Develop Reference

How to transition from JFrame to another JFrame after a button click?

I am making a GUI for a game, and I have a splash screen which I created using JFrame. I have a button which says play and what I want after that to happen is when I press play, I want to switch to another JFrame, which is going to have different stuff in it. However, I do not want the window to close and open another one, I want it to just switch from one frame to another frame.
I have no experience on GUI, if you have any information that would help it would be greatly appreciated.

Here is an example:
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JButton;
public class Test {
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame f = new JFrame();
f.setBounds(10, 10, 500, 200);
JButton b1 = new JButton("b1");
b1.addActionListener((c) -> {
buttonPressed(f);
});
f.setContentPane(b1);
f.setVisible(true);
}
private static void buttonPressed(JFrame f) {
JButton b2 = new JButton("b2");
f.setContentPane(b2);
f.revalidate();
}
When b1 is pressed, the content pane for the frame is replaced with a new button. the revalidate() call is needed in order for the UI to refresh after the change.

How do I create a new JFrame?

I'm a complete beginner to Java, and I'm finding some answers a bit too technical for me (even the most basic tutorials seem to give me syntax errors when I run the code). How, in really simple terms do I add a JButton to a JFrame? I've got as far as:
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
public class JF {
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame myFrame = new JFrame();
/*some pretty basic code to initialize the JFrame i.e.
myFrame.setSize(300, 200);
This is as far as I got
*/
}
}
I would seriously appreciate some help!

Creating a new JFrame
The way to create a new instance of a JFrame is pretty simple.
All you have to do is:
JFrame myFrame = new JFrame("Frame Title");
But now the Window is hidden, to see the Window you must use the setVisible(boolean flag) method. Like this:
myFrame.setVisible(true);
Adding Components
There are many ways to add a Component to a JFrame.
The simplest way is:
myFrame.getContentPane().add(new JButton());//in this case we are adding a Button
This will just add a new Component that will fill the JFrame().
If you do not want the Component to fill the screen then you should either make the ContentPane of the JFrame a new custom Container
myFrame.getContentPane() = new JPanel();
OR add a custom Container to the ContentPane and add everything else there.
JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
myFrame.getContentPane().add(mainPanel);
If you do not want to write the myFrame.getContentPane() every time then you could just keep an instance of the ContentPane.
JPanel pane = myFrame.getContentPane();
Basic Properties
The most basic properties of the JFrame are:
Size
Location
CloseOperation
You can either set the Size by using:
myFrame.setSize(new Dimension(300, 200));//in pixels
Or packing the JFrame after adding all the components (Better practice).
myFrame.pack();
You can set the Location by using:
myFrame.setLocation(new Point(100, 100));// starting from top left corner
Finally you can set the CloseOperation (what happens when X is pressed) by
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
There are 4 different actions that you can choose from:
DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE //Nothing happens
HIDE_ON_CLOSE //setVisible(false)
DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE //Closes JFrame, Application still runs
EXIT_ON_CLOSE //Closes Application
Using Event Dispatch Thread
You should initialize all GUI in Event Dispatch Thread, you can do this by simply doing:
class GUI implements Runnable {
public static void main(String[] args) {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new GUI());
}
#Override
public void run() {
JFrame myFrame = new JFrame("Frame Title");
myFrame.setLocation(new Point(100, 100));
myFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
mainPanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
myFrame.getContentPane().add(mainPanel);
mainPanel.add(new JButton("Button Text"), BorderLayout.CENTER);
myFrame.pack();
myFrame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
myFrame.setVisible(true);
}
}

//I hope this will help
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class JF extends JFrame
{
private JButton myButton;//Here you begin by declaring the button
public JF()//Here you create you constructor. Constructors are used for initializing variable
{
myButton = new JButton();//We initialize our variable
myButton.setText("My Button"); //And give it a name
JPanel panel1 = new JPanel();//In java panels are useful for holding content
panel1.add(myButton);//Here you put your button in the panel
add(panel1);//This make the panel visible together with its contents
setSize(300,400);//Set the size of your window
setVisible(true);//Make your window visible
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
JFrame frame = new JF();
frame.setTitle("My First Button");
frame.setLocation(400,200);
}
}

How to add action to a button?

