how do i see the JButton that called actionPerformed?

so I want to get the specific button which called an actionPerformed method in order to make changes to the button once it has been pressed. The reason for this is I have a grid of buttons and I want to change the appearance of the last one pressed. I have used the getSource() method which kind of works but it gives me all of the previous buttons that have been pressed which is not what I want. please help me find a solution

Quote:

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Originally Posted by h3nch

The reason for this is I have a grid of buttons and I want to change the appearance of the last one pressed. I have used the getSource() method which kind of works but it gives me all of the previous buttons that have been pressed which is not what I want.

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What do you mean? Can you provide sscce

its a little difficult to give a good sscce, but heres some of the vital sections of my code:

SmallSquare is a class that extends JButton, when it is pressed the color of it changes. butns is a 2d array which holds all the instances of SmallSquare

Code:

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                for(int i=y-1; i>=0; i--)
                {
                          for(int j=0; j<x; j++)
                          {
                                  SmallSquare square = new SmallSquare(j,i);
                                      butns[i][j] = square;
                                      square.addActionListener(new SquareListen());
                                panel.add(square);
                          }
                }

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this is where i am retrieving the source of the button press (contained within the SquareListen listener)

Code:

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final SmallSquare pressedSq = (SmallSquare) event.getSource();

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Quote:

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getSource() method which kind of works but it gives me all of the previous buttons that have been pressed

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This cannot be what is happening. getSource() returns one object. Only one.

Do you set the consumed value in the event?

Code:

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square.addActionListener(new SquareListen());

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As written, each square is getting its own event handler.
So that handler will never see events from any other square.
So calling getSource() is pointless. It is usually sufficient
to have only one handler. In it getSource() will be useful.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zweibieren

Do you set the consumed value in the event?

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What do you mean by this?

I'm guessing he's asking if you happen to change the source in the action event object, but I'm not sure. Regardless, you need to show us how your code is not working at present as most of us see no reason why it shouldn't.

i don't know why i'm doing this...

you cannot show effort to provide a simple sscce, why should we then try ...
but, today's my birthday and you are a lucky winner

Code:

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import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

public class JButtons {

        public static ActionListener listener = new ActionListener() {

                @Override
                public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                        JButton source = (JButton) e.getSource();
                        System.out.println(source.getText());
                }
        };

        public static void main(String[] args) {

                JFrame frame = new JFrame("HTML Example");

                JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(10, 10));

                JButton[][] buttonArray = new JButton[10][10];

                for (int i = 0; i < buttonArray.length; i++) {
                        for (int j = 0; j < buttonArray[i].length; j++) {
                                JButton button = new JButton(i + "/" + j);
                                button.addActionListener(listener);
                                buttonArray[i][j] = button;
                                panel.add(button);
                        }
                }

                frame.add(panel);
                frame.setSize(600, 400);

                frame.setVisible(true);
        }

}

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i didnt comment either...
so please, next time, give it a try and create a conceptual idea and code of what you are tring to achieve

Well I know this probably won't help at all and is a pretty long and tedious thing to read but here is the source code:

Code:

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<Pointless wall of code that I shouldn't have put up>

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Please read the link on creating an SSCCE. It will help you 1) create a bit of code that is useful for us to look at and 2) force you to solve your problem in a small simple program (which is much easier to do) then a big complex one. The latter is something you should be doing regardless of whether you post questions to the forum or not.

Much luck.

you can try

Code:

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square.addActionListener(this);

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WALL OF CODE ! YAY !
http://lolcat.com/pics/tldr.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AndreB

but, today's my birthday

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Congratulations; have a great day.

kind regards,

Jos

thanks :-)

Ok after alot of thinking and frustration I have been able to pinpoint my problem (but not solve it). What I want to do is select a square from the grid by clicking on a button and then when I press a separate button, it should then allow me to take values from the square that was pressed but for some reason values from all previously clicked on squares are given.

