final String INTRO = "intro";
private static final String GAME = "game";
private CardLayout cardlayout = new CardLayout();
private JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel(cardlayout);
private IntroPanel introPanel = new IntroPanel();
private GamePanel gamePanel = new GamePanel();
public FooBarBazDriver() {
mainPanel.add(introPanel.getMainComponent(), INTRO);
mainPanel.add(gamePanel.getMainComponent(), GAME);
introPanel.addBazBtnActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
cardlayout.show(mainPanel, GAME);
}
});
gamePanel.addBackBtnActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
cardlayout.show(mainPanel, INTRO);
}
});
}
private JComponent getMainComponent() {
return mainPanel;
}
private static void createAndShowUI() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Foo Bar Baz");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.getContentPane().add(new FooBarBazDriver().getMainComponent());
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
createAndShowUI();
}
});
}
}
class IntroPanel {
private JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
private JButton baz = new JButton("Baz");
private JButton exit = new JButton("Exit");
public IntroPanel() {
mainPanel.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
baz = new JButton("Start");
exit = new JButton("exit");
mainPanel.add(new JLabel("Hello World"));
mainPanel.add(baz);
mainPanel.add(exit);
exit.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
Window win = SwingUtilities.getWindowAncestor(mainPanel);
win.dispose();
}
});
}
public void addBazBtnActionListener(ActionListener listener) {
baz.addActionListener(listener);
}
public JComponent getMainComponent() {
return mainPanel;
}
}
class GamePanel {
private static final Dimension MAIN_SIZE = new Dimension(400, 200);
private JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
private JButton foo;
private JButton bar;
private JButton back;
public GamePanel() {
foo = new JButton("Foo");
bar = new JButton("Bar");
back = new JButton("return to main menu");
mainPanel.add(foo);
mainPanel.add(bar);
mainPanel.add(back);
mainPanel.setPreferredSize(MAIN_SIZE);
}
public JComponent getMainComponent() {
return mainPanel;
}
public void addBackBtnActionListener(ActionListener listener) {
back.addActionListener(listener);
}
}

Since I had to test it myself if it is in fact so easy to implement, I built this simple example. It demonstrates a solution to your problem. Slightly inspired by #jzd's answer (+1 for that).
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.HeadlessException;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.event.MouseListener;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class FocusChangeTwoFrames
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
createGUI();
}
});
}
private static void createGUI() throws HeadlessException
{
final JFrame f2 = new JFrame();
f2.getContentPane().setBackground(Color.GREEN);
final JFrame f1 = new JFrame();
f1.getContentPane().setBackground(Color.RED);
f1.setSize(400, 300);
f1.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
f1.setVisible(true);
MouseListener ml = new MouseAdapter()
{
#Override
public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e)
{
if(f1.hasFocus())
f2.requestFocus();
else
f1.requestFocus();
}
};
f1.addMouseListener(ml);
f2.setSize(400, 300);
f2.setLocation(200, 150);
f2.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
f2.setVisible(true);
f2.addMouseListener(ml);
}
}
Enjoy, Boro.