Get the selected values from JList in Java

Question

How can i get the selected value from Jlist? I tried the following code, but all variables are displayed null. Why index variable is null?

 public class GetSelectedValueFromJList extends JFrame implements ActionListener {
    private JList list;
    private JButton checkButton;

    public GetSelectedValueFromJList() {



        String[] nameList = { "Value 1", "Value 2", "Value 3", "Value 4", "Value 5"};
        list = new JList(data);
        checkButton = new Button("Check");
        button.addActionListener(this);

        //add list to frame
        add(list);
        add(checkButton);

    }

    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
    {
        if(e.getCommand().equals("Check"))
        {
            int index = list.getSelectedIndex();
            System.out.println("Index Selected: " + index);
            String s = (String) list.getSelectedValue();
            System.out.println("Value Selected: " + s);
        }
    }

Answer 1

Initially no element is selected in JList so if you don't select an element from the list the returned index will be -1 and returned value will be null. try this code and select and element from the list then test if it works:

import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JList;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

public class Frame extends JFrame implements ActionListener
{
    private JList list;
    private JButton checkButton;

    public Frame()
    {
        setBounds(100,100,300,300);
        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        String[] nameList = { "Value 1", "Value 2", "Value 3", "Value 4", "Value 5" };
        list = new JList(nameList);
        checkButton = new JButton("Check");
        checkButton.addActionListener(this);

        // add list to frame
        JPanel panel = new JPanel();
        panel.add(list);
        panel.add(checkButton);
        add(panel);
        setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        new Frame();
    }

    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
    {
        if (e.getActionCommand().equals("Check"))
        {
            int index = list.getSelectedIndex();
            System.out.println("Index Selected: " + index);
            String s = (String) list.getSelectedValue();
            System.out.println("Value Selected: " + s);
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

This is not an answer, since it does not really address the stated problem. As such I'll have to delete it soon. I am posting it to show a slight variant of that code (as an MCVE ) to demonstrate that there is no null seen in the output if an item in the list is selected . Well, that and to encourage you to post an MCVE of code that actually shows the stated problem.

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class GetSelectedValueFromJList
        extends JFrame implements ActionListener {

    private JList list;
    private JButton button;

    public GetSelectedValueFromJList() {
        String[] nameList = {
            "Value 1", "Value 2", "Value 3", "Value 4", "Value 5"
        };
        list = new JList(nameList);
        list.setSelectedIndex(2);

        button = new JButton("Check");
        button.addActionListener(this);

        add(list);
        add(button, BorderLayout.PAGE_END);

        pack();
    }

    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
        if (e.getActionCommand().equals("Check")) {
            int index = list.getSelectedIndex();
            System.out.println("Index Selected: " + index);
            String s = (String) list.getSelectedValue();
            System.out.println("Value Selected: " + s);
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Runnable r = new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                new GetSelectedValueFromJList().setVisible(true);
            }
        };
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(r);
    }
}

Answer 3

This code will get more than one selected values...

 int[] selectedIndices = jList1.getSelectedIndices();
String[] myArray = new String[50];
for (int i = 0; i < selectedIndices.length; i++) {
               myArray[i] =  String.valueOf(jList1.getModel().getElementAt(selectedIndices[i]));
        }

this code will get one value...

String myString = String.valueOf(jList1.getModel().getElementAt(jList1.getSelectedIndex());

or

 String myString = String.valueOf(jList1.getSelectedValue());