Help: passing data from multiple JFrames

[newicons]

Hi, hoping an expert can help me here. See the image of what I am trying to achieve,..



I have created 3 jFrames with jButton options. And I want the 4th jFrame to display (or compute) the combination of buttons selected. So the question is, how do I pass the selected data from different frames/components (example here from the top 3 jFrames) into other frames/components (the bottom frame)?

This is assuming the 4th jFrame can display the selection upon any clicks, Or it can display after all 3 buttons are selected from each 1-3 Frames. Does not matter.

Appreciate your time and help. cheers. :)

[j2me64]

if all JButtons share the same ActionsListener then inside the ActionListener you can check which button was clicked and then compute and display your button combination in the 4th JFrame.

[JosAH]

There's a nice and simple design pattern for that purpose: the mediator. Your pink component is the mediator here. It has three separate listeners connected to the three green components. It also has three Strings:

private String actor;
private String action;
private String actee;

... and it has a display method:

if (actor != null && action != null && actee != null)
   doDisplay(actor+" "+action+" "+actee);

The three listeners fill in the corresponding values, i.e. actor, action or actee and call the display method afterwards.

kind regards,

Jos

[newicons]

many thanks j2me64 & Jos.
this is the first time im introduced mediator pattern. googled and spent hours trying to figure out the complexity of how it links classes together. once i get it right i'll share the codes for others. cheers.

[newicons]

Finally got it working. Thank you again for your help! Here are my codes to share. And also due credit to http://www.avajava.com which I learned the mediator pattern.


RunFrames.java

package components;

import javax.swing.JDesktopPane;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.*;


public class RunFrames extends JFrame {
Mediator mediator = new Mediator();
JDesktopPane desktop;
ActorFrame actorframe = new ActorFrame(mediator);
ActionFrame actionframe = new ActionFrame(mediator);
ActeeFrame acteeframe = new ActeeFrame(mediator);
LogFrame logframe = new LogFrame(mediator);

public RunFrames() {
super("Demo");
setBounds(50, 50, 600, 400);
desktop = new JDesktopPane();
setContentPane(desktop);
desktop.setDragMode(JDesktopPane.OUTLINE_DRAG_MODE );

desktop.add(actorframe);
desktop.add(actionframe);
desktop.add(acteeframe);
desktop.add(logframe);
actorframe.setVisible(true);
actionframe.setVisible(true);
acteeframe.setVisible(true);
logframe.setVisible(true);

}


public static void main(String[] args) {
javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
RunFrames mainframe = new RunFrames();
mainframe.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_ CLOSE);
mainframe.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
}

Mediator.java

package components;

// Learnings from Mediator Pattern - Web Tutorials - avajava.com
// MEDIATOR PATTERN

public class Mediator {

private String actorSelected = null;
private String actionSelected = null;
private String acteeSelected = null;

ActorFrame actorFrame;
ActionFrame actionFrame;
ActeeFrame acteeFrame;
LogFrame logFrame;

public void registerActorFrame(ActorFrame actorFrame) {
this.actorFrame = actorFrame;
}
public void registerActionFrame(ActionFrame actionFrame) {
this.actionFrame = actionFrame;
}
public void registerActeeFrame(ActeeFrame acteeFrame) {
this.acteeFrame = acteeFrame;
}
public void registerLogFrame(LogFrame logFrame) {
this.logFrame = logFrame;
}

public Mediator() {
}

public String theCompleteAction(String actor, String action, String actee) {
String joinedString = actor + " " + action + " " + actee;
logFrame.typeoutText("COMPLETE: " +joinedString);
return joinedString;
}

public String checkActor(String actor) {
actorSelected = actor;
logFrame.typeoutText(actorSelected + " selected.");
if (actorSelected=="Cancel") {actorSelected=null;}
if (actorSelected != null && actionSelected != null && acteeSelected != null)
{
return theCompleteAction(actorSelected,actionSelected,act eeSelected);}
return null;
}

public String checkAction(String action) {
actionSelected = action;
logFrame.typeoutText(actionSelected + " selected.");
if (actionSelected=="Cancel") {actionSelected=null;}
if (actorSelected != null && actionSelected != null && acteeSelected != null)
{
return theCompleteAction(actorSelected,actionSelected,act eeSelected);}
return null;
}

public String checkActee(String actee) {
acteeSelected = actee;
logFrame.typeoutText(acteeSelected + " selected.");
if (acteeSelected=="Cancel") {acteeSelected=null;}
if (actorSelected != null && actionSelected != null && acteeSelected != null)
{
return theCompleteAction(actorSelected,actionSelected,act eeSelected);}
return null;
}
}

ActorFrame.java

package components;

import java.util.Enumeration;
import javax.swing.JInternalFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JToggleButton;
import javax.swing.ButtonGroup;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.border.Border;
import javax.swing.AbstractButton;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.*;

public class ActorFrame extends JInternalFrame {

Mediator mediator1;

public ActorFrame(Mediator mediator) {
super("Actors",true,true,true,true);
setSize(150,150);
setLocation(30,30);
this.mediator1 = mediator;
this.mediator1.registerActorFrame(this);

