dispose()'ing a frame from itself.

EDIT: im trying to close one JFrame while having my window controller draw another to replace it. i've revised my code from the original implementation, and it "works", but throws a null pointer exception. here's the revised bit:

Code:

---

//from the frame to be closed
//get the difficulty from the user
difficulty = (String) JOptionPane.showInputDialog(null, "What difficulty would you like?", "Game",
                        JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE, null, dificultyChoices, dificultyChoices[0]);
               
//if the user presses the cancel button, present them with the main menu
if(difficulty == null)
        wc.canceled(this);

---

Code:

---

//from the window controller
public void canceled(JFrame callingWindow)
{
        callingWindow.dispose();
        //createWindow() draws the window i want to replace callingWindow
        createWindow();
}

---

when i run that and click that particular cancel button, eclipse gives me

Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.NullPointerException

with the first location being the very next line of code after wc.canceled(this);. it also cites two other places in my code and a couple dozen in the swing and awt libraries.

the odd thing, though, is that it works until i go to actually start the game.

whats actually happening?

-----------------original post-----------------

so, im trying to catch a cancel button click from a JOptionPane, then send the exception up to the window controller, have it destroy the JFrame the exception came from, then start over with the main JFrame of the program.

as that's probably convoluted, i'll post some code.

Code:

---

//from inside the JFrame
try
{
        difficulty = (String) JOptionPane.showInputDialog(null, "What difficulty would you like?", "Game",
                        JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE, null, dificultyChoices, dificultyChoices[0]);
}
catch(HeadlessException ex)
{
        //wc is a window controller
        wc.canceled(this);
}

---

Code:

---

//from the window controller
public void canceled(JFrame callingWindow)
{
        callingWindow.dispose();
        //createWindow() draws the window i want to replace callingWindow
        createWindow();
}

---

the problem with this is that the original JFrame goes right ahead executing its next line of code. but, of course, since it's just been dispose()'d, it throws a NullPointerException and crashes.

how should i actually be implementing this?

Why are you catching a HeadlessException instead of reading the return value of showInputDialog which tells you if the user clicked cancel or not?

i thought that was how you handled the cancel button, obviously. =P

i'll mess around with the string but ive got a feeling it'll still try to execute code after ive destroyed the window.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by musasabi

i thought that was how you handled the cancel button, obviously. =P

---

The returned value won't help either, my bad.

Better make a CustomDialog and setDefaultCloseOperation on it.
See here.

alright, ive been trying to figure out how to make a custom dialog to handle the cancel buttons, but it hasnt been going well.

any help, or should i just go to my prof with this? haha.

Post what you have for your custom dialog and let's see where it's going wrong.
You can simply add a button yourself labeled cancel and put an ActionListener (or better set an Action) on it to do your cancel logic.

i just finished updating my original post.

if you think im better off trying to create a custom dialog still, i'll have at that. =)

btw, thanks for the help already. every step of this is educational.

Yes, you are better off creating a custom dialog for this. It's not that hard. See the example code in the link I posted ealier.

ok, so far, this is what ive got.

Code:

---

import java.awt.event.WindowAdapter;
import java.awt.event.WindowEvent;
import javax.swing.JDialog;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;

public class CustomDialog extends JDialog
{
        private WindowController wc = null;
        private JFrame parentWindow = null;
       
        public CustomDialog(WindowController wc, JFrame parentWindow)
        {
                this.wc = wc;
                this.parentWindow = parentWindow;
               
                setDefaultCloseOperation(DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE);
                addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter()
                {
                        public void windowClosing(WindowEvent we)
                        {
                                wc.canceled(parentWindow);
                        }
                });
        }
}

---

two issues, aside from potentially doing it wrong: one, i havent the slightest clue how to implement this as i had been implementing the input dialogs (with list boxes/etc). two, eclipse tells me that referring to wc and parentWindow inside the constructor for CustomDialog requires i declare the parameters as final. im certain that this actually means im doing something wrong, so i've left the auto-corrections out of this posting.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by musasabi

..
two issues, aside from potentially doing it wrong: one, i havent the slightest clue how to implement this as i had been implementing the input dialogs (with list boxes/etc). ..

---

You can pass the data through the constructor of the dialog and use it to create the JOptionPane that you would then set at the Dialog's content pane (see the example I posted).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by musasabi

.. two, eclipse tells me that referring to wc and parentWindow inside the constructor for CustomDialog requires i declare the parameters as final. im certain that this actually means im doing something wrong, so i've left the auto-corrections out of this posting.

---

It's actually refering to wc in the windowClosing event of the Anonymous inner class that would complain. You can simply make it final.

ok, i believe i implemented what you suggested.

Code:

---

package hangman;

import java.awt.event.WindowAdapter;
import java.awt.event.WindowEvent;
import javax.swing.JDialog;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;

public class CustomDialog extends JDialog
{
        private WindowController wc = null;
        private JFrame parentWindow = null;
       
        public CustomDialog(final WindowController wc, final JFrame parentWindow)
        {
                this.wc = wc;
                this.parentWindow = parentWindow;
               
                setDefaultCloseOperation(DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE);
                addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter()
                {
                        public void windowClosing(WindowEvent we)
                        {
                                wc.canceled(parentWindow);
                        }
                });
        }
       
        public String getInput(String message, String title, int style)
        {
                return JOptionPane.showInputDialog(parentWindow, message, title, style);
        }
}

---

i tried to implement this like String something = customDialog.getInput("something",...);.

when i click cancel, though, it crashes with a null pointer exception and no redrawn main menu.

sorry if im just not getting your intentions. im certainly trying, haha.

From the example I posted, you will find

Code:

---

      //Create the JOptionPane.
        optionPane = new JOptionPane(array,
                                    JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE,
                                    JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION,
                                    null,
                                    options,
                                    options[0]);

        //Make this dialog display it.
        setContentPane(optionPane);

---

I don't see that in your code. About the N.P.E, you are passing valid values when actually creating an instance of the CustomDialog, right?

i re-read over the example code you posted (and the corresponding java tutorial) after getting some sleep (it was 3:30am for me when i we were having that last exchange). in the DialogDemo example, they're testing against a null string return, even with the custom dialog. at least thats what i got from it.

what im getting at that i only have a vague notion of what im actually trying to do here. i think i know the objective, but enough pieces are missing from the route that im not sure im even headed in the right direction.

here's my source code/etc for the time being.

http://musasabi.h4xful.net/misc/home...manproject.zip

its comically lengthy for a hangman game, but thats how it goes when you try to have real "features".