This time I created a sscce :D

Code:

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import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

class ClickBtnListener implements ActionListener
{
        private JButton source;
       
        public ClickBtnListener(JButton src)
        {
                source = src;
        }

        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
        {
                System.out.println("button clicked: " + source.getText());
        }
}

class SquareListener implements ActionListener
{
        private ShortExample sExample;

        public SquareListener(ShortExample shortE)
        {
                sExample = shortE;
        }

        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
        {
                        JButton source = (JButton) e.getSource();
                        System.out.println("grid clicked: "+ source.getText());
                       
                        JButton btn = sExample.addBtn;
                        btn.addActionListener(new ClickBtnListener(source));
        }
}

public class ShortExample {

        protected JButton addBtn;

        public ShortExample()
        {
                JFrame frame = new JFrame("Short Example");
                JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(10, 10));
                JButton[][] buttonArray = new JButton[10][10];
               
                addBtn = new JButton("Click me");
               
                for (int i=0; i<buttonArray.length; i++)
                {
                        for (int j=0; j<buttonArray[i].length; j++)
                        {
                                JButton button = new JButton(i +"/"+ j);
                                button.addActionListener(new SquareListener(this));
                                buttonArray[i][j] = button;
                                panel.add(button);
                        }
                }

                frame.add(panel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
                frame.add(addBtn, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
                frame.setSize(600, 400);

                frame.setVisible(true);
        }
       
        public static void main(String[] args)
        {
                ShortExample s = new ShortExample();
        }
}

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In this example try press a button in the grid and then the click me button afterwards and do this more than once to see the problem show up in the terminal/command prompt

Every time a square button is pressed it adds a new ClickButtonListener to the addBtn. So after 10 presses of these square buttons, that addbtn is bloated with 10 separate listeners. Then when you press the addbtn, all of those listeners will fire.

So don't add a new listener each time the square button has been pressed. Instead change the state of the program and then have the addBtn query the program's state. For a very basic example...

Code:

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import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.*;

public class ShortExample2 {

  private JButton addBtn;
  private int lastI = -1;
  private int lastJ = -1;

  public ShortExample2() {
    JFrame frame = new JFrame("Short Example");
    frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(10, 10));
    JButton[][] buttonArray = new JButton[10][10];

    addBtn = new JButton("Click me");
    addBtn.addActionListener(new ClickBtnListener2(this));
   
    SquareListener2 sqListener2 = new SquareListener2(this);

    for (int i = 0; i < buttonArray.length; i++) {
      for (int j = 0; j < buttonArray[i].length; j++) {
        JButton button = new JButton(i + "/" + j);
        button.addActionListener(sqListener2);
        buttonArray[i][j] = button;
        panel.add(button);
      }
    }

    frame.add(panel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    frame.add(addBtn, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
    frame.setSize(600, 400);

    frame.setVisible(true);
  }
 
  public void setLastI(int i) {
    this.lastI = i;
  }
 
  public void setLastJ(int j) {
    this.lastJ = j;
  }
 
  public int getLastI() {
    return lastI;
  }
 
  public int getLastJ() {
    return lastJ;
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    ShortExample2 s = new ShortExample2();
  }
}

class ClickBtnListener2 implements ActionListener {
  private ShortExample2 sExample;

  public ClickBtnListener2(ShortExample2 shEx2) {
    this.sExample = shEx2;
  }

  public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
    System.out.println("button clicked: [" + sExample.getLastI() + ", " + sExample.getLastJ() + "]");
  }
}

class SquareListener2 implements ActionListener {
  private ShortExample2 sExample;

  public SquareListener2(ShortExample2 shortE) {
    sExample = shortE;
  }

  public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
    String command = e.getActionCommand();
    System.out.println("grid clicked: " + command);

    String[] tokens = command.split("/");
    sExample.setLastI(Integer.parseInt(tokens[0]));
    sExample.setLastJ(Integer.parseInt(tokens[1]));
  }
}

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fubarable

Every time a square button is pressed it adds a new ClickButtonListener to the addBtn. So after 10 presses of these square buttons, that addbtn is bloated with 10 separate listeners. Then when you press the addbtn, all of those listeners will fire.

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Erm, normally Listeners don't fire anything; they are the target of the firing ;-) But true: adding more and more of them is obviously a bug.

kind regards,

Jos

wow :-) now thats what i'm talking about! A simple example showing the problem.

like jos and fubarable said, you have a misunderstanding for Observer Pattern

But, nevertheless why this doesnt help?

Thanks guys for all the help, I've realised what the problem is and messed around with ShortExample.java while looking at Fubarable's working version. Next time I have a problem I'll try to create a shorter version of it first before posting anything but for now im off to fix the big project.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by h3nch

Thanks guys for all the help, I've realised what the problem is and messed around with ShortExample.java while looking at Fubarable's working version. Next time I have a problem I'll try to create a shorter version of it first before posting anything but for now im off to fix the big project.

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Just don't put a listener class within a listener class. That way you can have a 12 inch you know what just like me.