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 + "..");
}
}
}
