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Text Display
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Chapter 6

Introduction
AWT
 Swing
Containers
  Demo 1
UI Components
  Demo 2
UI Layout
  Demo 3   Demo 4
Text Display
  Demo 5
Drawing
  Demo 6   Demo 7
Draw Polygons
  Demo 8   Demo 9
Colors
Text Draw 
  Demo 10
Images
  Demo 11
Exercises

    Supplements
AWT
  Demo 1
Drawing
  Demo 2
Text Drawing
  Demo 3
UI Components
  Demo 4
Java2D
Shapes & Areas
  Demo 1   Demo 2
Stroke & Paint
  Demo 3
Transforms
  Demo 4
Gradients&Textures
  Demo 5   Demo 6
Text
  Demo 7   Demo 8
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So far we discussed how to use JLabel, JTextField, JTextArea to display text. The JLabel component provides for the display of brief text (it can also display an icon; see the JLabel specifications) to help explain the workings of a user interface. The JTextField displays a single line while JTextArea provides for a multi-line display.

JTextField and JTextArea also allow users to modify the text, which can then become the input for processing of some kind.

In most of the examples in Chapter 1-5 we used System.out.println() to send string output to the console. It would obviously be much more user friendly to send the program output to a graphical interface.

In the example below we use a JTextArea to display text to take the place of the console. We put the JTextArea component on a JPanel subclass called TextOutputPanel. (We also put it into a JScrollPane to allow for scroll bars when text goes beyond the boundaries.)

We devise an interface called Outputable, which holds two methods: print(String) and println(String):

Outputable.java
public interface Outputable
{
   static final char CR = '\n';

   // A method to print a string
   public void print (String str);

   // A method to print a string with a carriage return
   public void println (String str);
}

 

The TextOutputPanel class below implements Outputable. Its methods print(String) and println(String) methods send text to the JTextArea.

TextOutputPanel.java


public class TextOutputPanel extends JPanel implements Outputable
{
  // A Swing textarea for display of string info
  JTextArea textArea = null;
  public TextOutputPanel () {
    setLayout (new BorderLayout ());

    // Create an instance of JTextArea
    textArea = new JTextArea ();
    textArea.setEditable (false);

    // Add to a scroll pane so that a long list of
    // computations can be seen.
    JScrollPane areaScrollPane = new JScrollPane (textArea);
    add (areaScrollPane,"Center");
  }

  public void println (String str) {
    textArea.append (str + CR);
  }

  public void print (String str) {
    textArea.append (str);
  }
}

 

The applet below uses the TextOutputPanel component to display text :

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

/** Use a JPanel subclass TextOutputPanel to show text
  * output on the applet area.
 **/
public class TextOutputApplet extends JApplet
{
  public void init() {   
    Container contentPane = getContentPane ();

    // Create an instance of the panel subclass
    // with JTextArea to show output
    TextOutputPanel output = new TextOutputPanel ();

    // Add the panel to the applet's pane
    contentPane.add (output);

    // Send text to the JTextArea.
    output.println (
      "TextOutputPanel implements the Outputable interface");
    output.println (
      "Outputable methods are print(String) & println(String)");
  }
}

This example nicely illustrates the convenience of interfaces. While only a single class can be extended, there are no limits on the number of interfaces that can be implemented. So we can always modify a class to implement an interface when we want to provide new capabilities.

As exercises, the student should modify some of the Chapter 1-5 example programs such that they implement the Outputable interface in a similar manner and send string output to a text area rather than the console.

 

Latest update: Oct. 25, 2004

            Tech
Java Tech Graphics
Starting to Plot
  Demo 1
Drawing Panel
  Demo 2
Histogram Display
  Demo 3
Exercises

           Physics
Display Text Data
  Demo 1
Plot Data
  Demo 2
Find Max/Min
  Demo 3
Exercises

  
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