How to pass events up a GUI hierarchy

[robbie.26]

What's the best way to pass events up a GUI (Swing) hierarchy?

For example, say you had an application class MainGUI, which contains an instance of another class MainPanel,
which contains an instance of another class SmallPanel. Let's say you want the MainGUI object to do something
when the instance of the SmallPanel object was clicked with the mouse.

class MainGUI
{
  MainPanel mainPanel;
  
  //do something if the SmallPanel object is clicked  
  
  ...  
}

class MainPanel
{
  SmallPanel smallPanel;
  
  ...
}

class SmallPanel
{
  public void MouseClicked(MouseEvent e)
  {
    //clicked
  }

  ...
}

[Norm]

you want the MainGUI object to do something when the instance of the SmallPanel object was clicked with the mouse.

Sounds like the place for a listener. The MainGUI object should add a listener to the SmallPanel object.

[robbie.26]

So are you saying that inside the MainGUI class I should have:

smallPanel.addMouseListener(...);

Which would mean I would need access to the SmallPanel instance.

It seems weird to have the event handling code for the SmallPanel class in another class.

[sunde887]

Think of how you would add functionality to a button. The approach should be identical(or very similar), since a button is just a smaller GUI component.

[Norm]

have the event handling code for the SmallPanel class in another class.

I didn't say that the SmallPanel shouldn't handle the event.
What kind of notification do you want the small panel to send to the MainGUI panel? Is it like an event?

I would need access to the SmallPanel instance.

Yes if the MainGUI class needs to be notified of an event in the SmallPanel class.

[robbie.26]

Think of how you would add functionality to a button. The approach should be identical(or very similar), since a button is just a smaller GUI component.

Okay that makes sense to me.

I didn't say that the SmallPanel shouldn't handle the event.
What kind of notification do you want the small panel to send to the MainGUI panel? Is it like an event?

Yes if the MainGUI class needs to be notified of an event in the SmallPanel class.

Maybe I worded that wrong. The SmallPanel as I have it right now implements the MouseListener and MouseMotionListener interface
and supports selection and dragging with the mouse. Should I just move all these listener methods (MouseClicked(), MousePressed(), etc) to the MainGUI class?

[Norm]

Should I just move all these listener methods

Which class handles the event? If the SmallPanel doesn't do anything then I'd say move them to the class that does.
As sunde887 said, treat SmallPanel as a special type of button.

[sunde887]

Something like

small.addMouseListener(small)

Since you want to add the listening to the small component, and the small component handles the mouse movement.

[robbie.26]

Which class handles the event? If the SmallPanel doesn't do anything then I'd say move them to the class that does.
As sunde887 said, treat SmallPanel as a special type of button.

The SmallPanel handles the event. My setup right now has the SmallPanel handling its own events.
The MainPanel actually creates many SmallPanel instances, so where would I put the SmallPanels' event-handling code
so that the MainGUI can be updated?

[Norm]

What notification does the SmallPanel need to pass to the MainGUI class? I assume it's not the MouseClick event.
I'm proposing a new event that the MainGUI would listen for. The SmallPanel would notify its listeners when this new event should passed.

[robbie.26]

What notification does the SmallPanel need to pass to the MainGUI class? I assume it's not the MouseClick event.
I'm proposing a new event that the MainGUI would listen for. The SmallPanel would notify its listeners when this new event should passed.

Each SmallPanel contains a BufferedImage. When the SmallPanel is clicked its BufferedImage should be displayed elsewhere in the MainGUI.

[Norm]

Sounds like a TimeToChangeImageEvent.
There was a similar thread to this one in the past couple of weeks. It referred to an existing mechanism in Java to handle new user defined events. I don't remember what the name of the class was. But it handled all the bookkeeping.
Myself, I like to roll-my-own: Define a new TimeToChangeEvent class, an addTimeToChangeImageListener() method, a ChangeImageListener interface.
When the event occurs in SmallPanel, create a new TimeToChangeImageEvent, and call all the listeners on the list saved by the addTimeToChangeImageListener.
And bob's your uncle.

[robbie.26]

Would this be a bad idea?

class MainGUI
{
  MainPanel mainPanel;
  
  setViewportImage(BufferedImage img) {...}  
  
  ...  
}

class MainPanel
{
  SmallPanel[] smallPanels;
  
  ...
}

class SmallPanel
{
  BufferedImage image;  

  public void MouseClicked(MouseEvent e)
  {
     MainPanel mainPanel = (MainPanel) getParent();
     MainGUI gui = (MainGUI) mainPanel.getParent();
     gui.setViewportImage(this.image);
  }

  ...
}

[Norm]

Yes, it locks your GUI structure to the current layout.

[Tolls]

Sounds like a TimeToChangeImageEvent.
There was a similar thread to this one in the past couple of weeks. It referred to an existing mechanism in Java to handle new user defined events. I don't remember what the name of the class was. But it handled all the bookkeeping.

There's the old Observer/Observable setup, but I find them a bit clunky.
If there's a newer one then I haven't bumped into it.
Like you I tend to roll my own, since the Observable bit isn't exactly complex.