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class variable not updating after method call

I am quite new to Java and only after researching and googling and reading many answers, I am posting this. I am kinda lost. A little guidance would be of great help. The following is a method from a class that implements the "ActionListener" interface. What I am trying to do is this: There is a button which one clicked should open a new window with two options in the form of two Radio Buttons. I need to know the Radio Button which was selected for further use in my code. I declared, the "scoreOption" variable as a class variable and static, and then attempt to update it in the "actionPerformed" abstract method. But when I refer to it (after the method call), the value stays the same - null, or whatever I set it to initially. Here is the code:
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.text.ParseException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Scanner;
import javax.swing.ButtonGroup;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JRadioButton;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.event.ChangeEvent;
import javax.swing.event.ChangeListener;
public class StartEvents implements ActionListener {
StartPanel startingPanel;
static String scoreOption;
public StartEvents(StartPanel startPanel) {
startingPanel = startPanel;
}
// Scoring System Window - 1
public void scoringSystem() {
startingPanel.scoringSystem.addActionListener(new ActionListener () {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
Panel scoringSystemPanel = new Panel();
JFrame scoreSystemFrame = scoringSystemPanel.frame(150, 250, "Scoring System", 2, true);
JPanel scoreSystemPanel = scoringSystemPanel.panel(Color.lightGray);
JButton confirmSelection = scoringSystemPanel.button(40, 20, "Confirm");
JRadioButton scoreSystem1 = scoringSystemPanel.radioButton("Option 1: Same Points Per Hit");
scoreSystem1.setActionCommand("Option 1");
JRadioButton scoreSystem2 = scoringSystemPanel.radioButton("Option 2: Unique Points Per Hit");
scoreSystem2.setActionCommand("Option 2");
ButtonGroup scoreSys = new ButtonGroup();
scoreSys.add(scoreSystem1);
scoreSys.add(scoreSystem2);
scoreSystemFrame.getContentPane().add(scoreSystemPanel);
scoreSystemPanel.add(scoreSystem1);
scoreSystemPanel.add(scoreSystem2);
scoreSystemPanel.add(confirmSelection);
// Get Selection Event
// Option 1
scoreSystem1.addActionListener(new ActionListener () {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if (scoreSystem1.isSelected()) {
scoreOption = scoreSystem1.getActionCommand();
}
}
});
// Option 2
scoreSystem2.addActionListener(new ActionListener () {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if (scoreSystem2.isSelected()) {
scoreOption = scoreSystem2.getActionCommand();
}
}
});
// Confirm Event
confirmSelection.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
scoreSystemFrame.dispose();
}
});
}
});
}
Main Game Class where the method scoringsystem is called.
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class Game {
public static void main(String[] args) {
StartPanel startingPanel = new StartPanel();
startingPanel.makeStartPanel();
StartEvents starter = new StartEvents(startingPanel);
starter.rulesButton();
starter.exitButton();
starter.highScoresButton();
ArrayList<Integer> dimensions = starter.boardSizeSelector();
// Problem Zone
System.out.println(StartEvents.scoreOption);
starter.scoringSystem();
System.out.println(StartEvents.scoreOption);
// The two values of scoreOption should be different
String[] playPanelDetails = {"970", "Player 1", "450"};
// Final Start of the Game
starter.startGameButton(playPanelDetails, dimensions);
}
}
Furthermore, could you please let me know regarding the following questions:
Implementing "ActionListener" within another "ActionListener" is recommended? Good Practice?
Can there only be one declaration of the "actionPerformed" method or can it be overloaded too?
Is it possible to get a return value from "actionPerformed" method?
I would be really grateful if even some hints could be provided. I really tried a lot and only then posting it here. Thank you very much in advance.
Small Edit: When I "System.out.println" the "actioncommand" there itself, it does work perfectly, printing in the console. But not when I try to update the class variable and then try to print it after the method call. Dunno if this helps.