I am trying to enter an event for JButon I create:
JButton botton1=new JButton("welcom to my show db! lets start");
botton1.setFont(new Font ("Eras Medium ITC",Font.BOLD,20));
this.add(botton1);
JPanel Basic_panel=new JPanel();
Basic_panel.setName("SHOW DB ");
Basic_panel.setBounds(x,y,width,hight);
botton1.addActionListener(this) ;
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if (e.getSource()==botton1){
Now I want to enter another JFrame I made, and make the first disappear. How?

For your original question:
How to add action to a button?
you might want to check How to write an Action Listener.
For your second question:
Now I want to enter another JFrame I made, and make the first disappear. How?
please check both approaches :)
Option 1 (Recommended)
If you want to do it the right way, you should use a CardLayout as recommended by #AndrewThompson in his comment above.
I also saw you were using a Null Layout (because of setBounds() method), you might also want to get rid of it, see Why is it frowned upon to use a null layout in Swing? and Null Layout is Evil to know why, insted you should be using a Layout Manager or combinations of them as shown in the following code based on #AndrewThompson's answer (The same that was linked in his comment above) but a bit modified to work with a JFrame instead of a JOptionPane, so give him credit by upvoting his Original Answer too!
This produces the following outputs:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
class CardLayoutDemo {
JButton button1, button2;
CardLayoutDemo() {
JFrame gui = new JFrame("CardLayoutDemo");
button1 = new JButton("Go to pane 2");
button2 = new JButton("Go to pane 1");
JPanel pane1 = new JPanel();
pane1.setLayout(new BoxLayout(pane1, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
JPanel pane2 = new JPanel();
pane2.setLayout(new BoxLayout(pane2, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
final CardLayout cl = new CardLayout();
final JPanel cards = new JPanel(cl);
pane1.add(new JLabel("This is my pane 1"));
pane1.add(button1);
pane2.add(new JLabel("This is my pane 2"));
pane2.add(button2);
gui.add(cards);
cards.add(pane1, "frame1");
cards.add(pane2, "frame2");
ActionListener al = new ActionListener(){
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
if (ae.getSource() == button1) {
cl.show(cards, "frame2");
} else if (ae.getSource() == button2) {
cl.show(cards, "frame1");
}
}
};
button1.addActionListener(al);
button2.addActionListener(al);
gui.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
gui.pack();
gui.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
new CardLayoutDemo();
}
}
With this option you only have 1 JFrame but you can change through different views, and you don't annoy user with multiple windows on the task bar.
One more tip here is: If you're going to open this second JFrame to prevent user from doing something on the 1st one, you should consider using a JOptionPane or this second JFrame will contain just a bit information which you don't want to have there for the whole time (Something like a pop up).
Option 2 (Not recommended)
But if you really really really want to use multiple JFrames (which is not recommended) you can dispose() it. At the time you're calling your new JFrame to be created. For example, the following code produces this output:
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class TwoJFrames {
JFrame frame;
JButton button;
TwoJFrames() {
frame = new JFrame("1st frame");
button = new JButton("Click me!");
button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
new AnotherFrame();
frame.dispose();
}
});
frame.add(button);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String args[]) {
new TwoJFrames();
}
class AnotherFrame {
JFrame frame2;
JLabel label;
AnotherFrame() {
frame2 = new JFrame("Second Frame");
label = new JLabel("This is my second frame");
frame2.add(label);
frame2.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame2.pack();
frame2.setVisible(true);
}
}
}
In this case you might want to consider setVisible() instead if you want to go back to previous state or reopen this one when closing the second JFrame
Both of my above codes are called a Minimal, Complete, and Verifiable example (MCVE) or Runnable Example or Short, Self Contained, Correct Example (SSCCE) which are code you can copy-paste and see the same output as me, when you have an error in your code, these examples are very handy because we can see where your errors are or be able to find them easier and/or faster.
You should consider reading all the links I provided (included these ones) and for your future questions to make something like I've done above, that way you'll prevent confusion and you'll get more, faster and better responses.

