Topic 8

Inheritance and
Introduction to
Event-driven
Programming

ICT167 Principles of
Computer Science
 3

Objectives
§ Define inheritance and polymorphism
§ Be able to give examples of uses of
inheritance
§ Be able to use the correct terminology for
inheritance (base class and derived class)
§ Understand inheritance between Java
classes
§ Explain the concept of overriding of
methods
§ Distinguish between overriding and
overloading
 4

Objectives
§ Explain the use of the term super in a
constructor
§ Understand a class hierarchy
§ Know that a derived class object can have a
super class reference
§ Be able to define and use derived classes
in Java
§ Understand the concept of multiple
inheritance
§ Understand Java interfaces
 5

Objectives
§ Understand the basics of event-driven
programming
§ Explain the term GUI
§ Give a brief description of the Java Swing
event-driven programming
§ Be able to determine and explain the
behaviour of simple Java GUI programs
Reading Savitch: Chapters 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 and
Chapter 13 (see textbook website)
 6

Inheritance
§ Inheritance enables us to define a new class
based on a (general) class that already
exists
§ The new class will be similar to the existing
class, it will be able to use all the facilities of
the existing class, but will have some new
characteristics
§ This makes programming easier, because
you can build upon your previous work
instead of starting out from scratch
 7

Inheritance

§ In Java it is easy to code the more

specialized class without having to re-write
any of the code which it inherits from the
more general class
§ Inheritance is a powerful and very useful
feature of OOP
§ Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) define each
visual component by using inheritance with a
"toolkit" of basic components
 8

Inheritance

§ For example in the libraries:

§ Buttons inherit from Components
§ Labels inherit from Components
§ FileNotFoundException inherits from
IOException
§ HttpURLConnection inherits from
URLConnection
§ Time inherits from Date
§ Set inherits from Collection
 9

Inheritance

§ Example in possible applications,

§ ReferenceBook inherits from LibraryBook
§ UnderGraduateStudent inherits from Student
§ Secretary inherits from Employee
§ CreditCardCustomer inherits from Customer
 10

Terminology

§ The class that is used as a basis for

defining a new class is called the base
class (or super class or parent
class)
§ The new class based on the base class
is called a derived class (or sub-
class or child class)
§ We say, the derived class inherits from
the base class
 11

Terminology

§ In Java, (unlike with humans) child classes

inherit characteristics from just one parent
§ This is called single inheritance
§ Some languages allow child classes to
inherit from more than one parent
§ This is called multiple inheritance
 12

Terminology

§ With multiple inheritance, it is

sometimes hard to tell which parent class
will contribute what characteristics to the
child class
§ Java avoids these problems by using
single inheritance
 13

Example: Base Class

// A Base Class: Person.java (from Savitch chapter 8)
public class Person {
private String name; // instance variable
public Person() { // constructor
name = "No name yet.";
}
// another constructor
public Person(String initialName) {
name = initialName;
}
public String getName() { // get method
return name;
}
 14

Example: Base Class

// set method
public void setName(String newName) {
name = newName;
}
public void writeOutput(){ // output method
System.out.println("Name: " + name);
}
// equal method
public boolean sameName(Person otherPerson) {
return (this.name.equalsIgnoreCase(
otherPerson.name));
}
} // end class Person
 15

Example: Derived Class

// A Derived Class: Student.java from Savitch chapter 8

public class Student extends Person {
private int studentNumber; // instance variable
public Student() { // default constructor
//call to default constructor of super class Person
super();
studentNumber = 0; // Indicating no number yet
}
 16

Example: Derived Class

// Another constructor
public Student(String initialName,
int initialStudentNumber) {
// call to other constructor of super class Person
super(initialName);
studentNumber = initialStudentNumber;
}
public void reset(String newName,
int newStudentNumber) {
// call to the super class method
setName(newName);
studentNumber = newStudentNumber;
}
 17

Example: Derived Class

public int getStudentNumber() {

return studentNumber;
}
public void setStudentNumber(int
newStudentNumber) {
studentNumber = newStudentNumber;
}
public void writeOutput() {
System.out.println("Name: " + getName());
System.out.println("Student Number : " +
studentNumber);
}
 18

