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Trail: Creating a GUI with JFC/Swing
Lesson: Using Swing Components
Section: How to Use Various Components
Using Swing Components
A Visual Index to the Swing Components
Using HTML in Swing Components
Using Top-Level Containers
Using Models
The JComponent Class
Using Text Components
Text Component Features
The Text Component API
How to Use Various Components
How to Make Applets
How to Use Buttons, Check Boxes, and Radio Buttons
How to Use Color Choosers
How to Use Combo Boxes
How to Make Dialogs
How to Use Editor Panes and Text Panes
How to Use File Choosers
How to Use Formatted Text Fields
How to Make Frames (Main Windows)
How to Use Internal Frames
How to Use Labels
How to Use Layered Panes
How to Use Lists
How to Use Menus
How to Use Panels
How to Use Password Fields
How to Use Progress Bars
How to Use Root Panes
How to Use Scroll Panes
How to Use Separators
How to Use Sliders
How to Use Spinners
How to Use Split Panes
How to Use Tabbed Panes
How to Use Tables
How to Use Text Areas
How to Use Text Fields
How to Use Tool Bars
How to Use Tool Tips
How to Use Trees
How to Use Icons
How to Use Borders
Solving Common Component Problems
Home Page > Creating a GUI with JFC/Swing > Using Swing Components
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How to Make Dialogs

> Several classes support dialogs — windows that are more limited than frames. To create simple, standard dialogs, you use the `JOptionPane` class. The `ProgressMonitor` class can put up a dialog that shows the progress of an operation. Two other classes, `JColorChooser` and `JFileChooser`, also supply standard dialogs. To bring up a print dialog, you can use the Printing API. To create custom dialogs, use the `JDialog` class directly.

> The code for simple dialogs can be minimal. For example, here's an informational dialog:

> Here is the code that creates and shows it:

> >     JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frame, "Eggs aren't supposed to be green.");

> The rest of this section covers the following topics:
> - An Overview of Dialogs
> - The DialogDemo Example
> - JOptionPane Features
> - Creating and Showing Simple Dialogs
> - Customizing Button Text
> - Getting the User's Input from a Dialog
> - Stopping Automatic Dialog Closing
> - The Dialog API
> - Examples that Use Dialogs

### An Overview of Dialogs

> Every dialog is dependent on a frame. When that frame is destroyed, so are its dependent dialogs. When the frame is iconified, its dependent dialogs disappear from the screen. When the frame is deiconified, its dependent dialogs return to the screen. The AWT automatically provides this behavior.

> A dialog can be modal. When a modal dialog is visible, it blocks user input to all other windows in the program. The `JDialog`s that `JOptionPane` creates are modal. To create a non-modal dialog, you must use the `JDialog` class directly.

> The `JDialog` class is a subclass of the AWT `java.awt.Dialog` class. It adds to `Dialog` a root pane and support for a default close operation. These are the same features that `JFrame` has, and using `JDialog` directly is very similar to using `JFrame`. If you're going to use `JDialog` directly, then you should understand the material in Using Top-Level Containers and How to Make Frames, especially Responding to Window-Closing Events.

> Even when you use `JOptionPane` to implement a dialog, you're still using a `JDialog` behind the scenes. The reason is that `JOptionPane` is simply a container that can automatically create a `JDialog` and add itself to the `JDialog`'s content pane.

### The DialogDemo Example

> Here's a picture of an application that displays dialogs.

> > Try this:
> > 1. Run DialogDemo (it requires release 6) using JavaTM Web Start. Or, to compile and run the example yourself, consult the example index.
> > 2. Click the Show it! button.
> >    A modal dialog will appear. Until you close it, the application will be unresponsive, although it will repaint itself if necessary. You can close the dialog either by clicking a button in the dialog or explicitly, such as by using the dialog's window decorations.
> > 3. In the More Dialogs pane, click the bottom radio button and then the Show it! button.
> >    A non-modal dialog will appear. Note that the DialogDemo window remains fully functional while the non-modal dialog is up.
> > 4. While the non-modal dialog is showing, iconify the DialogDemo window.
> >    The dialog will disappear from the screen until you deiconify the DialogDemo window.

### JOptionPane Features

> Using `JOptionPane`, you can create and customize several different kinds of dialogs. `JOptionPane` provides support for laying out standard dialogs, providing icons, specifying the dialog's title and text, and customizing the button text. Other features allow you to customize the components the dialog displays and specify where the dialog should appear onscreen. You can even specify that an option pane put itself into an internal frame (`JInternalFrame`) instead of a `JDialog`.

