So, I have been trying to learn how to work with WindowBuilder for the last month. I have watched a few YouTube videos especially about CardLayout, but my buttons don't seem to change the panels.
I'm actually aiming for a runnable game, but since I don't know where exactly to start, I have decided to code the part of the changing panel first.(sb told me my code wasn't exactly good for a game)
I want the panel to change when the player clicks on "New Game". It gave me errors at first, but after a few changes, it doesn't even give errors. So here is my code:
package halma.views;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.border.EmptyBorder;
import javax.swing.GroupLayout;
import javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment;
import java.awt.Color;
import javax.swing.LayoutStyle.ComponentPlacement;
import java.awt.CardLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
public class MainFrame extends JFrame {
private JPanel contentPane;
private JPanel returnBar_panel;
private JPanel gameBar_panel;
private JPanel startupReturnBar_Panel;
private JPanel returnGame_Panel;
private JPanel gameGUI_Panel;
private JPanel startupGameBar_Panel;
private JButton playButton;
private JButton highScoresButton;
private JButton exitButton;
private JPanel resumeReturn_Panel;
static ActionListeners action = new ActionListeners();
CardLayout cardLayout1; //Used for the buttons' actionlistener.
CardLayout cardLayout2;
/**
* Launch the application.
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
}
//The constructor method.
public MainFrame() {
createFrame();
cardLayout1 = (CardLayout)(returnBar_panel.getLayout());
cardLayout2 = (CardLayout)(gameBar_panel.getLayout());
}
//The getters and setters that are required for other classes to use the private variables in the "MainFrame" class.
public JButton getPlayButton() {
return playButton;
}
public JPanel getReturnBar_panel() {
return returnBar_panel;
}
public void setReturnBar_panel(JPanel returnBar_panel) {
this.returnBar_panel = returnBar_panel;
}
public JPanel getReturnGame_Panel() {
return returnGame_Panel;
}
public void setReturnGame_Panel(JPanel returnGame_Panel) {
this.returnGame_Panel = returnGame_Panel;
}
public JPanel getGameGUI_Panel() {
return gameGUI_Panel;
}
public void setGameGUI_Panel(JPanel gameGUI_Panel) {
this.gameGUI_Panel = gameGUI_Panel;
}
public void setPlayButton(JButton playButton) {
this.playButton = playButton;
}
public JPanel getResumeReturn_Panel() {
return resumeReturn_Panel;
}
public void setResumeReturn_Panel(JPanel resumeReturn_Panel) {
this.resumeReturn_Panel = resumeReturn_Panel;
}
//Runs the game.
public static void runGame() {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
MainFrame frame = new MainFrame();
frame.setVisible(true);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
}
//Creating the frame.
public void createFrame() {
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setBounds(100, 100, 527, 374);
setSize(800, 600);
contentPane = new JPanel();
contentPane.setBackground(new Color(255, 192, 203));
contentPane.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(5, 5, 5, 5));
setContentPane(contentPane);
returnBar_panel = new JPanel();
returnBar_panel.setBackground(new Color(255, 192, 203));
gameBar_panel = new JPanel();
gameBar_panel.setBackground(new Color(255, 192, 203));
GroupLayout gl_contentPane = new GroupLayout(contentPane);
gl_contentPane.setHorizontalGroup(
gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
.addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
.addComponent(returnBar_panel, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, 155, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
.addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
.addComponent(gameBar_panel, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, 603, Short.MAX_VALUE)
.addContainerGap())
);
gl_contentPane.setVerticalGroup(
gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
.addComponent(returnBar_panel, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, 551, Short.MAX_VALUE)
.addComponent(gameBar_panel, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, 551, Short.MAX_VALUE)
);
gameBar_panel.setLayout(new CardLayout(0, 0));
startupGameBar_Panel = new JPanel();
startupGameBar_Panel.setBackground(new Color(255, 192, 203));
gameBar_panel.add(startupGameBar_Panel, "name_328512842567600");
playButton = new JButton("New Game");
playButton.setFocusable(false);
playButton.setBackground(new Color(255, 160, 122));
playButton.setForeground(new Color(0, 0, 0));
playButton.setFont(new Font("Comic Sans MS", Font.ITALIC, 12));
playButton.addActionListener(action);
highScoresButton = new JButton("Records");
highScoresButton.setForeground(new Color(0, 0, 0));
highScoresButton.setFocusable(false);
highScoresButton.setFont(new Font("Comic Sans MS", Font.ITALIC, 12));
highScoresButton.setBackground(new Color(255, 160, 122));
exitButton = new JButton("Exit");
exitButton.setForeground(new Color(0, 0, 0));
exitButton.setFocusable(false);
exitButton.setFont(new Font("Comic Sans MS", Font.ITALIC, 12));