Example: Derived Class

public boolean equals(Student otherStudent) {

return (this.sameName(otherStudent)
&& (this.studentNumber ==
otherStudent.studentNumber));
}
} // end class Student
 19

Example: Client Class

// InheritanceDemo.java - a client program

public class InheritanceDemo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Student s = new Student();
s.writeOutput();
// setName is inherited from the Person class
s.setName("Jason Bourne");
s.setStudentNumber(12345678);
s.writeOutput();
 20

Example: Client Class

Student s1 = new Student("James Bond", 007);

s1.writeOutput();
if (s.equals(s1))
System.out.println("Same");
else
System.out.println("Not Same");
}
} // end class InheritanceDemo
 21

Example: Output

/* OUTPUT
Name: No name yet.
Student Number : 0
Name: Jason Bourne
Student Number : 12345678
Name: James Bond
Student Number: 7
Not Same
*/
 22

Overriding Methods and

super Constructors
§ In the above example (consisting of two useful classes
and a client) notice the following:
§ Person is the base class (or super class)
§ Student is derived from the base class
§ We also say, Student inherits from Person, or,
Student extends Person
§ The most important thing to note is that each
Student object (like any other Person object) has a
name and has methods such as setName(…) and
getName() available to it
§ This is inheritance
 23

Overriding Methods and

super Constructors
§ Each Student object also has an extra
instance variable studentNumber
§ An object of type Student has the following
members in it:
 24

Overriding Methods and

super Constructors
Member Explanation
name inherited from Person
studentNumber defined in Student
setName(…) inherited from Person
getName() inherited from Person
sameName(…) inherited from Person
reset(…) defined in Student
getStudentNumber() defined in Student
setStudentNumber (…) defined in Student
writeOutput() redefined in Student
equals(…) defined in Student
 25

Overriding Methods and

super Constructors
§ Also note that where the derived class has
a method with exactly the same name and
the same number, order and types of
parameters as a method in the base class
then the derived class method will be used
for a derived class object
§ Eg: the method writeOutput() in Student
class above
§ This is called overriding
 26

Overriding Methods and

super Constructors
§ Also note that since a Student is a type of Person
then a new Student object must be set up properly as
a Person first
§ In general, a constructor for the super class must be
called as part of the activity of a constructor for the
derived class. If you do not specify which super
constructor to call by writing super(arg1, ...,
argn) in the derived class constructor then the
default constructor is called automatically
 27

Overriding Methods and

super Constructors
§ The class definition for Person has two
constructors, one of which will initialise the
member data of Person objects
§ The class Student also has two
constructors that initialise the data of
Student objects
§ The second constructor for class Student
looks like following:
 28

Overriding Methods and

super Constructors
// another constructor
public Student(String initialName,
int initialStudentNumber) {
// call to the constructor of superclass
super(initialName);
// initialise the member that only Student has
studentNumber = initialStudentNumber;
}
 29

Overriding Methods and

super Constructors
§ The statement super(initialName)
invokes the super class's constructor to
initialize some of the data
§ The next statement initializes the member
that only the Student has
§ Note that when super is used as above, it
must be the first statement in the derived
class's constructor
 30

Overriding Methods and

super Constructors
§ Sometimes you want a derived class to
have its own method, but that method
includes everything the base class does
§ You can use the super reference in this case
§ For example, here is class Person's method:
WriteOutput()
public void writeOutput(){
System.out.println("Name: " + name);
}
 31

Overriding Methods and

super Constructors
§ And here is Student's method:
public void writeOutput(){
System.out.println("Name: "+getName());
System.out.println("Student Number:"
+ studentNumber);
}
 32

Overriding Methods and

super Constructors
§ Student's method can better be written
using super:
public void writeOutput(){
super.writeOutput();
System.out.println("StudentNumber:"
+ studentNumber);
}
 33

