Question

button action listener

Asked by: allelopath

I making my own JDialog class, because I want the buttons a certain way.
I've got something that works, but it seems inelegant.
Two classes here: ThreeButtonDialog and ButtonPanel (ignore TextPanel, not relevant)

My concern is that in ButtonPanel, I have this:
            buttonMiddle = new JButton (options[1]);
            buttonMiddle.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
                  System.out.println ("Action [" + ae.getActionCommand() + "] performed");
                  ThreeButtonDialog.performCenterButtonAction();
            }

        });

What seems ugly is that has to call a static function in ThreeButtonDialog.
Is there a better way to do this?


package threeButtonDialog;
 
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.event.AncestorEvent;
import javax.swing.event.AncestorListener;
 
/**
 * Dialog with lots of space between the left and middle/right buttons
 * 
 */
public class ThreeButtonDialog extends JDialog {
 
	/**
	 * constructor
	 * 
	 * @param parent JFrame parent
	 * @param title title of dialog box
	 */
	public ThreeButtonDialog(JFrame parent, String title) {
		
		super(parent, title, true); // true = modal;
 
	}
	
 
	/**
	 *  
	 * @param message message to display
	 * @param options array of 3 Strings for button labels
	 * @param icon icon to display
	 */
	public void showDialog (String message,
			                             String[] options,
			                             Image icon) {
 
		// must have 3 button labels
		if (options.length != 3) {
			System.out.println ("ThreeButtonDialog: incorrect number of button labels");
		}
		else { // no input errors, so carry on
			
			this.setLayout (new BorderLayout());
			
			// build message panel
			TextPanel textPanel = new TextPanel(message);
			this.add (textPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
			
			ButtonPanel buttonPanel = new ButtonPanel(options);
			this.add(buttonPanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_END);
			
			pack();
			setVisible(true);
		 
		}
	}
 
	public static void performLeftButtonAction () {
		System.out.println ("leftButton");
	}
	
 
	public static void performCenterButtonAction () {
		System.out.println ("centerButton");
	}
 
	public static void performRightButtonAction () {
		System.out.println ("rightButton");
	}
}
---------------------------------------------------
 
package threeButtonDialog;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.Insets;
 
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.event.AncestorEvent;
import javax.swing.event.AncestorListener;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
 
public class ButtonPanel extends JPanel implements ActionListener {
	
    private final Insets insets =  new Insets(10,10,10,10);
		    
	private JButton buttonLeft; // button on left side
	private JButton buttonMiddle; // button between left and right button
	private JButton buttonRight; // button on right side
			
	/**
	 * constructor
	 * 
	 * @param options
	 */
    public ButtonPanel(String[] options) {
		    	
    	// 1 row,
    	// 5 columns (button, empty, empty, button, button)
    	setLayout (new GridLayout (1,5));
			
    	// build button panel
		buttonLeft = new JButton (options[0]);
		buttonLeft.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
            	System.out.println ("Action [" + ae.getActionCommand() + "] performed");
            	ThreeButtonDialog.performLeftButtonAction();
            }
 
        });
	        
		buttonMiddle = new JButton (options[1]);
		buttonMiddle.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
            	System.out.println ("Action [" + ae.getActionCommand() + "] performed");
            	ThreeButtonDialog.performCenterButtonAction();
            }
 
        });
		
		buttonRight = new JButton (options[2]);
		buttonRight.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
            	System.out.println ("Action [" + ae.getActionCommand() + "] performed");
            	ThreeButtonDialog.performRightButtonAction();
            }
 
        });
 
		// add buttons
		add(buttonLeft);
		add(new JLabel()); // empty space
		add(new JLabel()); // empty space
		add(buttonMiddle);
		add(buttonRight);
				
		// set focus
        // listen for change in the button panel or one of its ancestors
        addAncestorListener(new AncestorListener() {
        	public void ancestorAdded(AncestorEvent e) {
        		buttonLeft.requestFocus();
        	}
 
        	// don't need these
        	public void ancestorRemoved(AncestorEvent e){}
        	public void ancestorMoved(AncestorEvent e){}
        });
		        
	    }
		    
	    public Insets getInsets() 
	    {
	    	return insets;
	    }
		    
	    /**
	     * 
	     * @param ae
	     */
        public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent ae) {
        	System.out.println ("Action [" + ae.getActionCommand() + "] performed");
        }
}

                                  
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Asked On
2009-01-13 at 15:46:40ID24049578
Tags

swing java

Topics

Java AWT & Swing

,

Java Programming Language

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
9

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Answers

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2009-01-13 at 15:51:18ID: 23368714

Why not the following?

buttonLeft.addActionListener(this);

                                              
1:

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by: allelopathPosted on 2009-01-13 at 16:06:32ID: 23368798

How does that avoid that static method call?

