Thread: ActionListener: use two bottuns with getSource() doesn't work

This is a simple code that create a litener to a button, actually I have two buttons
click_1 and click_2

private class ButtonWatcher implements ActionListener
   {
      public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent a)
      {
 
         [COLOR="Blue"]Object [COLOR="DarkOrange"]buttonPressed = a.getSource();[/COLOR]
 
         if ([COLOR="darkorange"]buttonPressed[/COLOR].equals([COLOR="Green"]click_1[/COLOR]))
         {
            txtArea.setText(" [COLOR="Green"]Click_1 is pressed [/COLOR]");
         }
 
         if ([COLOR="DarkOrange"]buttonPressed[/COLOR].equals([COLOR="green"]click_2[/COLOR]))
         {
            txtArea.setText(" [COLOR="green"]click_2 is pressed [/COLOR]");
         }
      }
   }

[/COLOR]

and I add the liteners to the buttons:

      [COLOR="Green"]click_1[/COLOR].addActionListener(new ButtonWatcher());
      [COLOR="green"]click_2[/COLOR].addActionListener(new ButtonWatcher());

As you know the use of:

Object buttonPressed = a.getSource();

will get the source of the pressed button, and hence the related code will be implemented using the if-statements

But, non of the buttons produce any output to the JTextArea object

but each button can do its job normally when it is the only one to be used.. I mean such as this

[COLOR="black"]private class ButtonWatcher implements ActionListener
   {
      public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent a)
      {
 
            txtArea.setText(" Click_1 is pressed ");
 
      }[/COLOR]
   }

click_1.addActionListener(new ButtonWatcher());

So why the use of getScource() and if statements to use two buttons doesn't work .. what I miss

Can you post the full code that reproduces the problem? The code you posted doesn't seem like it should behave as you describe, making me think the problem lies outside of the code you posted.

Originally Posted by copeg

Can you post the full code that reproduces the problem? The code you posted doesn't seem like it should behave as you describe, making me think the problem lies outside of the code you posted.

I didn't provide the full code because I wnat to focus on the area of the problem (as I think it is).

Here is the full simple code:

[COLOR="Black"]
 
[COLOR="Blue"]package [/COLOR]numbergeneratorchecker;
 
[COLOR="blue"]import [/COLOR]java.awt.*;
[COLOR="blue"]import [/COLOR]javax.swing.*;
[COLOR="blue"]import [/COLOR]java.awt.event.*;
[COLOR="blue"]import [/COLOR]java.io.*;
 
[COLOR="blue"]public [/COLOR][COLOR="blue"]class [/COLOR]NewClass [COLOR="blue"]extends [/COLOR]JFrame
{
 
   [COLOR="blue"]private [/COLOR]JButton click_1;
   [COLOR="Blue"]private [/COLOR]JButton click_2;
 
   [COLOR="blue"]private [/COLOR]Panel pn1;
   [COLOR="blue"]private [/COLOR]Panel pn2;
   [COLOR="blue"]private [/COLOR]JTextArea txtArea;
   [COLOR="blue"]private [/COLOR]JScrollPane scrollTxtArea;
 
 
   [COLOR="blue"]public [/COLOR]NewClass()
   {
      setSize(300, 200);
      setTitle("Number Gererator");
      setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
 
      /********** 2 panels ******************/
      pn1 = [COLOR="blue"]new [/COLOR]Panel();
      pn2 = [COLOR="blue"]new [/COLOR]Panel();
 
      /********** 2 button ******************/
      JButton click_1 = [COLOR="blue"]new [/COLOR]JButton("click_1");
      JButton click_2 = [COLOR="blue"]new [/COLOR]JButton("click_2");
 
      /********** text area ******************/
      txtArea = [COLOR="blue"]new [/COLOR]JTextArea(2, 22);
      scrollTxtArea = [COLOR="blue"]new [/COLOR]JScrollPane(txtArea);
 
 
 
 
 
      /***********  Interface  *******/
      Container cp = getContentPane();
      cp.setLayout([COLOR="blue"]new [/COLOR]GridLayout(3,1));
 
      /***** 2 panels ****/
      cp.add(pn1);
      cp.add(pn2);
 
 
      click_1.addActionListener([COLOR="blue"]new [/COLOR]ButtonWatcher());
      click_2.addActionListener([COLOR="blue"]new [/COLOR]ButtonWatcher());
 
      /********** button ******************/
      pn1.add(click_1);
      pn1.add(click_2);
 
      /******* text area ******/
      pn2.add(scrollTxtArea);
 
   }
   [COLOR="blue"]private class [/COLOR]ButtonWatcher [COLOR="blue"]implements [/COLOR]ActionListener
   {
      [COLOR="blue"]public void [/COLOR]actionPerformed(ActionEvent a)
      {
 
         Object buttonPressed = a.getSource();
 
         [COLOR="blue"]if[/COLOR] (buttonPressed.equals(click_1))
         {
            txtArea.setText(" Click_1 is pressed ");
         }
         [COLOR="blue"]if[/COLOR] (buttonPressed.equals(click_2))
         {
            txtArea.setText(" click_2 is pressed ");
         }
      }
   }
}[/COLOR]

[COLOR="Black"][COLOR="Blue"]package [/COLOR]numbergeneratorchecker;
 
 
[COLOR="blue"]public [/COLOR]class Main
{
 
   [COLOR="Blue"]public static void [/COLOR]main(String[] args)
   {
  NewClass ss = [COLOR="blue"]new [/COLOR]NewClass();
  ss.setVisible([COLOR="Blue"]true[/COLOR]);
   }
 
}[/COLOR]

Posting the rest of that code sheds much light on the problem. The issue lies in your creation of the two buttons:

      /********** 2 button ******************/
      JButton click_1 = new JButton("click_1");
      JButton click_2 = new JButton("click_2");

The scope of click_1 and click_2 is within the constructor, not outside. As a result, both instance variables click_1 and click_2 were never instantiated. The fix is to instantiate them in your constructor rather than assigning local variables with the same names:

      /********** 2 button ******************/
      click_1 = new JButton("click_1");
      click_2 = new JButton("click_2");

Originally Posted by copeg

Posting the rest of that code sheds much light on the problem. The issue lies in your creation of the two buttons:

      /********** 2 button ******************/
      JButton click_1 = new JButton("click_1");
      JButton click_2 = new JButton("click_2");

The scope of click_1 and click_2 is within the constructor, not outside. As a result, both instance variables click_1 and click_2 were never instantiated. The fix is to instantiate them in your constructor rather than assigning local variables with the same names:

      /********** 2 button ******************/
      click_1 = new JButton("click_1");
      click_2 = new JButton("click_2");

Thank you copeg , that was a tricky problem