Overriding Methods and

super Constructors
§ Note: Unlike the case when super is used in
a constructor, inside a method super does
not have to be used in the first statement
§ Note that you can form a new class from a
derived class and can build inheritance to
multiple levels
§ Eg: class Undergraduate is derived from
Student (see textbook Listing 8.4)
 34

The final Modifier

§ It is possible to specify that a method

cannot be overridden in a sub-class by
adding the final modifier to the method
heading
§ Eg:
public final void specialMethod()
{
// method body
}
 35

The final Modifier

§ An entire class may be declared as final,
which means it cannot be used as a base class
to derive another class
§ Eg: the Java API class String is declared as
final

public final class String extends Object

{
. . . . .
}
 36

Class Hierarchies
Figure 8.1 A class hierarchy
 UML Inheritance Diagrams
• Figure 8.2 A class
hierarchy in
UML notation
 UML Inheritance Diagrams
• Figure 8.3
Some details
of UML class
hierarchy
from
figure 8.2
 39

Class Hierarchies
 40

Using Inheritance
§ The diagram on the previous slide shows a
hierarchy of classes
§ In this class hierarchy, many methods and
instance variables may be inherited
downwards from super class to derived
class
§ Java supports this easily
§ In a hierarchy, each class has at most one
base class (super or parent), but can have
several derived (sub or child) classes
 41

Using Inheritance

§ Now in the above hierarchy, every driller or

a first-aid person is also an employee
§ Thus every object of the class Driller is
also an object of the class Employee
§ One of the most useful aspects of
inheritance is that a derived class object
can be used wherever a super class object
can be
 42

Using Inheritance
§ Eg:
Date today = new Date();
Employee emp = new Employee();
emp = userChooseEmployee();
System.out.println(“You have chosen to retire
the following employee”);
emp.writeName();
System.out.println(“Are you sure(yes/no)?”);
Scanner kb = new Scanner (System.in);
String reply = kb.next();
 43

Using Inheritance

if (reply.equals(“yes”)){
emp.FinalizeRecords(today);
} else {
System.out.println(“Request ignored.”);
}
System.out.println(“End of this request.”);

§This will work no matter whether emp refers to

a Driller or a FirstAid object etc.
 Polymorphism
• Inheritance allows you to define a base class
and derive classes from the base class
• Polymorphism allows you to make changes in
the method definition for the derived classes
and have those changes apply to methods
written in the base class

• You will need to read more in the textbook

under Chapter 8.3
 Polymorphism
• Consider a program uses
Person, Student, and
Undergraduate classes

• E.g. if we want to set up a list of

committee members (can be a
person who are student or
employee), it is better make an
array of type Person
• Array of type Person can
accommodate any class derived
from it
 Polymorphism
• Consider an array of Person
Person[] people = new Person[4];

• Since Student and

Undergraduate are types of
Person, we can assign them to
Person variables
people[0] = new
Student("DeBanque, Robin",
8812);

people[1] = new
Undergraduate("Cotty, Manny",
8812, 1);
 Polymorphism
• Given:
Person[] people = new Person[4];
people[0] = new Student("DeBanque, Robin",
8812);
• When invoking:
people[0].writeOutput();
• Which writeOutput() is invoked, the one defined
for Student or the one defined for Person?
• Answer: The one defined for Student
 An Inheritance as a Type
• The method can substitute one object for
another
– Called polymorphism
• This is made possible by mechanism
– Dynamic binding
– Also known as late binding
 Dynamic Binding and Inheritance

• When an overridden method invoked

– Action matches method defined in class used to
create object using new
– Not determined by type of variable naming the
object
• Variable of any ancestor class can reference
object of descendant class
– Object always remembers which method actions
to use for each method name
Polymorphism Example - listing 8.6
public class PolymorphismDemo
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Person[] people = new Person[4];
people[0] = new Undergraduate("Cotty, Manny", 4910, 1);
people[1] = new Undergraduate("Kick, Anita", 9931, 2);
people[2] = new Student("DeBanque, Robin", 8812);
people[3] = new Undergraduate("Bugg, June", 9901, 4);

for (Person p : people) Even though p is type Person, the

{ writeOutput method associated with
p.writeOutput(); Undergraduate or Student is invoked
System.out.println(); depending upon which class was used to
create the object
}
Dynamic binding
}
} Polymorphism
 Polymorphism Example
• Output
 52

