How to update the contents of a JTextArea

[Reptar693]

I am trying to create a utility program that helps the user organize an external hardrive

So far i have 3 classes , A main class, a GUI class, and a class that generates a JTree(for the files)

What i want to happen is that when you select a file that appears in the tree the filename would appear on the JTextArea and it would change if you selected a different file

Ive added a TreeSelectionListener and it works fine the problem is how do i get it to appear on the JTextAre

Here's the Code

Here's the main class

<code>
public class Organizer {

    
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        
       
        HomeWindow HM= new HomeWindow();
        
        HM.HomeWindowMain();
       
    }

   
}

</code>

Here's the GUI class

<code>

package organizer;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.ItemEvent;
import java.awt.event.ItemListener;
import java.io.File;
import java.sql.*;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import javax.swing.*;



/**
 *
 * @author
 */
public class HomeWindow implements ActionListener, ItemListener {
   
    
       
    public void HomeWindowMain()
    {
    //Schedule a job for the event-dispatching thread:
        //creating and showing this application's GUI.
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {//This code is constant, it is important that the GUI is 
            @Override                              //executed using this method so that the GUI 
            public void run() {                    //is 'thread-safe'.
                HomeStart();                        //:)
            }
        });
        
    }
    
    
 public static Connection getConnection() throws Exception 
      {
         Connection conn;                                               // Connection Instance
       String driver = "org.apache.derby.jdbc.ClientDriver";            //driver url
       String connectionURL = "jdbc:derby://localhost:1527/Organizer";  // connection url
       String Username= "Vince_Tiu";                                    //Username
       String Password= "v930906t";                                     //password
       Class.forName(driver);                                           //Finds a database driver
       conn= DriverManager.getConnection(connectionURL,Username,Password);  //Establish a session with a
                                                                            //particular database.
       return conn;
     }   
   
    public void HomeStart()
    {
    /**Here, the main frame is made**/
        
    //JFrame.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(true);//to cutomize the JFrame
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("External HD");
       
        
        HomeWindow HomeObject = new HomeWindow();
        frame.getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());//adds the main panel to the Frame
        frame.add(HomeObject.MainContentPanel());
        frame.setJMenuBar(HomeObject.MenuBar());
        
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);//default Action if the frame is closed
        frame.setSize(803,484);
        frame.setLocation(300,90);
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);  
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
        
        
    }

    public void setSampleFileName(String SampleFileName) {
        this.SampleFileName = SampleFileName;
    }
    
    
    /* Variable Declarations*/
    
  JMenu HomeMenu;
  JMenuItem Admin, About;
  JToggleButton CopyBtn;
  public JTextArea FileNameText;
  
  String SampleFileName;
    
    /**/
    
    
    
    public JPanel MainContentPanel()
    { 
        
      FilesPanel filesObject= new FilesPanel(); 
      String SampleDescription="";       
        
      JPanel MainPanel= new JPanel();  //Main panel
      MainPanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
     
      
      JPanel DetailsPanel = new JPanel(); //Panel for the details on the left side
      DetailsPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(DetailsPanel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));   
      DetailsPanel.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(0, 0));
      DetailsPanel.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(190, 840));
      DetailsPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(190, 240));     
      
      
      JPanel FileNamePanel= new JPanel();//Panel that holds the File Name Label
      JLabel FileName = new JLabel("File Name");// File name Label
      FileNamePanel.add(FileName);
      FileNamePanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(0,20));
      DetailsPanel.add(FileNamePanel);
      
      JPanel FNTextAreaPanel= new JPanel();// Panel holds the file name text area
      FileNameText = new JTextArea();// File name Text area
      FileNameText.setEditable(false);
      FileNameText.setLineWrap(true);
      FileNameText.setWrapStyleWord(true);
      FileNameText.setBackground(Color.white);
      FileNameText.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(170,22));
      FNTextAreaPanel.add(FileNameText);
      FNTextAreaPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(0,50));
      DetailsPanel.add(FNTextAreaPanel);
      
      
      JPanel DescriptionPanel= new JPanel();// Panel that holds the Description Label
      JLabel Description = new JLabel("Description");// the description Label
      DescriptionPanel.add(Description);
      DescriptionPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(0,20));
      DetailsPanel.add(DescriptionPanel);
      
      JPanel TextAreaPanel= new JPanel();// Panel That holds the Description Text area
      TextAreaPanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
      JTextArea DescriptionText = new JTextArea(SampleDescription);// the description text area
      DescriptionText.setEditable(false);
      DescriptionText.setLineWrap(true);
      DescriptionText.setWrapStyleWord(true);
      DescriptionText.setBackground(Color.white);
     
      
      JScrollPane DescriptionArea = new JScrollPane(DescriptionText, JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED,
                                          JScrollPane.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED);// Creates A scrollpane for the 
                                                                                     // Description text area
      TextAreaPanel.add(DescriptionArea, BorderLayout.CENTER);
      TextAreaPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(0,30));
      DetailsPanel.add(TextAreaPanel);
      
      
      JPanel BtnPanel= new JPanel();// Panel that Holds the copy button
      CopyBtn=new JToggleButton("Copy"); // The Copy Button
      CopyBtn.addItemListener(this);
      CopyBtn.setSize(190,60);
      CopyBtn.setLocation(30,50);
      BtnPanel.add(CopyBtn);
      BtnPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(10,50));
      DetailsPanel.add(BtnPanel);
      
      
      MainPanel.add(DetailsPanel, BorderLayout.WEST);
      MainPanel.add(new FilesPanel(), BorderLayout.CENTER);
      MainPanel.setOpaque(true);
        
      return MainPanel;
    }
    
    public JMenuBar MenuBar()
    {
     JMenuBar HomeBar= new JMenuBar();  // The Menu Bar
      
