First attempt at writing a GUI

[Dianne Gerrelli]

I am attempting to write my first GUI. I have asked for help in the Beginners forum as I am just starting to learn Java but have not had any responses to my post on Friday. I was wondering if someone form this forum may be able to take a look at the thread of my messages.

I would be grateful for any help at the moment as I really do not understand why it is not working and I am runing out of ideas to test.

Best wishes
Dianne

[Ulf Dittmer]

Dianne, I'll post a response to the other thread. Most likely responses have been scarce because the code you posted is huge. Trying to understand it will take a lot of time. If you cut it down to a more manageable size it would be easier to go over.

[Michael Dunn]

just using the first code you posted, and your problem of actionlisteners not firing,
the below code now works OK. I've stripped all the unrelated stuff:
quittableJFrame questionnaire, the look and feel, multiple constructors etc
basically down to the bare bones, but now they 'talk'.

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
class QuitableJFrame extends JFrame
{
  public QuitableJFrame (String title)
  {
    super(title);
    setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
  }
}
class TranslationTool extends QuitableJFrame
{
  //private Translator translate ;
  private Translator translate = new Translator();
  public TranslationTool()
  {
    super ("TranslationTool");
    //this.getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());//default, not required
    InformationPanel information = new InformationPanel();
    this.getContentPane().add(information, BorderLayout.NORTH);
    TranslationPanel translation = new TranslationPanel();
    this.getContentPane().add(translation, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    ControlPanel control = new ControlPanel(translate);
    this.getContentPane().add(control, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
    this.pack();
    this.show();
  }
  public static void main(String[] args) {new TranslationTool();}
}
class Translator implements ActionListener
{
  public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent event)
  {
    String action = event.getActionCommand();
    if (action.equals ("revcomp")) System.out.println ("An action has occurred " );
    else {System.out.println ("nothing " ); }
  }
}
class TranslationPanel extends JPanel
{
  private JTextArea inputArea;
  private JTextArea outputArea;
  public TranslationPanel()
  {
    //JTextArea inputArea = new JTextArea("Input area", 20, 20);//<--------------------duplicate declaration
    inputArea = new JTextArea("Input area", 20, 20);
    this.add (inputArea);
    //JTextArea outputArea = new JTextArea("Output area", 20, 20);//<--------------------duplicate declaration
    outputArea = new JTextArea("Output area", 20, 20);
    this.add (outputArea);
  }
}
class InformationPanel extends JPanel
{
  private JTextField description, status;
  public InformationPanel()
  {
    this.setLayout(new GridLayout(2,2));
    this.add(new JLabel("Description"));
    this.add(new JLabel("Status"));
    this.add(description = new JTextField());
    this.add(status = new JTextField());
    status.setEditable(false);
  }
}
class ControlPanel extends JPanel
{
  public ControlPanel(Translator translate)
  {
    Translator translating = translate;
    JButton revCompButton, simpleButton, frameButton, getORFButton, clearButton;
    this.add(revCompButton = new JButton("revcomp"));
    revCompButton.addActionListener(translating);
    this.add(simpleButton = new JButton("simple"));
    simpleButton.addActionListener(translating);
    this.add(frameButton = new JButton("6 frame"));
    frameButton.addActionListener(translating);
    this.add(getORFButton= new JButton("get ORF"));
    getORFButton.addActionListener(translating);
    this.add(clearButton = new JButton("clear"));
    clearButton.addActionListener(translating);
  }
}

[Dianne Gerrelli]

Thanks very much. I will see if I can complete the task.

Best wishes
Dianne