Multiple Inheritance
§ Occasionally, the natural description of a
problem suggests a different form of
inheritance, not like an upside down tree
§ For example, a postgraduate tutor may be both
a staff member and a student
§ We may need methods to deal with paying them
for taking lab classes, and methods for dealing
with their student number, HECS fees and unit
results
§ We want to inherit these methods from different
super classes
§ This is called multiple inheritance
 53

Multiple Inheritance
 54

Java Interfaces

§ O-O languages get confused with multiple

inheritance
§ Eg: if a postgrad tutor changes their office phone
number, do we use the changeOfficePhone
method supplied in the Staff class or in the
Postgrad class?
§ Some O-O languages provide ways to deal
with this
 55

Java Interfaces
§ Java does not allow multiple inheritance
except in a very special case:
§ One of the super classes must be an interface,
which is like a class with methods with no
bodies. (Do not confuse two uses of the word in
this topic)
§ A Java interface is a collection of constants
and method declarations
§ The method declarations do not include an
implementation (i.e. there is no method body)
 56

Java Interfaces
§ A derived class that extends a base class
can also implement an interface to gain
some additional behaviour
§ An interface definition has the following
general form:
// File: InterfaceName.java
public interface InterfaceName {
constant definitions
method declarations (without
implementations)
}
 57

Java Interfaces
§ A class definition then implements an
interface as follows:
public class SomeClass extends
SomeParent implements
InterfaceName
{
// body of the class SomeClass
}
§ You will know that an interface is involved if
you see the word implements which is used
instead of extends for interfaces
 58

Java Interfaces

§ Eg:
public class ButtonDemo extends JFrame
implements ActionListener

§ Here we do not inherit any code from

ActionListener except the ability to treat
ButtonDemo objects as ActionListener
Objects
 59

The Swing Package and

GUI Programming
§ A Graphical User Interface (GUI) is a system of visible
components (such as windows, menus, buttons, text
fields) which allow a program to interact with a user
§ Modern programs use these windowing interfaces
to allow the user to make choices with a mouse
§ Swing is a package that comes with Java 2, and
contains classes for creating these sorts of
components (graphics) and other classes which help
them to be used (GUI programming)
 60

The Swing Package and

GUI Programming
§ GUI programming, i.e. writing programs that
set up and use GUIs, is complicated (but
made much easier by the swing library)
§ The swing library makes extensive use of
inheritance
§ Swing can be viewed as an improved
version of an older package called the
Abstract Windows Toolkit (AWT)
 61

The Swing Package and

GUI Programming
§ Also, designing and implementing a GUI
using the swing (and AWT) requires skill at
event-driven programming
§ That is, a certain way of programming which
makes use of objects representing events such
as mouse click, keyboard press, windows
becoming visible, etc.
§ GUI programming is advanced and we just
give a brief overview here
 62

The Swing Package and

GUI Programming
§ GUIs in Java are often managed by special
programs called Applets which run in
Internet browsers
§ Setting up an applet is easy (and you will see
this in many other units)
§ Programming the working of an applet is much
the same as programming a GUI application (i.e.
a non-applet GUI program) and needs the same
understanding of inheritance, the swing library
and event-handling
Brief Overview of
63

Java Event Handling

§ What the user sees is determined by what
visible swing components the programmer
"adds" to a frame (JFrame object).
§ In Java, a frame is a window that has a
border, a place for a title, various buttons
along the top border (eg: close button), and
other built-in things
§ What we usually call a "window" Java calls a
"frame"
Brief Overview of
64

Java Event Handling

§ The layout of the frame (window) is
controlled by the programmer and a layout
manager object
§ The user interacts with the application by:
§ Clicking on a window's close button
§ Clicking on a button to choose one of the
program's options
§ Making a choice from a menu
§ Entering text in a text field
Brief Overview of
65