> When you create a `JOptionPane`, look-and-feel-specific code adds components to the `JOptionPane` and determines the layout of those components.

> `JOptionPane`'s icon support lets you easily specify which icon the dialog displays. You can use a custom icon, no icon at all, or any one of four standard `JOptionPane` icons (question, information, warning, and error). Each look and feel has its own versions of the four standard icons. The following figure shows the icons used in the Java look and feel.

> > Icons used by JOptionPane
> > (Java look and feel)
> > question | information | warning | error

> > (Windows look and feel)
> > question | information | warning | error

### Creating and Showing Simple Dialogs

> For most simple modal dialogs, you create and show the dialog using one of `JOptionPane`'s `showXxxDialog` methods. If your dialog should be an internal frame, then add `Internal` after `show` — for example, `showMessageDialog` changes to `showInternalMessageDialog`. If you need to control the dialog's window-closing behavior or if the dialog isn't modal, then you should directly instantiate `JOptionPane` and add it to a `JDialog` instance. Then invoke `setVisible(true)` on the `JDialog` to make it appear.

> The two most useful `showXxxDialog` methods are `showMessageDialog` and `showOptionDialog`. The `showMessageDialog` method displays a simple, one-button dialog. The `showOptionDialog` method displays a customized dialog — it can display a variety of buttons with customized button text, and can contain a standard text message or a collection of components.

> The other two `showXxxDialog` methods are used less often. The `showConfirmDialog` method asks the user to confirm something, but has the disadvantage of having standard button text (Yes/No or the localized equivalent, for example) rather than button text customized to the user's situation (Start/Cancel, for example). A fourth method, `showInputDialog`, is designed to display a modal dialog that gets a string from the user, using either a text field or an uneditable combo box.

> Here are some examples, taken from `DialogDemo.java`, of using `showMessageDialog`, `showOptionDialog`, and the `JOptionPane` constructor. For more example code, see `DialogDemo.java` and the other programs listed in Examples that Use Dialogs.

> `showMessageDialog`
>   Displays a modal dialog with one button, which is labeled "OK" (or the localized equivalent). You can easily specify the message, icon, and title that the dialog displays. Here are some examples of using `showMessageDialog`:

>       //default title and icon
>       JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frame,
>           "Eggs aren't supposed to be green.");
>       //custom title, warning icon
>       JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frame,
>           "Eggs aren't supposed to be green.",
>           "Inane warning",
>           JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE);
>       //custom title, error icon
>       JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frame,
>           "Eggs aren't supposed to be green.",
>           "Inane error",
>           JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
>       //custom title, no icon
>       JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frame,
>           "Eggs aren't supposed to be green.",
>           "A plain message",
>           JOptionPane.PLAIN_MESSAGE);
>       //custom title, custom icon
>       JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frame,
>           "Eggs aren't supposed to be green.",
>           "Inane custom dialog",
>           JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE,
>           icon);

> `showOptionDialog`
>   Displays a modal dialog with the specified buttons, icons, message, title, and so on. With this method, you can change the text that appears on the buttons of standard dialogs. You can also perform many other kinds of customization.

>       //Custom button text
>       Object[] options = {"Yes, please",
>                           "No, thanks",
>                           "No eggs, no ham!"};
>       int n = JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(frame,
>           "Would you like some green eggs to go "
>           + "with that ham?",
>           "A Silly Question",
>           JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION,
>           JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE,
>           null,
>           options,
>           options[2]);

> `JOptionPane` (constructor)
>   Creates a `JOptionPane` with the specified buttons, icons, message, title, and so on. You must then add the option pane to a `JDialog`, register a property-change listener on the option pane, and show the dialog. See Stopping Automatic Dialog Closing for details.

>       final JOptionPane optionPane = new JOptionPane(
>           "The only way to close this dialog is by\n"
>           + "pressing one of the following buttons.\n"
>           + "Do you understand?",
>           JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE,
>           JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION);

> The arguments to all of the `showXxxDialog` methods and `JOptionPane` constructors are standardized, though the number of arguments for each method and constructor varies. The following list describes each argument. To see the exact list of arguments for a particular method, see The Dialog API.
> `Component parentComponent`
>   The first argument to each `showXxxDialog` method is always the parent component, which must be a frame, a component inside a frame, or null. If you specify a frame, then the dialog will appear over the center of the frame, and depend on that frame. If you specify a component inside a frame, then the dialog will appear over the center of that component, and depend on that component's frame. If you specify null, then the look and feel picks an appropriate position for the dialog — generally the center of the screen — and the dialog doesn't depend on any visible frame.

