How can I reference or access objects such as buttons made in another method in Java Swing?

Question

I don't know if I am using the correct terminology in my question, sorry in advance if it sounds a bit confusing. So basically I am trying to write a Java Swing program to create a GUI. There are multiple components/objects that are more or less uniform throughout the GUI so I made separate methods to create different objects and panels and combined them together in the master panel that will be passed back to the frame .

I laid out the entire GUI's layout and look and feel, but it is barely functional yet. My problem is that I have action listeners that need to reference or access buttons or objects that was made in and added to a panel in another method/class and passed back as a panel. For example,

    class makeComponents extends JPanel {
        public makeComponents() { 

        }

        public JToggleButton ToggleButton() {
          // Creates On/Off buttons as switches
            JToggleButton button = new JToggleButton("OFF", false);
            button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
                AbstractButton abstractButton = (AbstractButton)e.getSource();
                if (abstractButton.isSelected()) {
                    abstractButton.setText("ON");
                  // Want to add CardLayout card.show() to switch pictures
                }
                else {
                    abstractButton.setText("OFF");
                  // Want to add CardLayout card.show() to switch pictures
                }
            }
            return button;
         }
     }

I have an on/off button like the above on a separate left JPanel then I have 2 images in CardLayout on right JPanel and the 2 panels are joined together in master JPanel which is passed back to the frame. I have created so many layers that I don't know how to backtrack and access that the pics so I can flip the CardLayout of the 2 images in the other panel.

I hope I was clear enough and any help would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

You can simply merge all in one class that have private classes inside, then you have acces to master clas objects like this:

public class Master {

    int x;
    int y;
    Inside1 inside;
    Inside2 in2;
    private class Inside1{
        public Inside1(){
            foo();
        }
        private void foo(){
            x=5; //Master.x <---
        }
    }

    private class Inside2{
        public Inside2(){
            inside = new Inside1(); //<- new object of inside1 form Master 
            bar();
        }

        private  void bar(){
            y=15; //Master.y
        }
    }

    public Master(){
        in2 = new Inside2();
    }


}

As you can see, i have access to all private fields of master class inside private classes. You can rewrite your classes and put them inside JFrame class and problem solved!