JFrames are not modal -- you create one and display it, it does not block the code flow, and so you are extracting the value of scoreOption right as the JFrame is being displayed and before the user has had any chance to change it. You need to use a modal dialog such as a JDialog that is created as a modal dialog or use a JOptionPane (which is actually just a modal JDialog under the hood). This will block the flow of code so that you extract the data only after it has been changed by the user.
An example that proves the point:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class FooGui01 extends JPanel {
private String frameTest = "";
private String dialogTest = "";
private JFrame mainFrame = new JFrame("Main GUI");
private JFrame subFrame;
private JDialog dialog;
public FooGui01() {
JButton showFrameBtn = new JButton("Show JFrame");
showFrameBtn.addActionListener(e -> {
changeTest1WithJFrame();
System.out.println("frameTest: " + frameTest);
});
JButton showDialogBtn = new JButton("Show JDialog");
showDialogBtn.addActionListener(e -> {
changeTest2WithModalDialog();
System.out.println("dialogTest: " + dialogTest);
});
JPanel panel = new JPanel();
panel.add(showDialogBtn);
panel.add(showFrameBtn);
mainFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
mainFrame.add(panel);
mainFrame.pack();
mainFrame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
mainFrame.setVisible(true);
}
public void changeTest1WithJFrame() {
if (subFrame == null) {
subFrame = new JFrame("Frame");
JButton button = new JButton("Press me");
button.addActionListener(e -> {
frameTest = "Hello World and frameTest";
subFrame.setVisible(false);
});
JPanel panel = new JPanel();
panel.add(button);
subFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.HIDE_ON_CLOSE);
subFrame.add(panel);
subFrame.pack();
subFrame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
}
subFrame.setVisible(true);
}
public void changeTest2WithModalDialog() {
if (dialog == null) {
dialog = new JDialog(mainFrame, "Dialog", Dialog.ModalityType.APPLICATION_MODAL);
JButton button = new JButton("Press me");
button.addActionListener(e -> {
dialogTest = "Hello World and dialogTest";
dialog.setVisible(false);
});
JPanel panel = new JPanel();
panel.add(button);
dialog.add(panel);
dialog.pack();
dialog.setLocationByPlatform(true);
}
dialog.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> new FooGui01());
}
}
If you run the code, when you show the sub JFrame, the test text is displayed immediately in the console before the dialog has been dealt with. If you press the button to show the dialog, the test text display is delayed until after the button has been pushed, changing the text.
Pressing the frame button twice will finally show the correct text since the text was set by the first time it was displayed.

A JDialig is just like a JFrame. That is you add components to it like you do any frame.
The difference is that you can make a JDialog modal. This means that when you use:
dialog.setVisible(true);
System.out.println("here");
The code after the setVisible(...) statement will not be executed until the dialog is closed. It also means you can't click on the parent JFrame until the dialog is closed.
An easy way to create a modal JDialog is to use a JOptionPane. It has some predefined methods that make prompting for user input easy.
For example in your case you could do something like:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class SSCCE extends JPanel
{
private int scoringOption = -1;
public SSCCE()
{
JButton button = new JButton("Change Points Option");
add(button);
button.addActionListener((e) -> displayOptionDialog());
}
private void displayOptionDialog()
{
Window window = SwingUtilities.windowForComponent( this );
// Custom button text
Object[] options = {"Option 1: Same Points Per Hit", "Option 2: Unique Points Per Hit"};
scoringOption = JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(
window,
"Select your scoring option:",
"Scoring Option",
JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION,
JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE,
null,
options,
null);
System.out.println( scoringOption );
}
private static void createAndShowGUI()
{
JFrame frame = new JFrame("SSCCE");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(new SSCCE());
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationByPlatform( true );
frame.setVisible( true );
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
{
java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater( () -> createAndShowGUI() );
}
}
The above is also an example of an "MRE". The code is simple and contained in a single class that you can copy/paste/compile and test.
Read the section from the Swing tutorial on How to Use Dialogs for more examples of using a JOptionPane.
If you really want to use radio buttons, then you can create a panel with the radio buttons and display them on the option pane using the showConfirmDialog(...) method. When the dialog closes you would then need to get the action command from the ButtonModel of the ButtonGroup.
See: how to set & manage the layout of JOptionPane for a basic example of this approach to get you started.

