Sending a String from JTextField on one JPanel to JTextArea on another JPanel via a button

Question

I am currently trying to take the typed text in the textField 'itemName' and have it print out on the text area 'printArea.' When I have both printArea and itemName on the same JPanel (p1) it works just fine. When printArea is set to a separate JPanel (itemName on p1 and printArea on p2), nothing prints out. Two JPanels are used to make the GUI appear as it was assigned. The area i Believe to be the issue is where I added JPanel 'p1' to JPanel 'p2'.

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

public class MovieGUI extends JFrame{

JButton submit = new JButton("Submit");
JTextField itemName = new JTextField();
JTextField itemPrice = new JTextField();
JTextField itemQuantity = new JTextField();
JTextArea printArea = new JTextArea(400,400);


public MovieGUI(){


        JPanel p1 = new JPanel();

        p1.setLayout(new GridLayout(6, 2));



        p1.add(new JLabel("Item Name"));
        p1.add(itemName);   //p1.add(new JTextField(8));
        p1.add(new JLabel("Item Price"));
        p1.add(itemPrice);  // p1.add(new JTextField(8));
        p1.add(new JLabel("Quantity"));
        p1.add(itemQuantity);   //p1.add(new JTextField(8));
        p1.add(new JLabel("submit"));
        p1.add(submit);

        //Something is not working... 

        JPanel p2 = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
            p2.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
            p2.add(p1, BorderLayout.NORTH);

        p2.add(printArea, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        //add(p1);  
        add(p2);

        event e = new event();
        submit.addActionListener(e);
    }


    public class event implements ActionListener{
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
            String text = itemName.getText();

            printArea.setText(text);   //printArea.setText("BUTTON");


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


        MovieGUI frame = new MovieGUI();
        frame.setTitle("Submission");
        frame.setSize(800, 500);
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }


} 

Answer 1

Your JPanel p2 does not contain nothing on CENTER alignment, so printArea doesn't view on SOUTH alignment. To see the inputItem text on printArea change from

p2.add(printArea, BorderLayout.SOUTH);

to

p2.add(printArea, BorderLayout.CENTER);