Adding a button component to a java tabbed pane in java

i am trying to create GUI using java swings.I am just a beginner in java swings.
My primary idea was to create two tabs and add a button in one of the tabs.
I wanted to write a separate class for each tab so i created 3 classes out of which one has the main method.and the other two represent the tabs.
In one of the tabs i wanted to add a button in middle and add an action listener to that button.
below is the class which has the main method.
public class abc {
JFrame frame;
JTabbedPane tabPane;
ImageIcon close;
Dimension size;
int tabCounter = 0;
abc_export exp;
abc_import imp;
public static void main(String[] args) {
abc jtab = new abc();
jtab.start();
}
public void start(){
exp=new abc_export();
imp=new abc_import();
tabPane.addTab(null, exp.panel);
tabPane.addTab(null, imp.panel);
tabPane.setTabComponentAt(tabPane.getTabCount()-1, exp.tab);
tabPane.setTabComponentAt(tabPane.getTabCount()-1, imp.tab);
}
public abc() {
// Create a frame
frame = new JFrame();
// Create the tabbed pane.
tabPane = new JTabbedPane();
// Create a button to add a tab
// Create an image icon to use as a close button
close = new ImageIcon("C:/JAVAJAZZUP/tabClose.gif");
size = new Dimension(close.getIconWidth()+1, close.getIconHeight()+1);
//Adding into frame
frame.add(tabPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.setSize(300, 300);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
};
below is code for one of the tabs.although the other tab is also having the same code which represent other tab with different class name.
public class abc_import {
ImageIcon close;
Dimension size;
int tabCounter = 0;
JPanel tab;
final JPanel panel;
public abc_import() {
close = new ImageIcon("C:/JAVAJAZZUP/tabClose.gif");
size = new Dimension(close.getIconWidth()+1, close.getIconHeight()+1);
//Adding into frame
JLabel label = null;
panel = new JPanel();
// Create a panel to represent the tab
tab = new JPanel();
tab.setOpaque(false);
String str = "abc_import";
label = new JLabel(str);
tab.add(label, BorderLayout.WEST);
}
};
as expected both the tabs are created.But i am out of ideas about adding a button inside one of the tabs.
Now my question here is if i wanted to add a button in one of the tabs as i already said.what do i need to do?can anyone help me?

I'm not sure I understand your intent, but you might try the approach shown in the TabComponentsDemo, discussed in How to Use Tabbed Panes: Tabs With Custom Components.
A related example is shown here.

You can try by using setTabComponentAt method.
This methd has the parameter setTabComponentAt(int index, Component component), in which you just mention the component you want.
You can refer a link here.

Java Swing: How can I implement a login screen before showing a JFrame?

I'm trying to make a little game that will first show the player a simple login screen where they can enter their name (I will need it later to store their game state info), let them pick a difficulty level etc, and will only show the main game screen once the player has clicked the play button. I'd also like to allow the player to navigate to a (hopefully for them rather large) trophy collection, likewise in what will appear to them to be a new screen.
So far I have a main game window with a grid layout and a game in it that works (Yay for me!). Now I want to add the above functionality.
How do I go about doing this? I don't think I want to go the multiple JFrame route as I only want one icon visible in the taskbar at a time (or would setting their visibility to false effect the icon too?) Do I instead make and destroy layouts or panels or something like that?
What are my options? How can I control what content is being displayed? Especially given my newbie skills?

A simple modal dialog such as a JDialog should work well here. The main GUI which will likely be a JFrame can be invisible when the dialog is called, and then set to visible (assuming that the log-on was successful) once the dialog completes. If the dialog is modal, you'll know exactly when the user has closed the dialog as the code will continue right after the line where you call setVisible(true) on the dialog. Note that the GUI held by a JDialog can be every bit as complex and rich as that held by a JFrame.
Another option is to use one GUI/JFrame but swap views (JPanels) in the main GUI via a CardLayout. This could work quite well and is easy to implement. Check out the CardLayout tutorial for more.
Oh, and welcome to stackoverflow.com!