Using removeActionListener but not removing - JAVA

I have created part of a Tic-Tac-Toe game, and I am trying to make sure the "Player VS Player" button becomes disabled once a game is started. I am new to Java swing and all of the graphics, so please, any help is appreciated. I have used .removeActionListener, but it seems to not do anything (or anything I notice). My code probably looks very bad to some of you, but as I said, I am new to this. Some of the imports may not be needed now, but I plan on using them later.
Thanks in advance!
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.lang.Object;
import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.Container;
import java.awt.Window;
import java.awt.Frame;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import javax.swing.text.JTextComponent;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import java.lang.Thread;
import java.util.EventObject;
import java.awt.AWTEvent;
import java.awt.event.ComponentEvent;
import java.awt.event.WindowEvent;
import java.awt.Font;
import javax.swing.*;
class ticTacToe implements ActionListener
{
public static JFrame menuFrame = new JFrame("Tic-Tac-Toe");
public static JPanel menu = new JPanel();
public static JButton instruct = new JButton("Instructions"), pvp = new JButton("Player VS. Player"), pvc = new JButton("Player VS. Computer");
public static String pOne = "bla", pTwo = "bla";
public static boolean namesEntered = false;
public static JFrame pvpFrame = new JFrame (pOne+" "+"VS."+" "+pTwo);
public static JPanel board = new JPanel (), turns = new JPanel();
public static JLabel turn1 = new JLabel (pOne+" has taken 0 turn(s)."), turn2 = new JLabel (pTwo+" has taken 0 turn(s).");
public static JButton btn1 = new JButton (), btn2 = new JButton (), btn3 = new JButton (), btn4 = new JButton (), btn5 = new JButton (), btn6 = new JButton (), btn7 = new JButton (), btn8 = new JButton (), btn9 = new JButton ();
public static int choice = 3;
public static Font f = new Font("Arial", Font.PLAIN, 40);
public static void main (String[]args)
{
instruct.addActionListener(new Instructions());
pvp.addActionListener(new playerVSPlayer());
pvc.addActionListener(new Action());
menu();
}
public static void menu ()//the main menu of the game
{
menu.setLayout(new FlowLayout());//arranges the layout of the buttons on the panel
menu.add(instruct);//adds the instruction button
menu.add(pvp);//adds the player vs player button
menu.add(pvc);//adds the player vs computer button
menuFrame.add(menu);//creates the panel
menuFrame.setSize(450, 78);
menuFrame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);//sets the location to the centre of the screen
menuFrame.setVisible(true);//makes the menu visible
menuFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);//extis program when window is closed
}
public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent e)//detection of the clicked button
{
if (e.getSource().equals(instruct))
{
instructions();
}
else if (e.getSource().equals(pvp))
{
if (e.getSource().equals(btn1))
{
btn1.setFont(f);
btn1.setText("X");
btn1.removeActionListener(new playerVSPlayer());
}
else
{
players();
if (!pOne.equals("0")&&!pTwo.equals("0"))
{
firstTurn();
}
if (namesEntered==true&&choice==1)
{
gameBoard();
btn1.addActionListener(new playerVSPlayer());
}
pvp.removeActionListener(new playerVSPlayer());
}
}
}
public static void instructions ()
{
JFrame frame = new JFrame ("Instructions");
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.setSize(300,145);
JLabel label = new JLabel ("The goal of this game is to be the first player that ");
JLabel label2 = new JLabel ("gets 3 X's or O's in a row diagonally, vertically, or");
JLabel label3 = new JLabel ("horizontally. It is possible to tie, by having all");
JLabel label4 = new JLabel ("spaces played with no spots left to win. Click a");
JLabel label5 = new JLabel ("space to enter your X or O.");
JPanel panel = new JPanel();
panel.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
frame.add(panel);
panel.add(label);
panel.add(label2);
panel.add(label3);
panel.add(label4);
panel.add(label5);
}
public static void players ()
{
Scanner in = new Scanner (System.in);
System.out.println("Player One, please enter a word no longer than 4 letters, representing your username for this game.");
pOne = in.nextLine();
if (pOne.equals("0"))
{
System.out.println("You have cancelled the match. Please choose an option in the main menu, or close the main menu.");
}
else {
while (pOne.length()>4||pOne.length()<1)
{
System.out.println("Player One, your username MUST be between 1 and 4 letters long.");
pOne = in.nextLine();
}
}
if (!pOne.equals("0"))
{
System.out.println("Player Two, please enter a word no longer than 4 letters, representing your username for this game.");
pTwo = in.nextLine();
if (pTwo.equals("0"))
{
System.out.println("You have cancelled the match. Please choose an option in the main menu, or close the main menu.");
}
else {
while (pTwo.length()>4||pTwo.length()<1)
{
System.out.println("Player Two, your username MUST be between 1 and 4 letters long.");
pTwo = in.nextLine();
}
}
}
if (!pOne.equals("0")&&!pTwo.equals("0"))
{
namesEntered= true;
}
}
public static void gameBoard ()
{
pvpFrame = new JFrame (pOne+" "+"VS."+" "+pTwo);
pvpFrame.setLayout(new GridLayout());
pvpFrame.setVisible(true);
pvpFrame.setSize(600,400);
pvpFrame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
board.setLayout(new GridLayout(3,3));
turns.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
pvpFrame.add(board);
pvpFrame.add(turns);
turn1 = new JLabel (pOne+" has taken 0 turns.");
turn2 = new JLabel (pTwo+" has taken 0 turns.");
turns.add(turn1);
turns.add(turn2);
board.add(btn1);
board.add(btn2);
board.add(btn3);
board.add(btn4);
board.add(btn5);
board.add(btn6);
board.add(btn7);
board.add(btn8);
board.add(btn9);
}
public static void firstTurn ()
{
Scanner in = new Scanner (System.in);
System.out.println(pOne+" will be X and "+pTwo+" will be O. Enter 1 if you would like to continue. Enter 0 if you would like to cancel this match and return to the main menu.");
choice = in.nextInt();
while (choice!=0&&choice!=1)
{
System.out.println("Your choice did not match 1 or 0. Please enter your choice again.");
choice = in.nextInt();
}
if (choice==0)
{
System.out.println("You have cancelled the match. Please choose an option in the main menu, or close the main menu.");
}
}
}
EDIT 1:
public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent e)//detection of the clicked button
{
if (e.getSource().equals(instruct))
{
instructions(); // This just runs the instruction panel
}
else if (e.getSource().equals(pvp))
{
if (e.getSource().equals(btn1))
{
btn1.setFont(f);
btn1.setText("X");
btn1.removeActionListener(new playerVSPlayer());
}
else
{
players();
if (!pOne.equals("0")&&!pTwo.equals("0"))
{
firstTurn();
}
if (namesEntered==true&&choice==1)
{
gameBoard();
pvp.setEnabled(false); // my goal here is to make the button no longer usable once the
//game starts, but I also need to make sure later that i can use the button once this game is closed
btn1.addActionListener(new playerVSPlayer());
}
}
}
}
The problem is, that does not disable the button