 

by: mwvisa1Posted on 2009-01-13 at 16:17:31ID: 23368857

Because if you make the action listener set to this, it will automatically call actionPerformed of your class that you can then have your code in that runs if the source object is buttonLeft or buttonRight, etc.

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2009-01-13 at 16:18:40ID: 23368865

Well it doesn't - that was really a supplementary question.

Back to the issue - i'm wondering why you want that dialog to act in that way? If it *is* an appropriate behaviour for that class, you can always create an instance of it without showing it. That will obviate a static method call

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2009-01-13 at 16:20:18ID: 23368873

That's to say - it doesn't *automatically*

 

by: allelopathPosted on 2009-01-13 at 16:21:32ID: 23368879

I have no need to create an instance of the dialog without showing it.

What I want is, when one of the 3 buttons in ButtonPanel is clicked, for ThreeButtonDialog to be able to take the appropriate action (Don't Apply, Cancel, Apply)

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2009-01-13 at 16:27:27ID: 23368916

If you want ThreeButtonDialog to take the action, then the issue is perfectly straightforward: if there's no instance of it, then the method will have to remain static if there is no instance. To avoid the static method you need an instance

 

by: mwvisa1Posted on 2009-01-13 at 17:54:20ID: 23369394

allelopath,

When I first responded, I thought this was what you were doing.

mwvisa1

/* ButtonPanel.java */ 
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.Insets;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.event.AncestorEvent;
import javax.swing.event.AncestorListener; 
public class ButtonPanel extends JPanel implements ActionListener { 
    private final Insets insets = new Insets(10, 10, 10, 10);
    private JButton buttonLeft; // button on left side
    private JButton buttonMiddle; // button between left and right button
    private JButton buttonRight; // button on right side 
    /**
     * constructor
     *
     * @param options
     */
    public ButtonPanel(String[] options) { 
        // 1 row,
        // 5 columns (button, empty, empty, button, button)
        setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 5)); 
        // build button panel
        buttonLeft = new JButton(options[0]);
        buttonLeft.addActionListener(this); 
        buttonMiddle = new JButton(options[1]);
        buttonMiddle.addActionListener(this); 
        buttonRight = new JButton(options[2]);
        buttonRight.addActionListener(this); 
        // add buttons
        add(buttonLeft);
        add(new JLabel()); // empty space
        add(new JLabel()); // empty space
        add(buttonMiddle);
        add(buttonRight); 
        // set focus
        // listen for change in the button panel or one of its ancestors
        addAncestorListener(new AncestorListener() { 
            public void ancestorAdded(AncestorEvent e) {
                buttonLeft.requestFocus();
            } 
            // don't need these
            public void ancestorRemoved(AncestorEvent e) {
            } 
            public void ancestorMoved(AncestorEvent e) {
            }
        }); 
    } 
    @Override
    public Insets getInsets() {
        return insets;
    } 
    /**
     *
     * @param ae
     */
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
        System.out.println("Action [" + ae.getActionCommand() + "] performed"); 
        Object source = ae.getSource();
        if (source.equals(buttonLeft)) {
            performLeftButtonAction();
        } else if (source.equals(buttonMiddle)) {
            performCenterButtonAction();
        } else if (source.equals(buttonRight)) {
            performRightButtonAction();
        } else {
            // do something else
        }
    } 
    public void performLeftButtonAction() {
        System.out.println("leftButton");
    } 
    public void performCenterButtonAction() {
        System.out.println("centerButton");
    } 
    public void performRightButtonAction() {
        System.out.println("rightButton");
    }
} 
/*************************************************************************/
/* ThreeButtonDialog.java */ 
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*; 
/**
 * Dialog with lots of space between the left and middle/right buttons
 * 
 */
public class ThreeButtonDialog extends JDialog { 
    /**
     * constructor
     *
     * @param parent JFrame parent
     * @param title title of dialog box
     */
    public ThreeButtonDialog(JFrame parent, String title) { 
        super(parent, title, true); // true = modal; 
    } 
    /**
     *
     * @param message message to display
     * @param options array of 3 Strings for button labels
     * @param icon icon to display
     */
    public void showDialog(String message,
            String[] options,
            Image icon) { 
        // must have 3 button labels
        if (options.length != 3) {
            System.out.println("ThreeButtonDialog: incorrect number of button labels");
        } else { // no input errors, so carry on 
            this.setLayout(new BorderLayout()); 
            // build message panel
            //TextPanel textPanel = new TextPanel(message);
            //this.add(textPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER); 
            ButtonPanel buttonPanel = new ButtonPanel(options);
            this.add(buttonPanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_END); 
            pack();
            setVisible(true); 
        }
    }
}

                                              
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by: mwvisa1Posted on 2009-01-13 at 17:55:39ID: 23369397

Note, I commented out the TextPanel as I didn't have that class in my classpath to ensure I wasn't posting anything back with compilation errors.  Just uncomment back for your environment.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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