Java ActionListener将变量返回到包含ActionListener的方法

Question

I have a method like so, which is given an array of JButton and returns their text whenever they are pressed:

public static String foo(JButton[] buttons) {
    for (JButton i : buttons) {
        i.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                return i.getText();
            }
        });
    }
}

But, of course, this code will not compile because I am returning a variable to a null method. So, how would I have i.getText() return its output too the foo() method?

---

Edit , all of the code:

import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.Insets;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;

import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

public class JCustomFrame {
    public static void showMessageFrame(String title, String message,
            String[] textOnButtons, ImageIcon icon) {
        final JFrame frame = new JFrame();
        JPanel panel = new JPanel();

        panel.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
        panel.setBackground(Color.WHITE);

        GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
        c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.EAST;
        c.fill = GridBagConstraints.RELATIVE;
        c.gridx = 0;
        c.gridy = 0;
        c.insets = new Insets(5, 5, 5, 5);

        JLabel messageLabel = new JLabel(message);
        messageLabel.setFont(messageLabel.getFont().deriveFont(16.0f));

        panel.add(messageLabel, c);

        c.gridy = 1;
        c.gridx = 0;
        for (int i = 0; i < textOnButtons.length; i++) {
            JButton button = new JButton(textOnButtons[i]);
            button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
                @Override
                public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0) {
                    return ((JButton) arg0.getSource()).getText();
                    frame.dispose();
                }
            });
            button.setFont(button.getFont().deriveFont(16.0f));
            panel.add(button, c);
            c.gridx++;
        }

        if (icon == null) {
            frame.setIconImage(new BufferedImage(1, 1,
                    BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB_PRE));
        } else {
            frame.setIconImage(icon.getImage());
        }
        frame.add(panel);
        frame.setTitle(title);
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setVisible(true);
        frame.pack();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        JCustomFrame.showMessageFrame("Test Frame",
                "Do you really want to do this?", new String[] { "Hell No",
                        "Sure, Why Not" }, null);
    }
}

Answer 1

This statement doesn't make sense:

So, how would I have i.getText() return its output too the foo() method?

The method foo() is no longer running after the ActionListeners have been added to the buttons, and certainly will have ended by the time a user pushes a button, as per the rules of event-driven programming. Instead, though you could have the ActionListeners change the state of a class, any class, and that should suffice. For instance:

class FooClass {
    private String text;

    public void foo(JButton[] buttons) {
        for (JButton i : buttons) {
            i.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
                @Override
                public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                    text = e.getActionCommand(); 
                }
            });
        }
    }
}

If you need greater detail on a viable solution, please tell us more details about your actual program and your specific problem.

Now if you actually needed a method to return the value of the button pressed, you would need to do this via notification mechanisms and a call-back method, but again the details of a solution will depend on the details of the actual problem and code.

---

Edit

You're trying to emulate a JOptionPane. Your solution is to either use a JOptionPane, adding a JPanel to it, or create your own using a modal JDialog:

import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.Dialog.ModalityType;
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.Insets;
import java.awt.Window;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JDialog;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;

public class JCustomFrame2 {

   public static String showMessageFrame(Window owner, String title,
         String message, String[] textOnButtons, ImageIcon icon) {
      final JDialog dialog = new JDialog(owner);
      StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

      // make it application modal!
      dialog.setModalityType(ModalityType.APPLICATION_MODAL);
      JPanel panel = new JPanel();

      panel.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
      panel.setBackground(Color.WHITE);

      GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
      c.anchor = GridBagConstraints.EAST;
      c.fill = GridBagConstraints.RELATIVE;
      c.gridx = 0;
      c.gridy = 0;
      c.insets = new Insets(5, 5, 5, 5);

      JLabel messageLabel = new JLabel(message);
      messageLabel.setFont(messageLabel.getFont().deriveFont(16.0f));

      panel.add(messageLabel, c);

      c.gridy = 1;
      c.gridx = 0;
      for (int i = 0; i < textOnButtons.length; i++) {
         JButton button = new JButton(textOnButtons[i]);
         button.addActionListener(new ButtonListener(sb));
         button.setFont(button.getFont().deriveFont(16.0f));
         panel.add(button, c);
         c.gridx++;
      }

      if (icon == null) {
         dialog.setIconImage(new BufferedImage(1, 1,
               BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB_PRE));
      } else {
         dialog.setIconImage(icon.getImage());
      }
      dialog.add(panel);
      dialog.setTitle(title);
      dialog.setDefaultCloseOperation(JDialog.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
      dialog.pack();
      dialog.setVisible(true);

      return sb.toString();
   }

   private static class ButtonListener implements ActionListener {
      private StringBuilder sb;

      public ButtonListener(StringBuilder sb) {
         this.sb = sb;
      }


      @Override
      public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
         sb.append(e.getActionCommand());
         Component component = (Component) e.getSource();
         Window win = SwingUtilities.getWindowAncestor(component);
         if (win != null) {
            win.dispose();
         }
      }
   }

   public static String showMessageFrame(String title,
         String message, String[] textOnButtons, ImageIcon icon) {
      return showMessageFrame(null, title, message, textOnButtons, icon);
   }


   public static void main(String[] args) {
      String result = JCustomFrame2.showMessageFrame("Test Frame",
            "Do you really want to do this?", new String[] { "Hell No",
                  "Sure, Why Not" }, null);

      System.out.println(result);
   }
}

Answer 2

Why so complicated? whatever foo is supposed to do, it would be a lot easier to simply call another method from inside the ActionListener with the name of the button as argument. Or, if you really want to achieve something like this, make the thread wait for the user to press a button.

public void doSomething(){
    JButton[] someButtons = ...;//whereever you create the buttons

    System.out.println(foo(someButtons));
}

public static String foo(JButton[] buttons){
    final String someString = "";

    final Object lock = new Object();

    for(JButton b : buttons){
        b.addActionListener(e -> {
             someString.concat(b.getName());

             synchronized(lock){
                 lock.notifyAll();
             }
        });
    }

    synchronized(lock){
        try{
            lock.wait();
        }catch(InterruptedException e){}
    }

    return someString;
}