I have several issues with your code, but as far as your question is concerned, there are two main issues:
First as Christian points out, you are not adding and removing the same instance. I'm not sure if this can be alleviated by giving the class an equals and hashCode override, and I must test this.
But even more important, you seem to expect the class's actionPerformed to act, when you don't appear to add it to any buttons. No where do I see addActionListener(this). Having said that, I try to avoid making my GUI "view" classes implement listener interfaces.
A better solution perhaps would be swapping JButton AbstractActions via the setAction(...) method. Think of AbstractActions as if they were ActionListeners on steroids, since they can do everything that an ActionListener can do and then some. Do this and you won't have to worry about removing prior listeners since a button can have one and only one Action.
Other issues:
Your program grossly over-uses the static modifier. While static fields and methods probably won't matter in small programs, they're not a good habit to get into since they don't "scale" well. In other words, if you create large and complex programs (and if you stick with Java, you will), over-use of static fields and methods increases the potential complexity and limits the inheritance potential of your classes of your programs making them very difficult to debug or enhance. It's a good habit to avoid over-use of static modifier except in the certain situations where it is definitely called for.
You're mixing a Swing GUI with a console program which is a dangerous thing to do. Much better would be to get all user input via the GUI, and leave the console output for debugging purposes (if that) only.
Edit
Yep, if you override equals and hashCode so that all Listeners of one type are the same, then you can remove them as you're trying to do.
For example check this test code:
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.*;
public class TestActionListeners extends JPanel {
private JButton button = new JButton("Button");
public TestActionListeners() {
add(button);
button.addActionListener(new Listener1());
}
private static void createAndShowGui() {
TestActionListeners mainPanel = new TestActionListeners();
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Test");
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();
}
});
}
}
class Listener1 implements ActionListener {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
System.out.println("in listener 1");
AbstractButton button = (AbstractButton) e.getSource();
button.removeActionListener(new Listener1());
button.addActionListener(new Listener2());
}
#Override
public boolean equals(Object obj) {
return obj instanceof Listener1;
}
#Override
public int hashCode() {
return Listener1.class.hashCode();
}
}
class Listener2 implements ActionListener {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
System.out.println("in listener 2");
AbstractButton button = (AbstractButton) e.getSource();
button.removeActionListener(new Listener2());
button.addActionListener(new Listener1());
}
#Override
public boolean equals(Object obj) {
return obj instanceof Listener2;
}
#Override
public int hashCode() {
return Listener2.class.hashCode();
}
}
Having said this, I don't recommend that you do this but rather swap AbstractActions via setAction(...).
Edit 2
I'm an idiot for not carefully reading your question. If this is your goal:
and I am trying to make sure the "Player VS Player" button becomes disabled once a game is started:
Then all you need to do is set the button or its Action disabled. i.e.,
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.*;
public class DisableAButton extends JPanel {
private JButton disableMeButton1 = new JButton("Disable Me 1");
private JButton disableMeButton2 = new JButton(new DisableMe2Action("Disable Me 2"));
public DisableAButton() {
disableMeButton1.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
AbstractButton buttonSource = (AbstractButton) e.getSource();
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(buttonSource, "DisableMe1 ActionListener!");
buttonSource.setEnabled(false);
}
});
add(disableMeButton1);
add(disableMeButton2);
}
private static void createAndShowGui() {
DisableAButton mainPanel = new DisableAButton();
JFrame frame = new JFrame("DisableAButton");
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();
}
});
}
}
class DisableMe2Action extends AbstractAction {
public DisableMe2Action(String name) {
super(name);
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
JComponent source = (JComponent) e.getSource();
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(source, "DisableMe2 Action!");
setEnabled(false);
}
}