>   The `JOptionPane` constructors do not include this argument. Instead, you specify the parent frame when you create the `JDialog` that contains the `JOptionPane`, and you use the `JDialog` `setLocationRelativeTo` method to set the dialog's position.

> `Object message`
>   This required argument specifies what the dialog should display in its main area. Generally, you specify a string, which results the dialog displaying a label with the specified text. You can split the message over several lines by putting newline (`\n`) characters inside the message string. For example:

>   >     "Complete the sentence:\n \"Green eggs and...\""

> `String title`
>   The title of the dialog.
> `int optionType`
>   Specifies the set of buttons that appear at the bottom of the dialog. Choose from one of the following standard sets: `DEFAULT_OPTION`, `YES_NO_OPTION`, `YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION`, `OK_CANCEL_OPTION`.
> `int messageType`
>   This argument determines the icon displayed in the dialog. Choose from one of the following values: `PLAIN_MESSAGE` (no icon), `ERROR_MESSAGE`, `INFORMATION_MESSAGE`, `WARNING_MESSAGE`, `QUESTION_MESSAGE`.
> `Icon icon`
>   The icon to display in the dialog.
> `Object[] options`
>   Generally used to specify the string displayed by each button at the bottom of the dialog. See Customizing Button Text in a Standard Dialog for more information. Can also be used to specify icons to be displayed by the buttons or non-button components to be added to the button row.
> `Object initialValue`
>   Specifies the default value to be selected.

> You can either let the option pane display its default icon or specify the icon using the message type or icon argument. By default, an option pane created with `showMessageDialog` displays the information icon, one created with `showConfirmDialog` or `showInputDialog` displays the question icon, and one created with a `JOptionPane` constructor displays no icon. To specify that the dialog display a standard icon or no icon, specify the message type corresponding to the icon you desire. To specify a custom icon, use the icon argument. The icon argument takes precedence over the message type; as long as the icon argument has a non-null value, the dialog displays the specified icon.

### Customizing Button Text

> When you use `JOptionPane` to create a dialog, you can either use the standard button text (which might vary by look and feel and locale) or specify different text. Either way, the option pane type determines how many buttons appear. For example, `YES_NO_OPTION` dialogs always have exactly two buttons, and `YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION` dialogs have three buttons.

> The following code, taken from `DialogDemo.java`, creates two Yes/No dialogs. The first dialog is implemented with `showConfirmDialog`, which uses the look-and-feel wording for the two buttons. The second dialog uses `showOptionDialog` so it can customize the wording. With the exception of wording changes, the dialogs are identical.

>     //default icon, custom title
>     int n = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(
>         frame,
>         "Would you like green eggs and ham?",
>         "An Inane Question",
>         JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION);
>     Object[] options = {"Yes, please",
>                         "No way!"};
>     int n = JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(frame,
>         "Would you like green eggs and ham?",
>         "A Silly Question",
>         JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION,
>         JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE,
>         null,     //don't use a custom Icon
>         options,  //the titles of buttons
>         options[0]); //default button title

> As the previous code snippets showed, the `showMessageDialog`, `showConfirmDialog`, and `showOptionDialog` methods return an integer indicating the user's choice. The values for this integer are `YES_OPTION`, `NO_OPTION`, `CANCEL_OPTION`, `OK_OPTION`, and `CLOSED_OPTION`. Except for `CLOSED_OPTION`, each option corresponds to the button the user pressed. When `CLOSED_OPTION` is returned, it indicates that the user closed the dialog window explicitly, rather than by choosing a button inside the option pane.

> Even if you change the strings that the standard dialog buttons display, the return value is still one of the pre-defined integers. For example, a `YES_NO_OPTION` dialog always returns one of the following values: `YES_OPTION`, `NO_OPTION`, or `CLOSED_OPTION`.

### Getting the User's Input from a Dialog

> The only form of `showXxxDialog` that doesn't return an integer is `showInputDialog`, which returns an `Object` instead. This `Object` is generally a `String` reflecting the user's choice. Here is an example of using `showInputDialog` to create a dialog that lets the user choose one of three strings:

> >     Object[] possibilities = {"ham", "spam", "yam"};
> >     String s = (String)JOptionPane.showInputDialog(
> >                         frame,
> >                         "Complete the sentence:\n"
> >                         + "\"Green eggs and...\"",
> >                         "Customized Dialog",
> >                         JOptionPane.PLAIN_MESSAGE,
> >                         icon,
> >                         possibilities,
> >                         "ham");