// start adding buttons....
JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0, 1));
Border border = BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Options");
panel.setBorder(border);
final ButtonGroup group = new ButtonGroup();

String[] anArray;
anArray = new String[2];
anArray[0] = "Tarzan";
anArray[1] = "Jane";


ActionListener aListener = new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
Enumeration elements = group.getElements();
while (elements.hasMoreElements()) {
AbstractButton button = (AbstractButton) elements
.nextElement();
if (button.isSelected()) {
mediator1.checkActor(button.getText());
break;
}
}
group.setSelected(null, true);
}
};

int count = 0;
while (count < 2) {
AbstractButton button1 = new JToggleButton(anArray[count]);
button1.addActionListener(aListener);
panel.add(button1);
group.add(button1);
count++;
}
AbstractButton button1 = new JToggleButton("Cancel");
button1.addActionListener(aListener);
panel.add(button1);
group.add(button1);
// end adding buttons....
setContentPane(panel);

}
}

ActionFrame.java

package components;

import java.util.Enumeration;
import javax.swing.JInternalFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JToggleButton;
import javax.swing.ButtonGroup;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.border.Border;
import javax.swing.AbstractButton;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.*;

public class ActionFrame extends JInternalFrame {

Mediator mediator2;

public ActionFrame(Mediator mediator) {
super("Actions",true,true,true,true);
setSize(150,150);
setLocation(210,30);
this.mediator2 = mediator;
this.mediator2.registerActionFrame(this);

// start adding buttons....
JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0, 1));
Border border = BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Options");
panel.setBorder(border);
final ButtonGroup group = new ButtonGroup();

String[] anArray;
anArray = new String[2];
anArray[0] = "punches";
anArray[1] = "kicks";

ActionListener aListener = new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
Enumeration elements = group.getElements();
while (elements.hasMoreElements()) {
AbstractButton button = (AbstractButton) elements
.nextElement();
if (button.isSelected()) {
mediator2.checkAction(button.getText());
break;
}
}
group.setSelected(null, true);
}
};

int count = 0;
while (count < 2) {
AbstractButton button1 = new JToggleButton(anArray[count]);
button1.addActionListener(aListener);
panel.add(button1);
group.add(button1);
count++;
}
AbstractButton button1 = new JToggleButton("Cancel");
button1.addActionListener(aListener);
panel.add(button1);
group.add(button1);

// end adding buttons....

setContentPane(panel);

}
}

ActeeFrame.java

package components;

import java.util.Enumeration;
import javax.swing.JInternalFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JToggleButton;
import javax.swing.ButtonGroup;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.border.Border;
import javax.swing.AbstractButton;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.*;

public class ActeeFrame extends JInternalFrame {

Mediator mediator3;


public ActeeFrame(Mediator mediator) {

super("Actee",true,true,true,true);
setSize(150,150);
setLocation(390,30);
this.mediator3 = mediator;
this.mediator3.registerActeeFrame(this);

// start adding buttons....
JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0, 1));
Border border = BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Options");
panel.setBorder(border);
final ButtonGroup group = new ButtonGroup();

String[] anArray;
anArray = new String[2];
anArray[0] = "Panther";
anArray[1] = "Gorilla";

ActionListener aListener = new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
Enumeration elements = group.getElements();
while (elements.hasMoreElements()) {
AbstractButton button = (AbstractButton) elements
.nextElement();
if (button.isSelected()) {
mediator3.checkActee(button.getText());
break;
}
}
group.setSelected(null, true);
}
};


int count = 0;
while (count < 2) {
AbstractButton button1 = new JToggleButton(anArray[count]);
button1.addActionListener(aListener);
panel.add(button1);
group.add(button1);
count++;
}
AbstractButton button1 = new JToggleButton("Cancel");
button1.addActionListener(aListener);
panel.add(button1);
group.add(button1);

// end adding buttons....

setContentPane(panel);

}
}

LogFrame.java

package components;

import java.util.Enumeration;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.JInternalFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JToggleButton;
import javax.swing.ButtonGroup;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.border.Border;
import javax.swing.AbstractButton;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.*;

public class LogFrame extends JInternalFrame {

Mediator mediator4;
protected JTextArea textArea;
private final static String newline = "\n";

public LogFrame(Mediator mediator) {
super("Action Log",true,true,true,true);
setSize(300,150);
setLocation(30,210);
this.mediator4 = mediator;
this.mediator4.registerLogFrame(this);

// start adding text area....
JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0, 1));
Border border = BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Options");
panel.setBorder(border);

textArea = new JTextArea(5, 20);
textArea.setEditable(false);
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(textArea);

panel.add(scrollPane);
// end adding text area....

setContentPane(panel);
}

public void typeoutText(String text) {
textArea.append(text + newline);
textArea.setCaretPosition(textArea.getDocument().g etLength());
}
}

[JosAH]

A small warning: don't compare Strings for equality with the == operator; use the String.equals( ... ) method instead.

kind regards,

Jos