you should use the same instance to call add and remove.
therefor store the listeners in a field

Netbeans 's actionPerformed with custom argument

I am working on a school assignment. We have 10 buttons, lets say first 10 letters of alpahabet. For exmaple when you click the 'A' button, character 'A' gets added to jLabel.
I know I could write new function for every button, but is there any better way? Like I pass the letter by argument and use only 1 function? Or is somehow possible to detect what button called my event handler and add letter according to that?

Yes, you can use actionCommand. Here you have examples doing that. How to use Buttons.
Example:
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
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;
public class ButtonExample {
private JPanel panel;
private JLabel label;
public ButtonExample(){
panel = new JPanel();
label = new JLabel(" ");
ActionListener listener = new MyActionListener();
JButton buttonA = new JButton("Press me A");
buttonA.setActionCommand("A");
buttonA.addActionListener(listener);
JButton buttonB = new JButton("Press me B");
buttonB.setActionCommand("B");
buttonB.addActionListener(listener);
JButton buttonC = new JButton("Press me C");
buttonC.setActionCommand("C");
buttonC.addActionListener(listener);
panel.add(buttonA);
panel.add(buttonB);
panel.add(buttonC);
}
private class MyActionListener implements ActionListener{
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
String text = (label.getText() == null || label.getText().isEmpty() )?"":label.getText();
label.setText(text+e.getActionCommand());
}
}
/**
* Create the GUI and show it. For thread safety,
* this method should be invoked from the
* event-dispatching thread.
*/
private static void createAndShowGUI() {
//Create and set up the window.
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Textfield example");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLocationByPlatform(Boolean.TRUE);
ButtonExample buttonExample =new ButtonExample();
frame.add(buttonExample.panel,BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.add(buttonExample.label,BorderLayout.NORTH);
//Display the window.
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(Boolean.TRUE);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
//Schedule a job for the event-dispatching thread:
//creating and showing this application's GUI.
javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
}

You can do like
Yourlabel.setText(yourbutton.getText());
It will place your button name say A to your desired label!
This is just a hint you can get an idea.

Java -- How to create a moveable menu [closed]