Java Event Handling

§ When you perform an action (like mouse-
clicking, keyboard presses) on a graphical
component you generate an event
§ In event-driven programming the program
responds to events
§ The program responds to events that occur:
§ Whenever the user chooses, and
§ In whatever order the user chooses
 Brief Overview of
66

Java Event Handling

§ Events are said to be fired by the
component which they happen to
§ The events will not cause anything else to
happen unless a listener object has been
added to the firing component
§ Zero, one or more listening objects can be
added
§ Eg: in swing every object that can fire
events, such as a button that might be
clicked, can have one or more listener
objects
Brief Overview of
67

Java Event Handling

§ If an event is fired then all the listening
objects attached to the firing object are
notified
§ The listening object can have a method
which says what to do if that particular event
is fired
§ This method is called an event handler
§ The programmer defines these event-
handler methods
Brief Overview of
68

Java Event Handling

§ Most swing objects have methods for
getting or setting their properties like what
text is written on them or whether they are
clickable etc.
§ Check on-line documentation for details
§ Event handlers can change the component’s
properties, or remove or add components,
or listeners, or do some calculation, or
change the whole look of the GUI or close
the whole program down
Brief Overview of
69

Java Event Handling

§ Thus a GUI program consists of three types
of software:
§ Components that make up the Graphical User
Interface
§ Listeners that receive the events and respond to
them
§ Application code that does useful work for the
user
Brief Overview of
70

Java Event Handling

§ A GUI program consists of a collection of
graphical components that are all placed
inside one or more windows - called
container objects
§ A frame (JFrame) object is a container
object, so GUI components can be placed in
it
Brief Overview of
71

Java Event Handling

§ Like all software objects, a frame-object is
actually a section of main memory that holds
information and methods
§ The Java system, with the help of the
operating system and the graphics board,
paints a picture on the computer monitor
that represents the frame
 72

GUI Components
§ The GUI components are – windows,
labels, text fields or text areas, buttons, etc.
§ The components (labels, text areas/text
fields and buttons) are added to the content
pane (the area below the title bar and
inside border) of a window and not to the
window itself
§ All GUI components are objects in Java
and therefore are instances of a particular
class type
 73

GUI Components

§ Below are some of the GUI components

which can be created from swing classes
(contained in package javax.swing):
§ JLabel – an area where un-editable text or
icons can be displayed
§ JTextField – an area in which the user
inputs data from the keyboard
§It can also display information
§It can have only one line of text
 74

GUI Components

§ JTextArea – an area as in JTextField

above
§It can have many lines of text
§ JButton – an area that triggers an event when
clicked with the mouse
§ JPanel – a container in which components
can be placed and organized
 75

Windows

§ The GUI component window can be

created using an instance of JFrame class
§ The swing library class JFrame provides
various methods to control attributes of a
window
§ The attributes associated with windows are:
§ Title
§ Width and height (in pixels)
 76

Windows
§ Some methods provided by the JFrame
class:
§ JFrame(String title)
§Constructor for creating a JFrame with a title
§ Container getContentPane()
§Returns the content pane of the JFrame, which has
the add method for adding components
§ void setSize(int width, int height)
§Method to set the size of the window
§Eg: myWindow.setSize(500, 300);
§ void setTitle(String title)
§Method to set the title of the window
 77

Windows
§ Some methods provided by the JFrame class:
§ void setVisible(boolean b)
§Method to display window in the program
§Displays window on the screen if b is true
§ public void addWindowListener(WindowEvent e)
§Method to register a window listener object to a
Jframe
§ public void setDefaultCloseOperation (int operation)
§Method to determine action to be taken when the
user clicks on window closing button, x, to close the
window
§Eg:
setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE)
;
 78

Windows

§ Some methods provided by the JFrame

class:
§ void setBackgroundColor(Color c)
§ void setForegroundColor(Color c)
 79

Windows

§ There are two ways to create a window in an

application:
§ The first way:
§ Declare object of type JFrame
§ Instantiate the object using new
§ Use various methods to manipulate window
 80

Windows

§ Alternatively:
§ Create the class containing the application
program by extending definition of class
JFrame using inheritance
§ The new class can use features such as
methods it inherits from the existing class
(JFrame), and can add some functionality of it
own
 81