      HomeMenu = new JMenu("Menu"); 
      HomeBar.add(HomeMenu);
      
      Admin=new JMenuItem("Admin Access");
      Admin.addActionListener(this);
      About=new JMenuItem("About");
      About.addActionListener(this);
      
      HomeMenu.add(Admin);
      HomeMenu.add(About);
      
  
      return HomeBar;
    }
    
    
    // Deals with the Item Events.
    @Override
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
         
        if(e.getSource() == Admin)
        {
          Log LG = new Log();
            LG.Logmain();
        }
        else if(e.getSource()== About)
        {
          String info = "Yet to be added";  
            
          JFrame AboutFrame = new JFrame();
          JPanel AboutPanel = new JPanel();
          AboutPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(AboutPanel,BoxLayout.LINE_AXIS)); // sets layout to be a boxtype layout
          
          JTextArea AboutText = new JTextArea(info,5,30);
          AboutText.setEditable(false);
          AboutText.setLineWrap(true);
          AboutText.setWrapStyleWord(true);
          AboutText.setBackground(Color.lightGray);
                    
          
          AboutPanel.add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension(0,0))); //attributes for the box layout
          AboutPanel.add(AboutText);          
          AboutPanel.setOpaque(true);
          
          AboutFrame.setContentPane(AboutPanel);
          AboutFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);//default Action if the frame is closed
          AboutFrame.setSize(310, 200);
          AboutFrame.setLocation(560,200);
          AboutFrame.setVisible(true);  
        }   
    }

    @Override
    public void itemStateChanged(ItemEvent e) 
    {
        if(e.getStateChange() == ItemEvent.SELECTED)
        {
            CopyBtn.setText("Copying");
            
        }
        else
        {
            CopyBtn.setText("Copy");
            
        } 
    }
}

</code>

Here's the JTree class

<code>

package organizer;

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.io.File;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTree;
import javax.swing.SpringLayout;
import javax.swing.event.TreeSelectionEvent;
import javax.swing.event.TreeSelectionListener;
import javax.swing.tree.DefaultMutableTreeNode;
import javax.swing.tree.TreePath;

/**
 *
 * @author ASUS
 */
@SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class FilesPanel extends JPanel{

    public String getFilename() {
        return Filename;
    }

    public void setFilename(String Filename) {
        this.Filename = Filename;
    }
    

    public static JTree tree;
    public String Filename;
 
    
    
  FilesPanel()
    {
    String Dir="I:\\";
    DefaultMutableTreeNode top = new DefaultMutableTreeNode(Dir);
    
    Process(Dir, top, true);
    tree=new JTree(top);
    
    JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane(tree, JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED,
                                           JScrollPane.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED);
    scroll.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(600, 420));
    scroll.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(800,800));
    scroll.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(0,0));
    this.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
    
    tree.addTreeSelectionListener(new TreeSelectionListener() {
	public void valueChanged(TreeSelectionEvent evt) {
		// Get all nodes whose selection status has changed
		TreePath[] paths = evt.getPaths();
 
		// Iterate through all affected nodes
		for (int i=0; i<paths.length; i++) {
			if (evt.isAddedPath(i)) {
				// This node has been selected
				Filename= paths[i].getLastPathComponent().toString();
                                System.out.println(Filename);// here it prints fine therefore it is working
				break;
			} else {
				// This node has been deselected
				break;
			}
		}
	}
});
    this.add(scroll);
              
    }
  

   
    public static void Process(String FD, DefaultMutableTreeNode root, Boolean recursive)
    {
       
        /*
        * @params: String directory ~ the directory to scan
        * @params: DefaultMutableTreeNode parent ~ the node to add any files as children
        * @params: Boolean recursive ~ determine whether to scan all subdirectories, or just the parent
        */
        
        File[] DirFiles = new File(FD).listFiles();// list all the files in the directory
        
        for(int x=0; x<DirFiles.length;x++)
        { 
          
          DefaultMutableTreeNode node = new DefaultMutableTreeNode(DirFiles[x].getName());
          // only display the node if it isn't a folder, and if this is a recursive call
          if(DirFiles[x].isFile()&& recursive) // loop through each
          {
             
             root.add(node);// add it as a node and do nothing else
          }
          else if(DirFiles[x].isDirectory()&& recursive)
          {
            
          root.add(node);// add as a child node
          Process(DirFiles[x].getPath(), node, recursive);// call again for the subdirectory
          }
          
        }
       
    }
    

    
    
}


</code>

I got most of the ideas online, as i'm still new to this. And any tips or advice would be a great help
Thanks in advance

[DarrylBurke]

Moved from New to Java.

db

[Fubarable]

That's an awful lot of code to ask a volunteer to slog through without more direction. How about helping us out here? For instance, to have text show in a JTextArea you call its setText(...) method if you want to replace all text with your text or its append(...) method if you want to add text to existing text. What problems are you having when you try this? Please tell us the details, show us the important code, try to limit the volume of noise we have to go through to get to the core problem. Also, consider replying to answers in your previous thread before asking a new question. It helps motivate us to help you.

[Reptar693]

I apologize, I am kinda new to forums, anyway i found the solution, it was to make my JTextArea Variable static.

I appreciate the advice and i will definitely use them next time, Thank you very much

[Fubarable]

I apologize, I am kinda new to forums, anyway i found the solution, it was to make my JTextArea Variable static.

No, that is not a good, viable or long-term workable solution at all. You've still got a problem.