How do I get my button to work?

[Tim Dee]

OK the code below is nasty I know. It's a hack of an example from Head First Java. I'm trying to diaply 3 text fields and a button. This I have managed, yes it looks nasty buy the cosmetics I can work on later. Only problem is I cant figure out how to get the button to work.

What do I need to add below to get the button to point to another piece of code to add the values in the 3 boxes? eg you enter a value into each of the three boxes in the North, West & East and when you press the button it returns the sum in the center?

Many thanks
Tim

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
 

public class Button1 {

public static void main (String[] args) {
Button1 gui = new Button1();
gui.go();
}

public void go() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame();


JButton calculate = new JButton("Calculate");

JTextField val1 = new JTextField("" ,4);
JTextField val2 = new JTextField("", 4);
JTextField val3 = new JTextField("", 4);


frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.WEST, val2);
frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.SOUTH, calculate);
frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.NORTH, val1);
frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.EAST, val3);

frame.setSize(150,150);
frame.setVisible(true);

}
}

[Gregg Bolinger]

This should help. I find it a bit interesting that you haven't found the same information in your HF book though.

[Tim Dee]

Thanks for the link. I have read through it and bits make sense but It's all still very confusing to me. I've seen a few examples of buttons doing things but even the simplest ones such as 'Beeper' appear hideously complicated.

What exactly is 'this' in the code below?
button1.addActionListener(this);

Cheers

[Gregg Bolinger]

this is a reference to the class that 'this' is in. Appearntly you are referring to when a class implements ActionListener then that syntax is adding a reference to that class to the button as the actionListener. Here is a simpler way, and by most, the preferred way for simple actions.

button.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
{
   public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
   {
      // add the values together from your textfields here
      // or call a method that adds them together
      addValues();
   }
});

[Tim Dee]

I beleive I have the button working now. However the following code won't complie and returns the followig error:
'cannot resolve symbol variable sym' in line 50

I thought I declared 'sym' as a text field in line 22. Line 50 should turn this string into a Float then do the math on it, but it does not.
Why is this?

Many thanks again for your time, I feel I'm very close to getting this to work now.

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
 

public class SwingSym1 implements ActionListener {

JButton calculate;

public static void main (String[] args) {
SwingSym1 gui = new SwingSym1();
gui.go();
}

public void go() {

JFrame frame = new JFrame();
calculate = new JButton("Calculate");
calculate.addActionListener(this);


JTextField sym = new JTextField("" ,10);
JCheckBox fec12 = new JCheckBox("Check Box 1/2");
//JCheckBox fec34 = new JCheckBox("Check Box 3/4");
//JCheckBox fec56 = new JCheckBox("Check Box 5/6");
//fec.addItemListener(this);




//frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.WEST, fec12);
//frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.WEST, fec34);
frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.SOUTH, calculate);
frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.NORTH, sym);



frame.setSize(400,400);
frame.setVisible(true);


}

    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
    double sum = 0;
double symRate = 0;
double fec = 0;
double reedsolomon = 0.92156862745098039215686274509804;

symRate = Float.parseFloat(sym) * 2;
//fec = Float.parseFloat(args[1]) / Float.parseFloat(args[2]);
sum = (symRate * fec) * reedsolomon;
System.out.println("Data Rate =" + sum);
       //frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.CENTER, sum);
       Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().beep();

  
    }

[Gregg Bolinger]

Well, you've to 2 problems as I can see it.

1. You've declared sym as a JTextField variable in your go() method. Because of the rules of scope, sym is only accessible in the go() method unless you pass a reference of it to some other method. You need to make sym a global / instance variable of the class, like you did your JButton.

2. Once you have 1 solved you are going to get another exception because you can't convert a JTextField to a float. You need to use the getText() method of the JTextField.

[Tim Dee]

Does the addition below get me past the first error?
ie Does adding the JTextField sym; on the public class of SwingSym1 make the sym global?

public class SwingSym1 implements ActionListener {

JButton calculate;
JTextField sym;

[Gregg Bolinger]

Originally posted by Tim Dee:
Does the addition below get me past the first error?
ie Does adding the JTextField sym; on the public class of SwingSym1 make the sym global?

public class SwingSym1 implements ActionListener {

JButton calculate;
JTextField sym;

Yes. Remember also in your go() method, you need to remove the first JTextField so you should just have:

sym = new JTextField("", 10);

[Tim Dee]

Great. I now think it works. However I can't seem to diaplay the result in the CENTER of the frame, or indeed anywhere.

I thought I would be able to add

frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.CENTER, sum);

in the section of code that is called when the Calculate button is hit. And this would return the result in the center of the frame. However it does not.
Do I need to pass the 'sum' back to 'go' as a global value?

[Gregg Bolinger]

Anytime you add or remove widgets to/from a container, after the container has been realized, you need to call the validate() method on the container so it can rebuild itself from the layout and repaint all the widgets.

This seems a strange way to display results for a calculator type application. Seems it would be better to have another textfield or a label that you simply update with the new value.