Control Pane

§ Content Pane is the inner area of GUI a

window (below the title bar and inside the
border)
§ GUI components are added to the content
pane through a container class
§ To access the content pane:
§ Declare reference variable of type Container
§ Use method getContentPane of class
JFrame
 82

Control Pane

§ Eg:
Container c1;
c1 = getContentPane();
§ or,
Container c1 = getContentPane();
§ In order to design the layout to decide where
to place the GUI components in the content
pane, the class Container provides the
method setLayout
 83

Control Pane
§ The components can be added/attached to
the content pane by using method add of the
Container class
§ The class Container is contained in the
package java.awt
§ To use this class in your program, you need
to include either the statement:
import java.awt.*;
§ or
import java.awt.Container;
 84

Labels
§ A label is a special kind of text that can be
added to a JFrame (or to any of a number of
other kinds of objects)
§ It provides instruction or information on a
GUI
§ It displays a single line of read-only text, an
image or a mixture of both
§ Labels are created by instantiating objects
of class Jlabel (which is contained in the
package java.swing)
 85

Labels
§ Eg: Give a string as an argument to the
constructor for the JLabel class:
JLabel label1;
label1 = new JLabel(“Please don’t
click that button!”);
c1.add(label1,BorderLayout.CENTER);
§ Eg: set string describing label2 as right-
justified
JLabel label2;
label2 = new JLabel(“Enter your
name:”,
SwingConstants.RIGHT);
 86

Text Fields and Text Areas

§ Text fields (objects of class JTextField) are
single-line areas in which the user can enter
text (via keyboard) or the program can
display text
§ When the user enters data into a text field
and presses the Enter key, an action event
(ActionEvent) occurs
§ If the program has registered an event
listener, the listener will process the event
enabling the program to use the data
entered in the text field
 87

Text Fields and Text Areas

JTextField mytext;
mytext = new JTextField(50);
§ This statement instantiates the object
mytext and sets the width of this text field to
50 characters
§ The object mytext will be added to the
content pane using the add method of
Container class
 88

Text Fields and Text Areas

§ Some methods provided by JTextfield class:
§ public JTextField(int size)
§Constructor to set the size of the text field
§ public JTextField(String str)
§Constructor to initialise object with text specified by
str
§ public void setText(String str)
§Method to set text of text field to string specified by
str
§ public String getText()
§Method to return the text contained in the text field
§ public void addActionListener(ActionListener e)
§Method to register a listener object to a JTextField
 89

Text Fields and Text Areas

§ Text areas (objects of class JTextArea) are

areas in which the many lines of text can be
entered and/or displayed
§ Eg:
JTextArea text2 = new JTextArea(10,
50);
§ text2 is big enough to hold 10 lines, where
each line can hold up to 50 characters
 90

Text Fields and Text Areas

§ Similar methods, as those in JTextField

class, are also available in JTextArea class
§ Eg: getText(), setText(String str),
addActionListener(ActionListener e)
§ The text fields/areas are then added to the
content pane of a window using the add
method and a layout manager
 91

Buttons

§ A button (created with class JButton) is a

component the user clicks to trigger an
action (ActionEvent). The text on the face of
a button is called button label
§ An ActionEvent can be processed by any
ActionListener object
§ To create a button, we use the same
techniques as creating labels and text fields
 92

Buttons
§ Some methods provided by the class
JButton:
§ public JButton(String str)
§Constructor to initialise the object to text specified
by str
§ public void setText(String str)
§method to set text of the button to string specified
by str
§ public String getText()
§method to return the text contained in button
§ public void addActionListener(ActionListener e)
§method to register a listener object to the button
object
 93

Layout Managers
§ Layout Managers are objects that decides
how components will be arranged in a
container
§ Some types of layout managers:
§ BorderLayout
§ FlowLayout
§ GridLayout
§ Each type of layout manager has rules about
how to rearrange components when the size
or shape of the container changes
 94

The Border Layout Manager

§ It has five regions that can each have one
component added to them:
BorderLayout.NORTH

