CS205 Object Oriented Programming in

Java
Module 5 - Graphical User Interface and
Database support of Java
(Part 3)
Prepared by
Renetha J.B.
AP
Dept.of CSE,
Lourdes Matha College of Science and Technology

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 Topics

Swings
Swing Packages

Event Handling in Swings.

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 Swing Packages
• Swing is a very large subsystem and makes use of many
packages.

– These are the packages used by Swing that are defined by

Java SE 6.

• The main package is javax.swing.

– This package must be imported into any program that

uses Swing.

– It contains the classes that implement the basic Swing

components, such as push buttons, labels, and check
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 Swing packages(contd.)
javax.swing javax.swing.border javax.swing.colorchooser

javax.swing.event javax.swing.filechooser javax.swing.plaf

javax.swing.plaf.basic javax.swing.plaf.metal javax.swing.plaf.multi

javax.swing.plaf.synth javax.swing.table javax.swing.text

javax.swing.text.html javax.swing.text.html.par javax.swing.text.rtf

ser

javax.swing.tree javax.swing.undo

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 A Simple Swing Application
• There are two types of Java programs in which Swing is
typically used.

1. desktop application.

2. applet

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 A Simple Swing Application
• Q. Write a swing program that uses two Swing components:
Jframe and JLabel. The program uses a JFrame container
to hold an instance of a JLabel. The label displays a short text
message

• JFrame is the top-level container that is commonly used for

Swing applications. JLabel is the Swing component that
creates a label, which is a component that displays
information. The label is Swing’s simplest component
because it is passive.

– That is, a label does not respond to user input. It just

displays output.

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import javax.swing.*;
class SwingDemo
{
SwingDemo()
{
// Create a new JFrame container. With title- A Simple Swing
JFrame jfrm = new JFrame("A Simple Swing ");

// Give the frame an initial size. Width=275 height =100

jfrm.setSize(275, 100);

// Terminate the program when the user closes the application.

jfrm.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

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 // Create a text-based label
JLabel jlab = new JLabel(" Swing is powerful GUI");
// Add the label to the content pane.
jfrm.add(jlab);
// Display the frame. Too compile this program,
jfrm.setVisible(true); javac SwingDemo.java
} To run the program,
java SwingDemo
public static void main(String args[])
{
// Create the frame on the event dispatching thread.
SwingUtilities.invokeLater( new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
new SwingDemo();
}
}
);
} }
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// A simple Swing application. JLabel jlab = new JLabel(" Swing is
import javax.swing.*; powerful GUI");
// Add the label to the content pane.
class SwingDemo {
jfrm.add(jlab);
SwingDemo() { // Display the frame.
// Create a new JFrame container. jfrm.setVisible(true);
JFrame jfrm = new JFrame("A Simple Swing "); }
// Give the frame an initial size. public static void main(String args[])
{
jfrm.setSize(275, 100); // Create the frame on the event
// Terminate the program when the user closes dispatching thread.
the application. SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new
Runnable() {
jfrm.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXI
public void run() {
T_ON_CLOSE);
new SwingDemo();
// Create a text-based label }
});
}
}
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• javax.swing defines classes that implement labels, buttons,
text controls, and menus.
• The constructor is where most of the action of the program
occurs. It begins by creating a JFrame, using this line of code:
JFrame jfrm = new JFrame("A Simple Swing ");
• This creates a container called jfrm that defines a rectangular
window complete with a title bar; close, minimize,
maximize, and restore buttons; and a system menu.
• Thus, it creates a standard, top-level window.
• The title of the window is passed to the constructor
– Here title is A Simple Swing
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• The window is sized using this statement:
jfrm.setSize(275, 100);
• The setSize( ) method (which is inherited by JFrame from the
AWT class Component) sets the dimensions of the window,
which are specified in pixels. Its general form :
void setSize(in t width, int height)

• We want the entire application to terminate when its top-

level window is closed. There are a couple of ways to achieve
this. The easiest way is to call setDefaultCloseOperation( ),
jfrm.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
• After this call executes, closing the window causes the entire
application to terminate.
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• The general form of setDefaultCloseOperation( ) is :
void setDefaultCloseOperation(int what)