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Does anyone have any example code to make a draggable menu?
I am new to Java and I am trying to find a way to make a menu that is draggable with the mouse. Like a lot of programs have. You can drag the top menu bar around the screen so that you can drop it in other locations. I think that Java can do this as well because I have seen some applications that I think were written in Java do this very same thing.
Question: How do I create a draggable menu in a JFrame in Java?
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JMenu;
import javax.swing.JMenuBar;
import javax.swing.JMenuItem;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class MyExample extends JFrame {
public MyExample() {
initUI();
}
public final void initUI() {
JMenuBar menubar = new JMenuBar();
JMenu file = new JMenu("File");
file.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_F);
JMenuItem eMenuItem = new JMenuItem("Exit");
eMenuItem.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
System.exit(0); //exit the system
}
});
file.add(eMenuItem);
menubar.add(file);
setJMenuBar(menubar);
setTitle("My Menu");
setSize(300, 100);
setLocationRelativeTo(); //I tried draggable
setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
MyExample e = new MyExample();
e.setVisible(true);
}
}
I want to be able to drag the menu from the top of the JFrame to another location out of the window and leave it there. I have used Toolbar and that worked good but I was trying to see if this can be done with a menu. If you look at any software application the usually is a grabable area right next tot he File location. This you can click and drag around the area.
ImageIcon icon = new ImageIcon(getClass().getResource("10cd.jpg"));
JMenu file1 = new JMenu("File");
file1.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_F);
JMenu file2 = new JMenu("Open");
file2.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_F);
JMenu file3 = new JMenu("A");
file3.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_F);
JMenu file4 = new JMenu("B");
file4.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_F);
JMenu file5 = new JMenu("C");
file5.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_F);
JMenu file6 = new JMenu("D");
file6.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_F);
JMenuItem eMenuItem1a = new JMenuItem("File 1"/*, icon*///);
/*eMenuItem1a.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_E);
eMenuItem1a.setToolTipText("Exit application");
JMenuItem eMenuItem1b = new JMenuItem("File 2"/*, icon*///);
/* eMenuItem1b.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_E);
eMenuItem1b.setToolTipText("Exit application");
JMenuItem eMenuItem1c = new JMenuItem("File 3"/*, icon*///);
/* eMenuItem1c.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_E);
eMenuItem1c.setToolTipText("Exit application");
JMenuItem eMenuItem2 = new JMenuItem("Exit"/*, icon*///);
/* eMenuItem2.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_E);
eMenuItem2.setToolTipText("Exit application");
JMenuItem eMenuItem3 = new JMenuItem("Exit"/*, icon*///);
/*eMenuItem3.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_E);
eMenuItem3.setToolTipText("Exit application");
JMenuItem eMenuItem4 = new JMenuItem("Exit"/*, icon*///);
/*eMenuItem4.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_E);
eMenuItem4.setToolTipText("Exit application");
eMenuItem1a.addActionListener(new myListenerOne());
eMenuItem1b.addActionListener(new myListenerTwo());
eMenuItem1c.addActionListener(new myListenerThree());
eMenuItem2.addActionListener(new myListenerOne());
eMenuItem3.addActionListener(new myListenerTwo());
eMenuItem4.addActionListener(new myListenerThree());
file1.add(eMenuItem1a);
file1.add(eMenuItem1b);
file1.add(eMenuItem1c);
file2.add(eMenuItem2);
file3.add(eMenuItem3);
file4.add(eMenuItem4);
menubar.add(file1);
menubar.add(file2);
menubar.add(file3);
menubar.add(file4);
menubar.add(file5);
menubar.add(file6);
setJMenuBar(menubar);
//Actionlisteners below
class myListenerOne implements ActionListener {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
System.out.println("Action Class Listener 1");
System.exit(0);
}
}
class myListenerTwo implements ActionListener {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