BorderLayout.WEST BorderLayout.CENTE BorderLayout.EAST

R

BorderLayout.SOUTH

c1.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
. . .
c1.add(label1, BorderLayout.NORTH);
 95

The Flow Layout Manager

§ Flow is the simplest layout manager; it
display’s components from left to right in the
order they are added to the container
§ The add method has one parameter which is
the component to add
Container c2 = getContentPane();
C2.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
JLabel label1=new JLabel(“1st label here”);
C2.add(label1);
JLabel label2=new JLabel(“2nd label there”);
C2.add(label2);
 96

The Grid Layout Manager

§ The programmer specifies the number of

rows and columns in the grid
§ All regions in the grid are of equal size
§ When the container changes size, each
region grows or shrinks by the same amount
 97

The Grid Layout Manager

§ The following example creates a grid layout

with two rows and three columns:
Container c3 = getContentPane();
c3.setLayout(new GridLayout(2, 3));
. . .
c3.add(label1);
c3.add(label2);
§ Note that the rows are filled before columns
in the grid
 98

Handling an Event
§ When button (JButton) is clicked, an event
is created – called action event
§ Action event sends a signal to another
object, known as action listener
§ When the listener receives the message, it
performs some action
§ Sending a message or an event to a listener
simply means that some method (eg,
actionedPerformed) in the listener object is
invoked with the event as the argument
 99

Handling an Event
§ This invocation happens automatically –
there is no code corresponding to the
method call
§ However, you must specify two things:
§ For each JButton, you must specify a
corresponding listener object – called
registering the listener
§ You must define the methods that will be called
when the event is fired (i.e., sent to the listener)
§ Java does not allow us to instantiate an
object of type ActionListener
 100

Class ActionListener
§ The class ActionListener (part of the
package java.awt.event) handles action
events
§ It is a special type of class called an
interface and contains the method
actionPerformed
§ An interface is a class that only contains the
method headings (terminated with a
semicolon) and not their
definitions/implementations
§ Java does not allow us to instantiate an
object of type ActionListener
 101

Class ActionListener
§ One way to register an event is to create a
class on top of ActionListener so that the
required object can be instantiated
§ Eg:
private class MyButtonHandler implements
ActionListener {
public void actionedPerformed
(ActionEvent e){
//Code for tasks to be performed go here
}// end actionedPerformed
}// end class MyButtonHandler
 102

Example: SimpleApp
//SimplApp.java - a simple example of a GUI program
//You should be able to give a brief description of what
//such a program will do and the steps involved
import javax.swing.*; //for JFrame, JButton, JLabel
import java.awt.*; //for Container, BorderLayout
import java.awt.event.*; //for WindowAdapter,
ActionListner, ActionEvent
public class SimplApp extends JFrame {
// define window's width and height in pixels
private static final int WIDTH = 400;
private static final int HEIGHT = 200;
 103

Example: SimpleApp

// used for displaying text in the window

private JLabel infoLabel;
private class ButtonAction implements
ActionListener {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
infoLabel.setText("You fool !!");
} //end of actionPerformed
} //end of class ButtonAction
 104

Example: SimpleApp

// used to destroy/close the window

private class WindowDestroyer extends
WindowAdapter {
public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e){
dispose();
System.exit(0);
} //end of windowClosing()
} //end of class WindowDestroyer
 105

Example: SimpleApp
// Below is the constructor for the class SimplApp
public SimplApp(String windowTitle) {
super(windowTitle);
setSize(WIDTH, HEIGHT);
// create content pane to add components to
window
Container c1 = getContentPane();
c1.setLayout( new BorderLayout());
// create a label component with the String
centred
infoLabel = new JLabel( "Initial",
JLabel.CENTER);
c1.add( infoLabel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
 106

Example: SimpleApp
// create a button component
JButton button1=new JButton("Don't Press

Me!");
c1.add( button1, BorderLayout.NORTH);
//goes at top
// add an action event to button
ButtonAction myAction = new ButtonAction();
button1.addActionListener(myAction);
// add action event to window close button
WindowDestroyer myListener = new
WindowDestroyer();
addWindowListener( myListener);
} //end of SimplApp constructor
 107

