action listeners

I have two JButtons, and app is supposed to do one thing when button1 is pressed, and another thing when button2 is pressed.
I already know how to do this with just one button, but have no idea how to create two handlers, for one button each like:

go1.addActionListener(handler1);
go2.addActionListener(handler2);

There are some explanations out there, but they all use keyword 'this', so in general not much helpful, since I don't know what that means although I've been trying for months.
So if anyone can explain this without using 'this' it would be very helpful.

This assigns an ActionListener to both buttons. When an action is performed check to see which button is the source of the event by using e.getSource().

Code:

---

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


public class Main {

    /**
    * @param args the command line arguments
    */
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new Main();
    }
   
   
    JButton button1 = new JButton("Button 1");
    JButton button2 = new JButton("Button 2");
   
    //Create an instance of your ActionListener
    ButtonActionListener buttonListener = new ButtonActionListener();
   
    public Main() {
       
        //add listener to buttons
        button1.addActionListener(buttonListener);
        button2.addActionListener(buttonListener);
       
        //or...
        //button1.addActionListener(new ButtonActionListener());
        //button2.addActionListener(new ButtonActionListener());
       
       
       
       
        //create a frame and position buttons in container...
       
    }
   
   
    class ButtonActionListener implements ActionListener {
       
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
           
            if(e.getSource()==button1) {
               
                //executed when button1 is pressed...
            }
           
            if(e.getSource()==button2) {
               
                //executed when button2 is pressed...
            }
        }
    }
   
}

---

Very nice, thanks.
You could have saved some space by referring just to 'e.getSource' line, but this way it's complete for all future similar inquiries.

You should not be testing the button to determine which piece of code to execute.

Insetead create 2 classes.

You don't need to create two separate classes implementing an ActionListener for each button? My understanding was you could use event.getSource() to determine the source of the event and execute the appropriate code with an if-statment. If you had twenty buttons that equals twenty separate classes implementing an ActionListener. That doesn't seem very efficient or reusable.

Maybe I misunderstood... but even Oracle uses e.getSource() to redirect events based on which Component created the event.

http://download.oracle.com/javase/tu...ts/button.html
http://www.rgagnon.com/javadetails/java-0468.html

Using "if statements" in a listener is not a good idea. Checking the source of the event is not a good idea.

It is better to have separate listeners that each do a specific function.

Actually, it is even better to use an Action so it can easily be shared between different component types (buttons, menu items). See: How to Use Actions (The Java™ Tutorials > Creating a GUI With JFC/Swing > Using Other Swing Features)

It depends. A lot of us use anonymous inner classes for this, classes that have no name and are created on the spot for whatever button needs the action.

I mean i've always been taught even in a lot of Java tutorial books that it was ok to use if-statements to redirect events inside the same class. If I had twenty buttons would I create a separate inner class for each one? It just seems that in some cases it would be more practical to create one class with if-statments inside them? Or did I learn this completely wrong xD.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by camickr

Using "if statements" in a listener is not a good idea. Checking the source of the event is not a good idea.

It is better to have separate listeners that each do a specific function.

Actually, it is even better to use an Action so it can easily be shared between different component types (buttons, menu items). See: How to Use Actions (The Java™ Tutorials > Creating a GUI With JFC/Swing > Using Other Swing Features)

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Oh but I see your point there, having an ActionListener that is responsible for a bunch of events isn't easily shared with other components that in the future may need to execute the same action.

Quote:

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If I had twenty buttons would I create a separate inner class for each one?

---

If you have twenty buttons, then chances are each button has similiar logic in which case you can use a common ActionListener that still doesn't need to check which button was pressed.

See: the ButtonCalculator example in this posting: http://www.java-forums.org/new-java/...alculator.html that shows one way to do this.

I'm not saying "never" use if statements. However usually there is a better approach.

Ok thank you :) Its always nice to learn something new. I can see where it would be a better idea to create separate actions. I'll brush up on it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ike

I have two JButtons, and app is supposed to do one thing when button1 is pressed, and another thing when button2 is pressed.
I already know how to do this with just one button, but have no idea how to create two handlers, for one button each like:

go1.addActionListener(handler1);
go2.addActionListener(handler2);

There are some explanations out there, but they all use keyword 'this', so in general not much helpful, since I don't know what that means although I've been trying for months.
So if anyone can explain this without using 'this' it would be very helpful.

---

i read that you have trouble in handling "this"....well maybe i can help you with that....

we have to specify in addActionListener method that which class will be handling the action event......we specify it in the argument of addActionListener argument......in your case you want that it must be handled in class other then the class containing the button(where event will be generated)......so you specified the object of the class "handler" in the argument.......but if you want to handle the event in the same class that contains your button then u specify "this" in the argument list......by writing "this" in the argument list,it means that the action event will be handled in the same class that contains the button....

maybe my post can clarify some of your doubts....

Well, it didn't help me a bit. It was like reading Swahili :)
I just can't grab the concept of 'this' anywhere in Java.
Doesn't matter, I'll deal with that later. Thanx for your time.


Anyway, neptune692'nd's :) solution works perfect for my case.
I have couple complicated calculations to do on some data, and I just needed the trigger on what method to jump further.

let me explain you thoroughly....

1st according to your code(i.e without using the "this")-

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.applet.*;

class MyButton implements ActionListener{

MyButton(){
}

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae){
System.out.println("Button is clicked");
}

}

public class MyApplet extends Applet{

Button b;

public void init(){
b=new Button("Click");
MyButton mb=new MyButton();
b.addActionListener(mb);
}


}

in this case,the event source,i.e. the button is in MyApplet class and it is handled in MyButton class.....so we pass the object of MyButton class to the argument of addActionListener method which specify that the button event will be handled in the class MyButton(and not in the class MyApplet)....
we have implemented ActionListener in MyButton class and not in the MyApplet class,so we have to give the implementation of actionPerformed() method in the class MyButton....but as the program execution starts with MyApplet class,and event will be generated in MyApplet class itself(which is presently not implementing ActionListener),therefore we have to specify in addActionListener method as the name of the class that will be handling the ActionEvent generated by the Button b in MyApplet class,as in our example the MyButton class is handling the action event,so we specify the object of MyButton class in addActionListener method

--------------------------

in 2nd implementation(i.e.using "this")

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.applet.*;

public class MyApplet extends Applet implements ActionListener{

Button b;

public void init(){
b=new Button("Click");
b.addActionListener(this);
}

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae){
System.out.println("button is clicked");
}

}

in this implementation,we implemented "ActionListener" in the same class that contains the button object i.e.we implemented the ActionListener in the same class that will generate the event.....as we have implemented the ActionListener in the class MyApplet itself,we have to tell the compiler that button will be handled in the same class that contains the Button,therefore we specified "this" in the argument list of addActionListener method,which tells the compiler that the action event generated by the button will be handled in "this" class,i.e. the same class that contains the button...