Sharing Data Members between two JFrames

I have two classes that extend JFrame, call them frame1 and frame2. Frame1 is basically the main window while frame2 is an "options" window.

Frame1 has a data member called "mystring". It also has a button called "optionsButton" which loads the options window.

In the options window I have yet another button that is called "resetStringButton". When I click on this button, it resets the string "mystring" in frame1, to "".

So basically I want both frames to share mystring. How can I do this? I tried having yet another class that contains the data, and loads both frames. However, I still find it difficult to "share" these members between all these different classes.

Help would be much appreciated.

I think I just solved it, although I'm not sure if this is a safe solution or what not. Let me know if this is the correct solution:


In frame1, I define a new frame1 and set it equal to "this." However, I also declare it as final. Example:

final frame1 thisframe = this;

Then... for the action event for the options button, I do this:
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
frame2 optionsframe = new frame2(thisframe);

}

.... NOW, in frame2, I wrote a constructor that takes a frame1 as a parameter, AND I also add a frame1 class variable to frame2, called parentframe.

So now in the ActionListener for the resetStringButton, I have

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
parentframe.mystring = "";
}


That's it. It seems to work. I don't know if it's safe or not. Let me know if you see problems with this approach.

1) Avoid using two JFrames as the second window is behaving as a dialog and thus should be a dialog such as a JDialog. Since you can add to a JDialog's contentPane just as you do with a JFrame, adding JPanels to it is no different. Also, it seems as if your dialog should be a modal one -- one that prevents interaction with the parent window until the dialog is dealt with and so your JDialog should be constructed to be modal.

2) It's not uncommon to pass a reference from one object into another via a constructor parameter just as you are doing.

3) You shouldn't have one object directly fiddle with another's fields. Instead give your main window a public method, say public void clearMyString(), and in this method set myString to "". Then call this method from the object passed into the second window/object.

Luck!

Thanks for the info I changed it to a JDialog and seems to be working well. I will implement the setter method as well. :)