Example: SimpleApp

public static void main(String[] args) {

// calls constructor
SimplApp app = new SimplApp("Zzzz");
// display window on the screen
app.setVisible(true);
System.out.println("Finished
SimplApp.main()");
} //end of SimplApp.main()
} //end of SimplApp class
 108

Example: BinarySearch

// BinarySearch.java revised (by P S Dhillon) from

Deitel and Deitel
// Binary search of an array
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.text.*;
public class BinarySearch extends JFrame
implements ActionListener {
JLabel enterLabel, resultLabel;
JTextField enterField, resultField;
 109

Example: BinarySearch

JTextArea initial, output;

int arr[];
String display = "";
public static void main (String[] args) {
BinarySearch myApplication = new
BinarySearch("Binary Search");
myApplication.setVisible(true);
myApplication.setDefaultCloseOperation(
EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
} // end main
 110

Example: BinarySearch

// constructor for BinarySearch

public BinarySearch(String title) {
super (title);
setSize(800, 300);
Container c = getContentPane();
c.setLayout( new FlowLayout() );
// set up JLabel and JTextField for user input
enterLabel = new JLabel( "Enter an integer
key to search" );
c.add( enterLabel );
 111

Example: BinarySearch

enterField = new JTextField( 5 );

enterField.addActionListener( this );
c.add( enterField );
// set up JLabel and JTextField for displaying
results
resultLabel = new JLabel( "Result" );
c.add( resultLabel );
resultField = new JTextField(20);
resultField.setEditable( false );
c.add( resultField );
 112

Example: BinarySearch

// create array and fill with odd integers 1 to 29

arr = new int[ 15 ];
for (int i = 0;i < arr.length;i++)
arr[ i ] = 2 * i + 1;
// set up JTextArea for displaying the array
contents
JTextArea initial = new JTextArea(3,60 );
c.add( initial );
 113

Example: BinarySearch

// build the initial array for displaying

String arrayContents=“Contents of array:\n";
for (int i = 0;i < arr.length;i++)
arrayContents = arrayContents + (arr[i])
+ " " ;
initial.setText(arrayContents);
// set up JTextArea for displaying comparison
output = new JTextArea(10,60);
c.add( output );
} //end of constructor
 114

Example: BinarySearch

// obtain user input and call method binSearch

public void actionPerformed(actionEvent e) {
String searchKey = e.getActionCommand();
// initialize display string for the new search
display = "Portions of array searched:\n";
// perform the binary search
int index = binarySearch(arr,
Integer.parseInt(searchKey));
output.setText( display );
 115

Example: BinarySearch

if ( index != -1 )
resultField.setText("Value found at
index " + index);
else
resultField.setText("Value not found");
}//end of actionPerformed method
 116

Example: BinarySearch

public int binarySearch(int ar[], int key) {

int first = 0;
int last = ar.length - 1;
int mid;
while (first <= last) {
mid = (first + last)/2;
// The following line is used to display the part
// of the array currently being manipulated
// during each iteration of the binary search loop.
buildOutput( first, mid, last );
 117

Example: BinarySearch

if (key == ar[mid]) // match found

return mid; // exit
else if(key < ar[mid])
// search low end of array
last = mid - 1;
else //search high end of array
first = mid + 1;
}// end while
return -1; // match not found
}// end binarySearch
 118

Example: BinarySearch

// Build one row of output showing the current

// part of the array being processed.
void buildOutput(int low,int mid,int high) {
DecimalFormat twoDigits = new
DecimalFormat( "00" );
for (int i = 0;i < arr.length;i++) {
 119

Example: BinarySearch

if ( i < low || i > high )

display = display + " ";
else if ( i == mid ) //mark middle element
display = display + twoDigits.format(
arr[ i ] ) + "* ";
else
display = display + twoDigits.format(
arr[ i ] ) + " ";
} // end for
display = display + "\n";
}// end of buildOutput
}//end of class
End of Topic 8