Help with GUI (calling one class from other class)

Question

Hi everybody,
I am new at GUI and I need your help..
I have a JPanel, named "holdAll", layout of which is set to BorderLayout. I have implemented all other JPanels in different class files. For example, I have TopPanel, LeftPanel, etc. as shown below
LeftPanel myLeft = new LeftPanel();
holdAll.add(myLeft, BorderLayout.WEST);
RightPanel myRight = new RightPanel();
holdAll.add(myRight, BorderLayout.EAST);
TopPanel myTop = new TopPanel();
holdAll.add(myTop, BorderLayout.NORTH);
MiddlePanel myMiddle = new MiddlePanel();
holdAll.add(myMiddle, BorderLayout.CENTER);
BottomPanel myBottom = new BottomPanel();
holdAll.add(myBottom, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
That works well but I have difficulties in ActionListeners.. For example, in my TopPanel class I have the code below:
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if (e.getSource() == btnInsert) {
int returnVal = fc.showOpenDialog(fc);
if (returnVal == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
File file = fc.getSelectedFile();
myImage newImage = new myImage(file);
System.out.println(newImage.myHashCode());
Here, if I have upload new image, then I have to update the listImage in the LeftPanel class.. But, I could not access the lstImage object in the LeftPanel class from the actionListener event in the TopPanel class.
What should I do? Is my design poor?

Answer 1

public class TopPanel extends JPanel implements ActionListener { //it doesn't allow "extends JPanel, Observable"
JFileChooser fc;
JButton btnInsert;
JButton btnDelete;
public TopPanel() {
setLayout(new FlowLayout());
setBorder(BorderFactory.createBevelBorder(1, Color.WHITE, Color.GRAY));
btnInsert = new JButton("Insert");
btnDelete = new JButton("Delete");
JLabel myLabel = new JLabel(" Search : ");
JTextField txtSearch = new JTextField();
txtSearch.setColumns(20);
JToolBar searchToolBar = new JToolBar();
fc = new JFileChooser();
btnInsert.addActionListener(this);
searchToolBar.add(btnInsert);
searchToolBar.add(btnDelete);
searchToolBar.add(myLabel);
searchToolBar.add(txtSearch);
add(searchToolBar);
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if (e.getSource() == btnInsert) {
int returnVal = fc.showOpenDialog(fc);
if (returnVal == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
File file = fc.getSelectedFile();
*//Here I want to send fc.GetName() to the JList in the LeftPanel*
my LeftPanel class is below:
public class LeftPanel extends JPanel{
public LeftPanel(){
this.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
setBorder(BorderFactory.createBevelBorder(1, Color.WHITE, Color.GRAY));
JPanel pnlButtons = new JPanel();
JButton btnName = new JButton("Name");
JButton btnSize = new JButton("Size");
JButton btnDate = new JButton("Date");
pnlButtons.add(btnName);
pnlButtons.add(btnSize);
pnlButtons.add(btnDate);
pnlButtons.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.BLACK));
JPanel pnlImage = new JPanel();
JList lstImage = new JList();
lstImage.setVisible(true);
pnlImage.add(new JScrollPane(lstImage));
add(pnlButtons, BorderLayout.NORTH);
add(pnlImage, BorderLayout.CENTER);
Is there any simple way?