System.out.println("Action Class Listener 2");
System.exit(0);
}
}
class myListenerThree implements ActionListener {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
System.out.println("Action Class Listener 3");
System.exit(0);
}
}
Here is another menu example that I forgot to include this morning. Was sick and just didn't think about it actually. Anyway, what I was wondering was if the menu could be set to a movable menu, so that when you click on it and drag it that it can be moved to any where in the frame. I have seen this done on some java applications I have used but just haven't seen it in a while.
import javax.swing.JToolBar;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import java.net.URL;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
public class ToolBarDemo extends JPanel
implements ActionListener {
protected JTextArea textArea;
protected String newline = "\n";
static final private String PREVIOUS = "previous";
static final private String UP = "up";
static final private String NEXT = "next";
public ToolBarDemo() {
super(new BorderLayout());
//Create the toolbar.
JToolBar toolBar = new JToolBar("Still draggable");
addButtons(toolBar);
//Create the text area used for output. Request
//enough space for 5 rows and 30 columns.
textArea = new JTextArea(5, 30);
textArea.setEditable(false);
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(textArea);
//Lay out the main panel.
setPreferredSize(new Dimension(450, 130));
add(toolBar, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);
add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
}
protected void addButtons(JToolBar toolBar) {
JButton button = null;
//first button
button = makeNavigationButton("Back24", PREVIOUS,
"Back to previous something-or-other",
"Previous");
toolBar.add(button);
//second button
button = makeNavigationButton("Up24", UP,
"Up to something-or-other",
"Up");
toolBar.add(button);
//third button
button = makeNavigationButton("Forward24", NEXT,
"Forward to something-or-other",
"Next");
toolBar.add(button);
}
protected JButton makeNavigationButton(String imageName,
String actionCommand,
String toolTipText,
String altText) {
//Look for the image.
String imgLocation = imageName + ".gif";
URL imageURL = ToolBarDemo.class.getResource(imgLocation);
//Create and initialize the button.
JButton button = new JButton();
button.setActionCommand(actionCommand);
button.setToolTipText(toolTipText);
button.addActionListener(this);
if (imageURL != null) { //image found
button.setIcon(new ImageIcon(imageURL, altText));
} else { //no image found
button.setText(altText);
System.err.println("Resource not found: "
+ imgLocation);
}
return button;
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
String cmd = e.getActionCommand();
String description = null;
// Handle each button.
if (PREVIOUS.equals(cmd)) { //first button clicked
description = "taken you to the previous <something>.";
} else if (UP.equals(cmd)) { // second button clicked
description = "taken you up one level to <something>.";
} else if (NEXT.equals(cmd)) { // third button clicked
description = "taken you to the next <something>.";
}
displayResult("If this were a real app, it would have "
+ description);
}
protected void displayResult(String actionDescription) {
textArea.append(actionDescription + newline);
textArea.setCaretPosition(textArea.getDocument().getLength());
}
/**
* Create the GUI and show it. For thread safety,
* this method should be invoked from the
* event dispatch thread.
*/
private static void createAndShowGUI() {
//Create and set up the window.
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Doug's Test ToolBarDemo!!!!");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
//Add content to the window.
frame.add(new ToolBarDemo());
//Display the window.
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
//Schedule a job for the event dispatch thread:
//creating and showing this application's GUI.
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
//Turn off metal's use of bold fonts
UIManager.put("swing.boldMetal", Boolean.FALSE);
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
}
The following code adds a JToolBar to the frame. I like this because it is draggable but it looks different than a regular menu. I was more interested in if you could set a menu to draggable.