– The value passed in what determines what happens when the

window is closed.
• There are several options :
JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE
JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE
JFrame.HIDE_ON_CLOSE
JFrame.DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE

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• The next line of code creates a Swing JLabel component:

JLabel jlab = new JLabel(" Swing is powerful GUI");

• The next line of code adds the label to the content pane of the
frame:

jfrm.add(jlab);

• Thus, to add a component to a frame, we must add it to the

frame’s content pane. This is accomplished by calling add( )
on the JFrame reference (jfrm in this case). The general
form of add( ) is:

Component add(Component comp)

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• The content pane can be obtained by calling getContentPane( )
on a JFrame instance

Container getContentPane( )

• The last statement in the SwingDemo constructor causes the

window to become visible:

jfrm.setVisible(true);

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• SwingDemo constructor is invoked using the following lines of
code:
SwingUtilities.invokeLater( new Runnable() {
public void run()
{
new SwingDemo();
}
}
);
• This sequence causes a SwingDemo object to be created on the
event dispatching thread rather than on the main thread of the
application.
• Swing programs are event-driven.
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• To enable the GUI code to be created on the event
dispatching thread, we must use one of two methods that are
defined by the SwingUtilities class.
• These methods are
– invokeLater( )
– invokeAndWait( ).
static void invokeLater(Runnable obj)
static void invokeAndWait(Runnable obj)
throws InterruptedException, InvocationTargetException

• The difference between the two methods is that

– invokeLater() returns immediately,
– but invokeAndWait( ) waits until obj.run( ) returns
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 Event Handling in Swings
• Delegation event model is the event handling mechanism
used by Swing.

• Swing uses the same events as does the AWT, and these events
are packaged in java.awt.event.

• Events specific to Swing are stored in javax.swing.event

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 Swing-Event handling E.g.
• Q. Write a program in swing to create a frame with title “An
Event Example ”.
– Give FlowLayout to frame and set a width =220 and height=90
– Frame has two buttons Ok and Cancel.
– Frame has a label that display the message “Push a button”.
– When we click the OK button it prints the message “OK
pressed” in the label.
– When we click the Cancel button it prints the message “Cancel
pressed” in the label

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import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
class EventDemo extends JFrame implements ActionListener
{ JLabel jlab;
EventDemo()
{ // Create a new JFrame container.
JFrame jfrm = new JFrame("An Event Example");
// Specify FlowLayout for the layout manager.
jfrm.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
// Give the frame an initial size.
jfrm.setSize(220, 90);
// Terminate the program when the user closes the application.
jfrm.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
// Make two buttons.
JButton jbtnOk = new JButton("OK");
JButton jbtnCancel = new JButton("Cancel");
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 // Add action listener for Ok button.
jbtnOk.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
{
jlab.setText("OK pressed.");
}
}
);
// Add action listener for Cancel button.
jbtnCancel.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
{
jlab.setText("Cancel pressed.");
}
}
);

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 // Add the buttons to the content pane.
jfrm.add(jbtnOk);
jfrm.add(jbtnCancel);
// Create a text-based label.
jlab = new JLabel("Press a button.");
// Add the label to the content pane.
jfrm.add(jlab);
// Display the frame.
jfrm.setVisible(true);
}

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 public static void main(String args[])
{
// Create the frame on the event dispatching thread.
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
new EventDemo();
}
}
);
}
}

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• The java.awt package is needed because
– it contains the FlowLayout class, which supports the
standard flow layout manager used to lay out components
in a frame
– It defines the ActionListener interface and the ActionEvent
class.
• The EventDemo constructor begins by creating a JFrame
called jfrm with title -An Event Example
JFrame jfrm = new JFrame("An Event Example");
• It then sets thelayout manager for the content pane of jfrm to
FlowLayout.
jfrm.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
• By default, the content pane uses BorderLayout as its layout
manager.
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• After setting the size and default close operation,
EventDemo() creates two push buttons, as shown here:
JButton jbtnOk = new JButton(“Ok");
JButton jbtnCancel = new JButton(”Cancel");
– The first button will contain the text “Ok” and the second will
contain the text “Cancel”.