Here is an example of a Login Dialog as #HovercraftFullOfEels suggested.
Username: stackoverflow Password: stackoverflow
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.util.Arrays;
import javax.swing.*;
public class TestFrame extends JFrame {
private PassWordDialog passDialog;
public TestFrame() {
passDialog = new PassWordDialog(this, true);
passDialog.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
JFrame frame = new TestFrame();
frame.getContentPane().setBackground(Color.BLACK);
frame.setTitle("Logged In");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setExtendedState(JFrame.MAXIMIZED_BOTH);
}
});
}
}
class PassWordDialog extends JDialog {
private final JLabel jlblUsername = new JLabel("Username");
private final JLabel jlblPassword = new JLabel("Password");
private final JTextField jtfUsername = new JTextField(15);
private final JPasswordField jpfPassword = new JPasswordField();
private final JButton jbtOk = new JButton("Login");
private final JButton jbtCancel = new JButton("Cancel");
private final JLabel jlblStatus = new JLabel(" ");
public PassWordDialog() {
this(null, true);
}
public PassWordDialog(final JFrame parent, boolean modal) {
super(parent, modal);
JPanel p3 = new JPanel(new GridLayout(2, 1));
p3.add(jlblUsername);
p3.add(jlblPassword);
JPanel p4 = new JPanel(new GridLayout(2, 1));
p4.add(jtfUsername);
p4.add(jpfPassword);
JPanel p1 = new JPanel();
p1.add(p3);
p1.add(p4);
JPanel p2 = new JPanel();
p2.add(jbtOk);
p2.add(jbtCancel);
JPanel p5 = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
p5.add(p2, BorderLayout.CENTER);
p5.add(jlblStatus, BorderLayout.NORTH);
jlblStatus.setForeground(Color.RED);
jlblStatus.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.CENTER);
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
add(p1, BorderLayout.CENTER);
add(p5, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
pack();
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
setDefaultCloseOperation(DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter() {
#Override
public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e) {
System.exit(0);
}
});
jbtOk.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if (Arrays.equals("stackoverflow".toCharArray(), jpfPassword.getPassword())
&& "stackoverflow".equals(jtfUsername.getText())) {
parent.setVisible(true);
setVisible(false);
} else {
jlblStatus.setText("Invalid username or password");
}
}
});
jbtCancel.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
setVisible(false);
parent.dispose();
System.exit(0);
}
});
}
}

I suggest you insert the following code:
JFrame f = new JFrame();
JTextField text = new JTextField(15); //the 15 sets the size of the text field
JPanel p = new JPanel();
JButton b = new JButton("Login");
f.add(p); //so you can add more stuff to the JFrame
f.setSize(250,150);
f.setVisible(true);
f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
Insert that when you want to add the stuff in. Next we will add all the stuff to the JPanel:
p.add(text);
p.add(b);
Now we add the ActionListeners to make the JButtons to work:
b.addActionListener(this);
public void actionPerforemed(ActionEvent e)
{
//Get the text of the JTextField
String TEXT = text.getText();
}
Don't forget to import the following if you haven't already:
import java.awt.event*;
import java.awt.*; //Just in case we need it
import java.x.swing.*;
I hope everything i said makes sense, because sometimes i don't (especially when I'm talking coding/Java) All the importing (if you didn't know) goes at the top of your code.

Instead of adding the game directly to JFrame, you can add your content to JPanel (let's call it GamePanel) and add this panel to the frame. Do the same thing for login screen: add all content to JPanel (LoginPanel) and add it to frame. When your game will start, you should do the following:
Add LoginPanel to frame
Get user input and load it's details
Add GamePanel and destroy LoginPanel (since it will be quite fast to re-create new one, so you don't need to keep it memory).