Try using a JToolBar if you don't want to create your own floating window.
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/components/toolbar.html

why doesn't my itemlistener always trigger

enter image description hereI'm a new programmer and I'm working on a text adventure that uses dropdown boxes (choice) as an input device. I have an itemListener on the first box that populates the members of the 2nd with the members that can be added. The player is then allowed to click the submit button and the first box is reset to the first item on the list and the second box is supposed to be cleared. When I run the program, the first time it reacts exactly as planned. The 2nd time I try to input something using the drop down boxes, the dropdown box doesn't respond. I put a marker inside the itemListener to see if it was even triggering to find out that it wasn't. I feel like I've tweeked the program in every way imaginable but I have no idea what is causing this issue. If I toggle between the items in the drop down box a few times the itemListener starts to respond again.
This is a representation of my issue I threw together.
import java.awt.Choice;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.ItemEvent;
import java.awt.event.ItemListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextPane;
public class gui implements ActionListener
{
private static JTextPane outputField = new JTextPane();
private static JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
private Choice commandDropDown = new Choice();
private Choice itemDropDown = new Choice();
private JButton submitButton = new JButton();
public gui()
{
JFrame frame = new JFrame("test");
mainPanel.setSize(450,585);
commandDropDown = buildCommandBox(commandDropDown);
commandDropDown.setBounds(100, 15, 100, 40);
itemDropDown.setBounds(200, 15, 100, 40);
submitButton.setText("submit");
submitButton.setBounds(15, 15, 100, 40);
submitButton.addActionListener(this);
frame.add(commandDropDown);
frame.add(itemDropDown);
frame.add(submitButton);
frame.setResizable(false);
frame.pack();
frame.setSize(300, 300);
//frame.setLayout(null);
//frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
itemDropDown.removeAll();
commandDropDown.select(0);
}
private Choice buildCommandBox(Choice custoChoi)
{
final Choice c = new Choice();
c.addItem("choices");
c.addItem("Option1");
c.addItemListener(new ItemListener()
{
public void itemStateChanged(ItemEvent ie)
{
System.out.println("the action event for the command"
+ "box is working.");
if(c.getSelectedItem().equals("Option1"))
{
itemDropDown.addItem("things");
itemDropDown.addItem("stuff");
}
}
});
return c;
}
}
Hopefully these pictures clear up any confusion about my post.
http://imgur.com/a/h9oOX#0

In my opinion, your buildCommandBox( Choice custoChoi) is wrong, it should be something like that:
private Choice buildCommandBox(final Choice custoChoi) {
custoChoi.addItem("choices");
custoChoi.addItem("Option1");
custoChoi.addItemListener(new ItemListener() {
#Override
public void itemStateChanged(ItemEvent ie) {
System.out.println("the action event for the command" + "box is working.");
if (custoChoi.getSelectedItem().equals("Option1")) {
itemDropDown.addItem("things");
itemDropDown.addItem("stuff");
}
}
});
return custoChoi;
}
I would recommand to use JComboBox instants of Choice, if Swing is allowed.