Okay... I'm being dumb. I appreciate your response and totally get the concept. But...
for reference - I'm trying to implement an application using the java AppFramework and I have a SingleFrameApplication with a FrameView that adds custom [each self-contained] component classes for menus, toolbars, content, and status bar to the frame. A custom JTabbedPane gets added to the main content area and custom JPanels get added as each tab. How does an action listener get added to the fields on the custom JPanel (like a text field) and then the listener get added to the file menu or tool bar item? Do I have to add and action listener to every field on the JPanel and listen for all of them on the menu item and/or tool bar button I want to disable based on any change? I'm thinking that a custom ActionListener is order here, but fundamentally not sure since the custom ActionListener would have to "know" about both the menu and toolbar.
Maybe more simply put how do you register a listener on a component that lives in one object [class] and listen for it on another component that lives on a completely different object [class] where neither is necessarily aware of the other except for the "listener" relationship?
As you can see by my question I'm a bit confused. Anyone have any simplistic approach to this for understanding sake?
Thanks kindly.