> >     //If a string was returned, say so.
> >     if ((s != null) && (s.length() > 0)) {
> >         setLabel("Green eggs and... " + s + "!");
> >         return;
> >     }

> >     //If you're here, the return value was null/empty.
> >     setLabel("Come on, finish the sentence!");

> If you don't care to limit the user's choices, you can either use a form of the `showInputDialog` method that takes fewer arguments or specify `null` for the array of objects. In the Java look and feel, substituting `null` for `possibilities` results in a dialog that has a text field and looks like this:

> Because the user can type anything into the text field, you might want to check the returned value and ask the user to try again if it's invalid. Another approach is to create a custom dialog that validates the user-entered data before it returns. See `CustomDialog.java` for an example of validating data.

> If you're designing a custom dialog, you need to design your dialog's API so that you can query the dialog about what the user chose. For example, `CustomDialog` has a `getValidatedText` method that returns the text the user entered.

### Stopping Automatic Dialog Closing

> By default, when the user clicks a `JOptionPane`-created button, the dialog closes. But what if you want to check the user's answer before closing the dialog? In this case, you must implement your own property change listener so that when the user clicks a button, the dialog doesn't automatically close.

> `DialogDemo` contains two dialogs that implement a property change listener. One of these dialogs is a custom modal dialog, implemented in `CustomDialog`, that uses `JOptionPane` both to get the standard icon and to get layout assistance. The other dialog, whose code is below, uses a standard Yes/No `JOptionPane`. Though this dialog is rather useless as written, its code is simple enough that you can use it as a template for more complex dialogs.

> Besides setting the property change listener, the following code also calls the `JDialog`'s `setDefaultCloseOperation` method and implements a window listener that handles the window close attempt properly. If you don't care to be notified when the user closes the window explicitly, then ignore the bold code.

> >     final JOptionPane optionPane = new JOptionPane(
> >                     "The only way to close this dialog is by\n"
> >                     + "pressing one of the following buttons.\n"
> >                     + "Do you understand?",
> >                     JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE,
> >                     JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION);

> >     final JDialog dialog = new JDialog(frame,
> >                                  "Click a button",
> >                                  true);
> >     dialog.setContentPane(optionPane);
> >     dialog.setDefaultCloseOperation(
> >         JDialog.DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE);
> >     dialog.addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter() {
> >         public void windowClosing(WindowEvent we) {
> >             setLabel("Thwarted user attempt to close window.");
> >         }
> >     });
> >     optionPane.addPropertyChangeListener(
> >         new PropertyChangeListener() {
> >             public void propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent e) {
> >                 String prop = e.getPropertyName();

> >                 if (dialog.isVisible()
> >                  && (e.getSource() == optionPane)
> >                  && (prop.equals(JOptionPane.VALUE_PROPERTY))) {
> >                     //If you were going to check something
> >                     //before closing the window, you'd do
> >                     //it here.
> >                     dialog.setVisible(false);
> >                 }
> >             }
> >         });
> >     dialog.pack();
> >     dialog.setVisible(true);

> >     int value = ((Integer)optionPane.getValue()).intValue();
> >     if (value == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION) {
> >         setLabel("Good.");
> >     } else if (value == JOptionPane.NO_OPTION) {
> >         setLabel("Try using the window decorations "
> >                  + "to close the non-auto-closing dialog. "
> >                  + "You can't!");
> >     }

### The Dialog API

> The following tables list the commonly used `JOptionPane` and `JDialog` constructors and methods. Other methods you're likely to call are defined by the `Dialog`, `Window` and `Component` classes and include `pack`, `setSize`, and `setVisible`.

> The API is listed as follows:

> - Showing Standard Modal Dialogs (using `JOptionPane` Class Methods)
> - Methods for Using `JOptionPane`s Directly
> - Frequently Used `JDialog` Constructors and Methods

