Communicating between jFrames

Question

I am fully prepared to be humbled as this is my first post. A few days of checking tutorials, this forumn and a few java books has not yet yielded the solution. I'm certain it is in plain sight and that i am probably just not seeing it. but your help would be greatly appreciated:
My background is mostly in Visual Basic 6 with some perl/python dabled here and there.
My Issue is this:
I am writing an application, the main class is a jFrame form called "JavaTestMain.java". The second part is another jFrame form called "JavaTestWindow.java".
~JavaTestMain loads first and displays some information.
~JavaTestWindow loads next after clicking a button.
~I need the JavaTestWindow form to be able to run a function that resides in the open JavaTestMain form. (I called it "DoSomething")
~I have tried many a things and suggestions but just can't quite get it to work. Below you will see a bare trimmed down example of what I am trying to do. Some help or a point in the right direction would be helpfull.
* JavaTestMain.java
* Created on June 4, 2007, 1:34 PM
package mypkg;
* @author cadman
public class JavaTestMain extends javax.swing.JFrame {
/** Creates new form JavaTestMain */
public JavaTestMain() {
initComponents();
[Swing Code that is generated by NetBeans}
(i am leaving this automated code out, but if it is needed let me know)
private void jButton1ActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
new JavaTestWindow().setVisible(true);
* @param args the command line arguments
public static void main(String args[]) {
java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
new JavaTestMain().setVisible(true);
public void DoSomething() {
jTextField1.setText("Hello");
// Variables declaration - do not modify
private javax.swing.JButton jButton1;
private javax.swing.JTextField jTextField1;
// End of variables declaration
AND here is the next one:
* JavaTestWindow.java
* Created on June 4, 2007, 1:41 PM
package mypkg;
* @author cadman
public class JavaTestWindow extends javax.swing.JFrame {
/** Creates new form JavaTestWindow */
public JavaTestWindow() {
initComponents();
[Swing Code that is generated by NetBeans}
(i am leaving this automated code out, but if it is needed let me know)
private void jButton2ActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
// What should i put here?
* @param args the command line arguments
public static void main(String args[]) {
java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
new JavaTestWindow().setVisible(true);
// Variables declaration - do not modify
private javax.swing.JButton jButton2;
// End of variables declaration
NOTES: jButton1ActionPerformed is what opens the second window
jButton2ActionPerformed is where i would like to run 'DoSomething' from the first window.
AND that is it. thoughts? suggestions?

Answer 1

hunter9000:
I googled that and found the following article:
http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/javase
/mvc/
I believe i understand what is going on there and i
agree that following that framework would indeed make
this easier in the future.. however, I am still a
bit of a newb when it comes to java programming so I
am essentially taking the baby steps approach (walk,
step, run) so i'm wondering if there is a simpler
solution for my problem?Well, if your program is just going to have those 2 frames, and there's only a single way to switch between the two of them, then it might end up being easier for now to follow tsith's advice. BUT, the more complex the program gets, and the more possibility there is that it will grow in the future, the easier things will get if you use a good pattern. Basic MVC is good for a few frames and moderate functionality, and the Observer pattern is great if you have much more that a few frames. Here's a bare bones example.
public class Controller {
    public Controller() {
         // create frame 1, passing a reference to this to it
    public void openNewWindowButtonClicked() {
         // open the new frame2, passing a reference to this to it.
public class Frame1 {
    public Frame1(Controller c) {
        // keep reference to c
    public void actionPerformed() {
        // the open new window button is clicked
        c.openNewWindowButtonClicked();
}That should give you an idea of what I'm talking about. I wrote a medium-high complexity app using this type of pattern, and it made things a lot easier than it would have been.