Saving JTextArea as a txt file

[chirag123]

I need to save what the user enters into the JTextArea as a txt file when they press the save button but I keep getting an error message when I try to compile it, hope someone can help. Here's my code:

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

import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.Image;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.*;

class InputRoute extends JFrame
{	
	InputRoute()
	{
		Container c = getContentPane();
		c.setLayout ( null );
		
		Color b = new Color(100,200,255); // set colour of JFrame
		c.setBackground( b );
		
		JLabel title = new JLabel("Input Route"); // new label
		title.setBounds(250, 20, 500, 30); // set position and size
		title.setForeground(Color.BLUE); // set colour of text to blue
		title.setFont(new Font("Time", Font.BOLD, 18)); // change font and size of text
		c.add(title);//adds object
		
		JLabel todo = new JLabel("Please enter your route below:"); // new label
		todo.setBounds(200, 40, 500, 30); // set position and size
		todo.setForeground(Color.BLUE); // set colour of text to blue
		todo.setFont(new Font("Time", Font.BOLD, 12)); // change font and size of text
		c.add(todo);//adds object
		
		JLabel eastmid = new JLabel("East Midlands Bus");//creates label
		eastmid.setBounds(245,400,500,30);//label location and size
		eastmid.setForeground(Color.BLUE);//colour of text
		eastmid.setFont(new Font("Time", Font.BOLD, 12));//font of text
		c.add(eastmid);//adds object
		
		JTextArea inputroute=new JTextArea("");//creates text field to enter route
		inputroute.setBounds(50, 75, 500, 250);//sets location and size
		inputroute.setEditable(true);//makes the field editable
		inputroute.setFont(new Font("Time", Font.PLAIN,12));//sets font of text
		inputroute.setBackground(null);//makes background transparents
		inputroute.setForeground(Color.BLUE);//sets colour of text
		inputroute.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEtchedBorder(3, Color.BLUE, Color.BLUE)); //sets border so text field can be seen
		
		JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(inputroute);
		scrollPane.setBounds(50,75,500,250);
		
		JButton save = new JButton("SAVE ROUTE");//creates buttons
		save.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
		{
			public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
			{
				String fileName = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter file name");//String finalFileName = fileName.getText();
				FileWriter outFile = new FileWriter(fileName +".txt",true);
				outFile.write(inputroute.getText());
				outFile.close();
			}
		});
		
		JButton exit = new JButton("EXIT");
		exit.addActionListener(new ActionListener() 
		{
			public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
			{
				dispose();
			}
		});
		
		exit.setForeground(Color.BLUE);//edits button
		exit.setFont(new Font("Time", Font.BOLD, 12));
		save.setForeground(Color.BLUE);//edits button
		save.setFont(new Font("Time", Font.BOLD, 12));
		
		c.add(exit);//adds objects
		c.add(save);
		c.add(scrollPane);
		
		exit.setBounds(250, 375, 90, 30);//sets location of button
		save.setBounds(230,340, 150,30);
		
		Dimension screenSize = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize();
		this.setBounds((int) screenSize.getWidth()/2 - 370, (int) screenSize.getHeight()/2 - 300, 600, 450);  // set position and size
		this.setResizable(false);
		this.setDefaultCloseOperation(DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
		
		this.setTitle("Admin");
		this.setVisible(true);
		this.setResizable(false);
	}
}

this is the error that I'm getting:

local variable inputroute is accessed from within inner class; needs to be declared final
outFile.write(inputroute.getText());

[KevinWorkman]

That error is pretty self-descriptive. You can't access a variable in an outer class from an inner class unless that variable is declared final.

[chirag123]

But how do you set a variable as final? had a look on google but couldn't find anything helpful

[DarrylBurke]

That's strange. I get all relevant hits on the first page when I search for 'java final variable'

Additionally, JTextArea has a write(...) method inherited from JTextComponent which saves you some code and also makes the code more readable/maintainable.

db

[camickr]

Quit cross posting!!! java - Saving JTextArea as a txt file - final variable - Stack Overflow