> Showing Standard Modal Dialogs (Using `JOptionPane` Class Methods)
> Method | Purpose
> --- | ---
> static void showMessageDialog(Component, Object) static void showMessageDialog(Component, Object, String, int) static void showMessageDialog(Component, Object, String, int, Icon) | Show a one-button, modal dialog that gives the user some information. The arguments specify (in order) the parent component, message, title, message type, and icon for the dialog. See Creating and Showing Simple Dialogs for a discussion of the arguments and their effects.
> static int showOptionDialog(Component, Object, String, int, int, Icon, Object[], Object) | Show a customized modal dialog. The arguments specify (in order) the parent component, message, title, option type, message type, icon, options, and initial value for the dialog. See Creating and Showing Simple Dialogs for a discussion of the arguments and their effects.
> static int showConfirmDialog(Component, Object) static int showConfirmDialog(Component, Object, String, int) static int showConfirmDialog(Component, Object, String, int, int) static int showConfirmDialog(Component, Object, String, int, int, Icon) | Show a modal dialog that asks the user a question. The arguments specify (in order) the parent component, message, title, option type, message type, and icon for the dialog. See Creating and Showing Simple Dialogs for a discussion of the arguments and their effects.
> static String showInputDialog(Object) static String showInputDialog(Component, Object) static String showInputDialog(Component, Object, String, int) static String showInputDialog(Component, Object, String, int, Icon, Object[], Object) | Show a modal dialog that prompts the user for input. The single-argument version specifies just the message, with the parent component assumed to be null. The arguments for the other versions specify (in order) the parent component, message, title, message type, icon, options, and initial value for the dialog. See Creating and Showing Simple Dialogs for a discussion of the arguments and their effects.
> static void showInternalMessageDialog(...) static void showInternalOptionDialog(...) static void showInternalConfirmDialog(...) static String showInternalInputDialog(...) | Implement a standard dialog as an internal frame. See the `JOptionPane` API documentation for the exact list of arguments.

> Methods for Using `JOptionPane`s Directly
> Method or Constructor | Purpose
> --- | ---
> JOptionPane() JOptionPane(Object) JOptionPane(Object, int) JOptionPane(Object, int, int) JOptionPane(Object, int, int, Icon) JOptionPane(Object, int, int, Icon, Object[]) JOptionPane(Object, int, int, Icon, Object[], Object) | Creates a `JOptionPane` instance. See Creating and Showing Simple Dialogs for a discussion of the arguments and their effects.
> static Frame getFrameForComponent(Component) static JDesktopPane getDesktopPaneForComponent(Component) | Handy `JOptionPane` class methods that find the frame or desktop pane, respectively, that the specified component is in.
> int getMaxCharactersPerLineCount() | Determines where line breaks will be automatically inserted in the option pane's text. (The default is `Integer.MAX_VALUE`.) To use this method, you must create a `JOptionPane` subclass. For example, the following code results in an option pane with one word per line:
>     JOptionPane op = new JOptionPane("This is the message text.") {
>         public int getMaxCharactersPerLineCount() {
>             return 5;
>         }
>     };

> Frequently Used `JDialog` Constructors and Methods
> Method or Constructor | Purpose
> --- | ---
> JDialog() JDialog(Dialog) JDialog(Dialog, boolean) JDialog(Dialog, String) JDialog(Dialog, String, boolean) JDialog(Dialog, String, boolean, GraphicsConfiguration) JDialog(Frame) JDialog(Frame, boolean) JDialog(Frame, String) JDialog(Frame, String, boolean) JDialog(Frame, String, boolean, GraphicsConfiguration) | Creates a `JDialog` instance. The `Frame` argument, if any, is the frame (usually a `JFrame` object) that the dialog depends on. Make the boolean argument `true` to specify a modal dialog, `false` or absent to specify a non-modal dialog. You can also specify the title of the dialog, using a string argument.
> void setContentPane(Container) Container getContentPane() | Get and set the content pane, which is usually the container of all the dialog's components. See Using Top-Level Containers for more information.
> void setDefaultCloseOperation(int) int getDefaultCloseOperation() | Get and set what happens when the user tries to close the dialog. Possible values: `DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE`, `DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE`, `HIDE_ON_CLOSE` (the default). See Responding to Window-Closing Events for more information.
> void setLocationRelativeTo(Component) | Centers the dialog over the specified component.
> static void setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(boolean) static boolean isDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated() | Set or get a hint as to whether the dialog's window decorations (such as borders, or widgets to close the window) should be provided by the current look and feel. Otherwise the dialog's decorations will be provided by the current window manager. See Specifying Window Decorations for more information.

### Examples that Use Dialogs

> This table lists examples that use `JOptionPane` or `JDialog`. To find other examples that use dialogs, see the example lists for progress bars, color choosers, and file choosers.

> Example | Where Described | Notes
> --- | --- | ---
> `DialogDemo`, `CustomDialog` | This section | Creates many kinds of dialogs, using `JOptionPane` and `JDialog`.
> `Framework` | — | Brings up a confirmation dialog when the user selects the Quit menu item.
> `ListDialog` | How to Use BoxLayout | Implements a modal dialog containing a scrolling list and two buttons. Doesn't use `JOptionPane`, except for the utility method `getFrameForComponent`.

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