如何清除JTextField中的输入错误并存储成功的错误

Question

Please be patient, I am very new to Java. I'm creating a simple application that creates an essay outline and formats references into APA format. I have an object myOutline in class Outline with setter and getter methods. After all the GUI input, the outline and references are printed to a txt file.

I have a method called pronoun that checks the user's thesis for personal pronouns. I hardcoded all the pronouns (I know using an array list is better but am not at a level where I can code that yet). If it finds a pronoun, a dialog box pops up and alerts the user, asking them to write it again.

My problem is that once the user receives the error message, all subsequent inputs are also errors, regardless of pronoun. My question: How can I clear the JTextField input so that the method checks a new String, not the previous one? I tried using the setter method and ("") or (null) but it's not working.

I will only post the actionListener section and pronoun method.

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){

            Object source = e.getSource();                    

            if (e.getSource() == btnThesisInput) {

                String thesisInput = txtThesisInput.getText();
                pronoun(thesisInput);
                }
}

private void pronoun (String thesisInput){  

            if (thesisInput.contains(" I ")){
                personalPronoun = true;
            }
            if (thesisInput.contains(" me ")){
                personalPronoun = true;
            }
            if (thesisInput.contains(" you ")){
                personalPronoun = true;
            }
            if (thesisInput.contains(" we ")){
                personalPronoun = true;
            }
            if (thesisInput.contains(" us ")){
                personalPronoun = true;
            }
            if (thesisInput.contains(" our ")){
                personalPronoun = true;
            }
            if (thesisInput.contains(" he ")){
                personalPronoun = true;
            }
            if (thesisInput.contains(" him ")){
                personalPronoun = true;
            }
            if (thesisInput.contains(" she ")){
                personalPronoun = true;
            }
            if (thesisInput.contains(" her ")){
                personalPronoun = true;
            }
            if (thesisInput.contains(" they ")){
                personalPronoun = true;
            }
            if (thesisInput.contains(" them ")){
                personalPronoun = true;
            }

            if (personalPronoun == true){   
                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Oops! Looks like your thesis contains personal pronouns. Try again."); 
                myOutline.setThesis("");
                txtThesisInput.setText(null);  

            }

            else{  
                myOutline.setThesis(thesisInput);
                panelThesisInput.setVisible(false);
                getContentPane().add (panelArgumentInput);
                panelArgumentInput.setVisible(true);   
            }

}

Answer 1

personalPronoun is never set to false

Try adding personalPronoun = false; to private void pronoun (String thesisInput){

For example...

private void pronoun (String thesisInput){  
    personalPronoun = false;

    if (...)

If you're not actually using personalPronoun anywhere else in the code, it might just be easier to make it a local variable instead...

private void pronoun (String thesisInput){  
    boolean personalPronoun = false;

You may also find the section Validating Input of How to Use the Focus Subsystem of some interest...