Ive been thinking about my other issue and googling and came up with this psuedocode:
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.util.Scanner;
 
import javax.swing.*;
 
 
public class InputOutput extends JFrame{
	JPanel OUTER;
	static JTextArea INNER;
	JTextField INPUT;
	JButton ENTER;
	static Scanner in;
	InputOutput(){
		setBounds(0,0,415,420);
		OUTER = new JPanel();
		OUTER.setLayout(null);
		INPUT = new JTextField();
		INPUT.setBounds(10,320,380,20);
		INNER = new JTextArea();
		INNER.setBounds(10,10,380,300);
		ENTER = new JButton("ENTER");
		ENTER.setBounds(10,350,380,25);
		OUTER.add(ENTER);
		OUTER.add(INNER);
		OUTER.add(INPUT);
		add(OUTER);
		setVisible(true);
		setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
	}
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		in = new Scanner(System.in);
		new InputOutput();
	}
	public class InputListener implements ActionListener{
		public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
			String a = INPUT.getText();
			//somehow pass string a to system.in
			INNER.append(in.nextLine());
		}
	}
}

The important part is the button listener i just put it all in there so it could be compiled and you knew what everything was. I figure if i can figure out how to pass that text to System.in it would trigger the scanner like it does when you hit enter after typing it into eclipse?!? i don't know though.

Thanks for the help. if found what i thought was a good step in the right direction but i couldn't quite figure out what it was doing as it didn't seem like it was doing a whole lot except changing colors.

Answer to a similar question by user Janusch
/*init in public ConsolePanel()*/
System.setIn(new MyInPrintStream());
System.setErr(new MyErrPrintStream());
 
/*impementation*/
class MyInPrintStream implements PrintStream{
 
Color col;
 
MyInPrintStream(){col=Color.BLACK;}
 
/*Implement PrintStream and send all input to consoleTextArea*/
 
}
 
class MyErrPrintStream extends MyInPrintStream implements PrintStream{
MyInPrintStream(){col=Color.RED;}
}
 
Janusch
.