Thread: returning String from ActionPerformed

Hi all,
I know this king of issue is quite common but I'm brand new in java so I found clues about my problem but didn't manage to make it works. Basically, I'm trying to build a small image processing program in which you load an image and then do simple stuff like rotating, changing colors, etc....
So far (which is very close for the moment...) I have a main frame which has a menu item saying "load image". When I click on it opens a file chooser, i select a picture. I would like to create a panel and then display it on the main frame.
So to do that, I retrieve the path of the picture from the file chooser in the ActionPerformed method but I wondering what to do then.

The thing is that I have to draw this picture on a panel then add it to the frame but after this I'll have to reuse it all the time when I'll do some modifications in the image. So I guess I shouldn't create the panel in the ActionPerformed method, should I ?
If not how can I return the string path of the picture from the ActionPerformed ? I tried to do it with setter/getter methods but probably didn't do it properly. Could you give me a bit of help regarding the right way to implement this kind of program ?
thanks
Here is my code for the main window, I'm using netBeans 6.9.

/*
 * To change this template, choose Tools | Templates
 * and open the template in the editor.
 */
 
/*
 * Main.java
 *
 * Created on 17 déc. 2010, 11:02:40
 */
 
package JImage;
 
import javax.swing.JFileChooser;
import javax.swing.JMenuItem;
 
/**
 *
 * @author Bill'o
 */
public class Main extends javax.swing.JFrame {
 
    private String rep = null;
 
    /** Creates new form Main */
    public Main() {
        initComponents();
 
    }
    public void setRep(String s) {
         rep = s;
	}
    public String getRep() {
		return rep;
	}
 
 
    /** This method is called from within the constructor to
     * initialize the form.
     * WARNING: Do NOT modify this code. The content of this method is
     * always regenerated by the Form Editor.
     */
    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    // <editor-fold defaultstate="collapsed" desc="Generated Code">
    private void initComponents() {
 
        jFileChooser1 = new javax.swing.JFileChooser();
        jMenuBar1 = new javax.swing.JMenuBar();
        jMenu1 = new javax.swing.JMenu();
        chargerImage = new javax.swing.JMenuItem();
        fermer = new javax.swing.JMenuItem();
        jMenu2 = new javax.swing.JMenu();
 
        jFileChooser1.setDialogTitle("Charger une image");
        jFileChooser1.setFileFilter(new MyCustomFilter());
 
        setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setName("JImage"); // NOI18N
 
        jMenu1.setText("Fichier");
 
        chargerImage.setText("Charger une image");
        chargerImage.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
                chargerImageActionPerformed(evt);
            }
        });
        jMenu1.add(chargerImage);
 
        fermer.setText("Fermer");
        fermer.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
                fermerActionPerformed(evt);
            }
        });
        jMenu1.add(fermer);
 
        jMenuBar1.add(jMenu1);
 
        jMenu2.setText("Edition");
        jMenuBar1.add(jMenu2);
 
        setJMenuBar(jMenuBar1);
 
        javax.swing.GroupLayout layout = new javax.swing.GroupLayout(getContentPane());
        getContentPane().setLayout(layout);
        layout.setHorizontalGroup(
            layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGap(0, 722, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        );
        layout.setVerticalGroup(
            layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGap(0, 469, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        );
 
        pack();
    }// </editor-fold>
 
    public JMenuItem getChargerImage() {
        return chargerImage;
    }
 
    private void chargerImageActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
        int returnVal = jFileChooser1.showOpenDialog(this);
    if (returnVal == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
        String repert = jFileChooser1.getSelectedFile().getAbsolutePath();
        setRep(repert);
        //JImagePanel panel3 = ImageUtil.makePanel(rep);
 
    } else {
        System.out.println("Annulation par l'utilisateur");
    }
    String imageRep = getRep();
    }
 
 
 
    private void fermerActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
        System.exit(0);
    }
 
 
 
 
    /**
    * @param args the command line arguments
    */
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                new Main().setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }
 
    // Variables declaration - do not modify
    private javax.swing.JMenuItem chargerImage;
    private javax.swing.JMenuItem fermer;
    private javax.swing.JFileChooser jFileChooser1;
    private javax.swing.JMenu jMenu1;
    private javax.swing.JMenu jMenu2;
    private javax.swing.JMenuBar jMenuBar1;
    // End of variables declaration
 
}

Crossposting isn't against the rules here, but doing it without mentioning it will prevent some people from wanting to help you.

Crossposted here: returning String from ActionPerformed - Java Forums

And another: returning String from ActionPerformed (Swing / AWT / SWT / JFace forum at JavaRanch)

thanks for hints... alright Sirs, I really wasn't aware about cross posting issues as I never really got any help from forums and didn't expect that same people were on all the forums as I don't see the point to have then so many different ones.... anyways I'm really sorry