Input Dialog Box Program

Here is example code showing a few ways of how to use the showInputDialog method of the JOptionPane class to make input dialog boxes. The program shows a series of input dialog boxes one after the other. The input method they ask the user to use varies from a text field, combo box and list box. The article relating to this code is Building an Input Dialog Box.

//This program shows a series of input dialog boxes.
//The next dialog is launched on the closing of the current dialog. 
//It provides examples of how to create dialog boxes
//with a text field, combo box and list box.

//Imports are listed in full to show what's being used
//could just import javax.swing.* and java.awt.* etc..
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.Icon;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.lang.reflect.Field;

public class InputDialogFrame extends JFrame{
    
    private JTextArea tracker;
    
    //Using a standard Java icon
    private Icon optionIcon = UIManager.getIcon("FileView.computerIcon");
    
    //Application start point   
    public static void main(String[] args) {
     
     //Use the event dispatch thread for Swing components
     EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable()
     {
         public void run()
         {
             //create GUI frame
             new InputDialogFrame().setVisible(true);          
         }
     });
              
    }
    
    public InputDialogFrame()
    {
        //make sure the program exits when the frame closes
        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setTitle("Dialog Box Example");
        setSize(500,300);
        
        //This will center the JFrame in the middle of the screen
        setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        
        
        //Using JTextArea to show clicks and responses
        tracker = new JTextArea("Click tracker:");
        add(tracker);
        setVisible(true);
        
        //Options for the combo box dialog
        String[] choices = {"Monday", "Tuesday"
                ,"Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday"};
        
        //Options for the list dialog
        //There are more than 20 entries to make the showInputDialog method
        //choose to use a list box
        String[] jumboChoices = {"Abe", "Billy", "Colin", "Dexter"
                , "Edward", "Fred", "Gus", "Harry", "Ira", "Jeff"
                , "Kirk", "Larry", "Monty", "Nigel", "Orville", "Paul"
                , "Quint", "Richard", "Steve", "Tony", "Umberto", "Vinnie"
                , "Wade", "Xavier", "Yogi", "Zigmund"};
        
        //Input dialog with a text field
        String input =  JOptionPane.showInputDialog(this 
                ,"Enter in some text:");
        
        TrackResponse(input);
        
        //Input dialog with default text in the text field
        String defaultText =  JOptionPane.showInputDialog(this 
                ,"Enter in some text:","some text..");
        
        TrackResponse(defaultText);
        
        //Input dialog with a textfield, a message type and title
        String warningText =  JOptionPane.showInputDialog(this 
                ,"Erm, enter in a warning:" ,"Warning Message"
                ,JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE);
        
        TrackResponse(warningText);
        
        //If an icon is used then it overrides the icon from the
        //message type. Likewise if a null is entered for the selection values
        //the dialog box will use a text field
        String entered = (String)JOptionPane.showInputDialog(this
                , "Enter a Day of the week:"
                , "Text Field Dialog", JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE
                , optionIcon, null, null);
        
        TrackResponse(entered);
        
        //If the String Array has more than 20 entries a JList is used
        //as the method the user gets to select a value
        String boyNames = (String)JOptionPane.showInputDialog(this, "Pick a Name:"
                , "ComboBox Dialog", JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE
                , optionIcon, jumboChoices, jumboChoices[0]);
        
        TrackResponse(boyNames);
        
        //Input dialog with a combo box created by
        //using a String array for the object message. Note how
        //a null icon for the icon results in the QUESTION_MESSAGE
        //message type being used.
        String picked = (String)JOptionPane.showInputDialog(this, "Pick a Day:"
                , "ComboBox Dialog", JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE
                , null, choices, choices[0]);
        
        TrackResponse(picked);      
    }
    
    //Append the picked choice to the tracker JTextArea
    public void TrackResponse(String response)
    {
        //showInputDialog method returns null if the dialog is exited
        //without an option being chosen
        if (response == null)
        {
            tracker.append("\nYou closed the dialog without any input..");
        }
        else
        {
            tracker.append("\nYou picked " + response + "..");
        }
    }
}

Suggested Reading

• Building an Input Dialog Box
• Simple Message Dialog Boxes Program
• Creating a Message Dialog Box - Part I

See More About:

• example code
• joptionpane
• dialog boxes

Related Articles

• gdialog - Linux Command - Unix Command
• InputQuery function
• cdialog - What is cdialog
• Dialog and Message routines - Delphi Programming
• RTL - Dialogs unit - Delphi Programming