我无法清除JTextArea，如何清除JTextArea？

Question

It's a prototype for a virtual therapist, mainly for Java practice purposes. I've been trying to clear this JTextArea for 2 days now.

I've cleaned and rebuilt which got me through a few other hurdles, I'm at a loss for what to try. setEnabled() is coded out because I was just trying it on and off with different methods. Everything but the clear button works fine. I get a response in the text area after pressing enter with JTextField input. But it just won't clear.

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
{

   String inp = event.toString(); //this is input in a JTextField

   if(inp.contains("sad") || inp.contains("lonely"))
   {
       txtArea.setText(response1);

   }else if(inp.contains(""))
   {
       txtArea.setText(response2);
   }

   else if(event.getSource() == clear) //clear is a button
   {
     //clear.setEnabled(true); 
     txtArea.setText(""); //I've tried selectAll(), replaceSelection()
   }
}

Answer 1

From what I can see in your code this might help with the clear problem. In your code the if branch for the clear can never be reached due to the else after an condition(contains an emty string) that is always true. I moved it to the front - so it is reachable.

I can't say for sure from your posted code, but the event.toString() looks also suspicious as well as the last(in the changed code below) condition, that is always true.

   //this looks odd/suspicious to me too!
   String inp = event.toString(); //???!!! this is input in a JTextField
   /* rather something like 
    *  if(event.getSource() instanceof JTextField){
    *      inp = ((JTextField)event.getSource()).getText();
    *  }
    */
   if(event.getSource() == clear) { //clear is a button
     //clear.setEnabled(true); 
     txtArea.setText(""); //I've tried selectAll(), replaceSelection()

   } else if(inp.contains("sad") || inp.contains("lonely")) { 
       txtArea.setText(response1);

   } else if(inp.contains("")) { //??? always true!! rather: inp.equals("") or inp.isEmpty() ...
       txtArea.setText(response2);
   }