• When a push button is pressed, it generates an ActionEvent.

• Thus, JButton provides the addActionListener( ) method,
which is used to add an action listener so that button will
respond to events. (JButton also provides
removeActionListener( ) to remove a listener)

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• event listeners for the button’s action events are added by the code shown belo:
• // Add action listener for Ok button.
jbtnOK.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
{ jlab.setText(“OKwas pressed.");
}
});
This can also be written as:
jbtnOK.addActionListener(this);
…………………………………
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
{ String s = ae.getActionCommand(); //to get the name written in button
if(s.equalsIgnoreCase("ok")) //to have case insensitive comparison
jlab.setText("OK pressed.");
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Simple Program
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
class EventDemoSwing extends JFrame implements ActionListener
{ JLabel jlab;
EventDemoSwing()
{ JFrame jfrm = new JFrame("An Event Example");
jfrm.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
jfrm.setSize(220, 90);
jfrm.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
JButton jbtnOk = new JButton("OK");
JButton jbtnCancel = new JButton("Cancel");
jbtnOk.setToolTipText("click");
jbtnOk.addActionListener(this);
jbtnCancel.addActionListener(this);
jfrm.add(jbtnOk);
jfrm.add(jbtnCancel);
jlab = new JLabel("Press a button.");
jfrm.add(jlab);
jfrm.setVisible(true);
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public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
{ //store the name written in button that is clicked ,in variable s
String s = ae.getActionCommand();
if(s.equalsIgnoreCase("ok"))
jlab.setText("OK pressed.");
else if(s.equalsIgnoreCase("cancel"))
jlab.setText("Cancel pressed.");
}
public static void main(String args[])
{ SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{ public void run()
{
new EventDemoSwing();
}
}
);
}
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}
 Create a Swing Applet
• A Swing applet extends Japplet.
– JApplet is derived from Applet.
• Swing applets use the same four lifecycle methods as
Applet
• init( ),
• start( ), stop( ), and destroy( ).
• Swing applet will not normally override the paint( )
method

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• Write a program using SWING APPLET
– It should have two buttons Ok and Cancel.
– Label to display message “Push a button”.
– When we click the OK button it prints the message “OK
pressed” in the label.
– When we click the Cancel button it prints the message “Cancel
pressed” in the label

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// A simple Swing-based applet
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
/*
This HTML can be used to launch the applet:
<object code="MySwingApplet" width=220 height=90>
</object>
*/
public class MySwingApplet extends JApplet implements ActionListener
{
JButton jbtnOk;
JButton jbtnCancel;
JLabel jlab;

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// Initialize the applet.
public void init() {
try { SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait(new Runnable ()
{
public void run() {
makeGUI(); // initialize the GUI
}
});
} catch(Exception exc)
{
System.out.println("Can't create because of "+ exc); }
}

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 private void makeGUI()
{ // Set the applet to use flow layout.
setLayout(new FlowLayout());
// Make two buttons.
jbtnOk = new JButton("Ok");
jbtnCancel = new JButton("Cancel");
// Add action listener for ok.
jbtnOk.addActionListener(this);
// Add action listener for Cancel.
jbtnCancel.addActionListener(this);
// Add the buttons to the content pane.
add(jbtnOk);
add(jbtnCancel);
// Create a text-based label.
jlab = new JLabel("Press a button.");
// Add the label to the content pane.
add(jlab);
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public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
{
String s = ae.getActionCommand();
if(s.equalsIgnoreCase("Ok"))
jlab.setText("Ok was pressed.");
else if(s.equalsIgnoreCase("Cancel"))
jlab.setText("Cancel was pressed.");
}
} COMPILE
javac MySwingApplet.java

RUN
appletviewer MySwingApplet.java

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 Reference
• Herbert Schildt, Java: The Complete Reference, 8/e,
Tata McGraw Hill, 2011.

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