How do i get the value from JTextField in java that was created dynamically through a JLabel click

Question

I am creating a JTextField everytime a label is clicked. My problem is to get the text inside those created textfields.

This is my code:

public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent arg0) {    
    List<JTextField> mine = new ArrayList<JTextField>();
    box = new JTextField();
    name = new JTextField();
    pnlPanel.add(box);
    pnlpanel.add(name);
    lay++;
    if (lay > 0) {
        box.setBounds(283, 145, 182, 27);
        name.setBounds(81, 145, 182, 27);
        mine.add(box);
    }
    GetData mydata = new GetData();
    mydata.doGetData();
    frame.repaint();
}

This is my code for getting the data inputted by the user, but it doesnt work:

public class GetData {
    public void doGetData(List<JTextField> myFields) {
        for (JTextField txt: myFields) {
        }
    }
}

How does I get the user input?

Answer 1

You will have to store the fields in some kind of way. I prefer to use an ArrayList, but (as mentioned by Klemens Morbe) there are many ways to that.

Here is a basic example, the output will appear in the console.

import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collection;

import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.WindowConstants;


public class MoreAndMoreTextfields extends JFrame {

    // the panel, that we will add the visible fields to
    private JPanel panel = new JPanel();

    // a collection of all fields, so that we can access them afterwards
    private Collection<JTextField> textFields = new ArrayList<JTextField>();

    public MoreAndMoreTextfields() {

        // basic window layout stuff
        setSize(400, 300);
        setLayout(new FlowLayout());
        setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);

        setContentPane(panel);

        // add label, that will create new input fields
        JLabel addInputLabel = new JLabel("click for more fields");
        addInputLabel.addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter() {

            @Override
            public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
                JTextField textField = new JTextField();
                panel.add(textField);
                textField.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100,20));
                textFields.add(textField);
                revalidate();
            }
        });
        panel.add(addInputLabel);

        // add new label, that will print out contents
        JLabel outputLabel = new JLabel("click for contents");
        outputLabel.addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter() {

            @Override
            public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
                System.out.println("Contents of fields:");
                for (JTextField textField : textFields) {
                    System.out.println("  input:"+textField.getText());
                }
            }
        });
        panel.add(outputLabel);
    }


    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                new MoreAndMoreTextfields().setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }
}