exitButton.setBackground(new Color(255, 160, 122));
GroupLayout gl_startupGameBar_Panel = new GroupLayout(startupGameBar_Panel);
gl_startupGameBar_Panel.setHorizontalGroup(
gl_startupGameBar_Panel.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
.addGroup(Alignment.TRAILING, gl_startupGameBar_Panel.createSequentialGroup()
.addContainerGap(490, Short.MAX_VALUE)
.addGroup(gl_startupGameBar_Panel.createParallelGroup(Alignment.TRAILING, false)
.addComponent(exitButton, Alignment.LEADING, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, Short.MAX_VALUE)
.addComponent(highScoresButton, Alignment.LEADING, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, Short.MAX_VALUE)
.addComponent(playButton, Alignment.LEADING, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, Short.MAX_VALUE))
.addGap(24))
);
gl_startupGameBar_Panel.setVerticalGroup(
gl_startupGameBar_Panel.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
.addGroup(Alignment.TRAILING, gl_startupGameBar_Panel.createSequentialGroup()
.addContainerGap(341, Short.MAX_VALUE)
.addComponent(playButton)
.addGap(18)
.addComponent(highScoresButton)
.addGap(18)
.addComponent(exitButton)
.addGap(105))
);
startupGameBar_Panel.setLayout(gl_startupGameBar_Panel);
gameGUI_Panel = new JPanel();
gameGUI_Panel.setBackground(Color.RED);
gameBar_panel.add(gameGUI_Panel, "name_328347141657400");
gameGUI_Panel.setLayout(new CardLayout(0, 0));
returnBar_panel.setLayout(new CardLayout(0, 0));
setStartupReturnBar_Panel(new JPanel());
getStartupReturnBar_Panel().setBackground(new Color(255, 192, 203));
returnBar_panel.add(getStartupReturnBar_Panel(), "name_328000881526100");
returnGame_Panel = new JPanel();
returnGame_Panel.setBackground(new Color(255, 192, 203));
returnBar_panel.add(returnGame_Panel, "name_328006822278900");
resumeReturn_Panel = new JPanel();
resumeReturn_Panel.setBackground(Color.PINK);
returnBar_panel.add(resumeReturn_Panel, "name_331156929215800");
resumeReturn_Panel.setLayout(new CardLayout(0, 0));
JPanel panel2 = new JPanel();
contentPane.setLayout(gl_contentPane);
}
public JPanel getStartupReturnBar_Panel() {
return startupReturnBar_Panel;
}
public void setStartupReturnBar_Panel(JPanel startupReturnBar_Panel) {
this.startupReturnBar_Panel = startupReturnBar_Panel;
}
package halma.views;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
public class ActionListeners extends MainFrame implements ActionListener {
/**
*
*/
private static final long serialVersionUID = 814839576128286295L;
MainFrame frame = new MainFrame();
public ActionListeners() {
frame.runGame();
}
@Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
System.out.println("meow!");
frame.cardLayout1.show(frame.getReturnBar_panel(), "resumeReturn_Panel");
if(e.getSource() == frame.getPlayButton()) {
System.out.println("T");
frame.cardLayout1.show(frame.getReturnBar_panel(), "resumeReturn_Panel");
frame.cardLayout2.show(frame.getGameGUI_Panel(), "Playing");
}
}
}
In the Second class, the word "Meow" gets printed, but the panel doesn't change even if I put it out of the if-statement. And the letter T doesn't get printed.
Why would you want an ActionListener to have a Frame? Wouldn't it it make more sense for a Frame to have an ActionListener? Even for a frame to have an action listener makes little sense. You want the component receiving the user action (the source object) to contain the listener. For example, if a user clicks on a button, you want that button to react to the action initiated by the user. For instance, if you have a button that should display "hello" in the console when clicked by the user, you would do something like this:
helloBtn.addActionListener(listener);
Then, your listener should look something like this:
public class HelloMsgListener implements ActionListener {
@Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
System.out.println("Hello!");
}
}
When your listener is this simple, it might make more sense to add it as an anonymous entity.
The code you wrote is very messy. You created a listener that has a frame, but that frame is not the instance that has the component that contains the listener with the frame.
The way to fix this is to create a class that creates the frame and runs your application
public class MyApp {
public static void main (String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
@Override
public void run () {
createAndShowGUI();
}
private void createAndShowGUI () {
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
...
frame.setVisible(true);
// Create the rest of the components and add to frame
playButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
@Override
public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent e) {
System.out.println("meow!");
frame.cardLayout1.show(frame.getReturnBar_panel(),
"resumeReturn_Panel");
if (e.getSource() == frame.getPlayButton()) {
System.out.println("T");
frame.cardLayout1.show(frame.getReturnBar_panel(),
"resumeReturn_Panel");
frame.cardLayout2.show(frame.getGameGUI_Panel(), "Playing");
}
}
});
}
});
}
}
Then, you create your button