How do I limit the size of a TextField and do an auto advance of that field

Question

Attached is a copy of my program. It reads a bar code and enters that bar code into a textfield and 2 text areas. everything is working fine except I want the bar code read to trigger a print to the 2 text areas automatically instead of the user having to hit the enter key. Any suggestions on where I should start researching or any snippets of code that I could use would be appreciated.
//-------------------Buffalo Offline Scan Program------------
//This program will allow the Buffalo user to continue scanning cases on pallets
//when the AS\400 is down. The scans will be sent to a flat file that will be
//FTPed to the AS\400 when it is back up and update the proper files.
//Program Author: Susan Riggin
package javalab;
import javabook.*;
import javalab.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.applet.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.io.File.*;
import java.util.*;
public class BuffOff extends Applet implements ActionListener
//               Data Members
     //Variables
     private int scanCount = 0;
     private int sessionCount = 0;
     //Labels
     private Label buffaloLabel = new Label();
     private Label scanLabel = new Label();
     private Label cPalletLabel = new Label();
     private Label cCountLabel = new Label();
     private Label tPalletLabel = new Label();
     private Label tCountLabel = new Label();
     private Label rButtonLabel = new Label();
     private Label eButtonLabel = new Label();
     //TextFields
     private TextField scanTextField = new TextField(6);
     //Buttons
     private Button rButton = new Button("Reset");
     private Button eButton = new Button("Exit");
     //Text Areas
     private TextArea cTextArea = new TextArea( 10, 40);
     private TextArea tTextArea = new TextArea(10, 40);
     public void paint(Graphics g){
     Toolkit kit = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit();
     Image imageA = kit.getImage("d:\\\\javaproj\\javalab\\abbott.gif");
     g.drawImage(imageA, 555, 5, 50, 50, this);
//               Constructor
public BuffOff()
     //Attach the GUI objects so they will appear on the screen.
     setLayout (null);
     buffaloLabel.setBounds(203, 5, 200, 27);
     buffaloLabel.setFont(new Font ("dialog",Font.BOLD, 18));
     buffaloLabel.setAlignment(Label.CENTER);
     buffaloLabel.setText("Buffalo OffLine Scan");
     cPalletLabel.setBounds(18, 60, 291, 23);
     cPalletLabel.setFont(new Font ("dialog", Font.BOLD, 14));
     cPalletLabel.setAlignment(Label.CENTER);
     cPalletLabel.setText("Current Pallet");
     cPalletLabel.setBackground(Color.cyan);
     tPalletLabel.setBounds(322, 62, 291, 23);
     tPalletLabel.setFont(new Font ("dialog", Font.BOLD, 14));
     tPalletLabel.setAlignment(Label.CENTER);
     tPalletLabel.setText("Total Pallets");
     tPalletLabel.setBackground(Color.pink);
     rButton.setBounds(129, 485, 56, 23);
     rButton.setBackground(Color.cyan);
     rButton.setLabel("Reset");
     eButton.setBounds(459, 485, 56, 23);
     eButton.setBackground(Color.pink);
     eButton.setLabel("Exit");
     cCountLabel.setBounds(18, 88, 291, 23);
     cCountLabel.setFont(new Font("dialog", Font.BOLD, 12));
     cCountLabel.setAlignment(Label.CENTER);
     cCountLabel.setText("Current Pallet Case Count = " + scanCount);
     cCountLabel.setBackground(Color.lightGray);
     tCountLabel.setBounds(322, 88, 291, 23);
     tCountLabel.setFont(new Font("dialog", Font.BOLD, 12));
     tCountLabel.setAlignment(Label.CENTER);
     tCountLabel.setText("Total Pallet Case Count = " + sessionCount);
     tCountLabel.setBackground(Color.lightGray);
     scanLabel.setBounds(120, 33, 160, 23);
     scanLabel.setFont(new Font("dialog", Font.BOLD, 14));
     scanLabel.setAlignment(Label.CENTER);
     scanLabel.setText(" Current Barcode Scan: ");
     scanTextField.setBounds(300, 34, 58, 23);
     scanTextField.setBackground(Color.white);
     eButtonLabel.setBounds(322, 460, 291, 23);
     eButtonLabel.setAlignment(Label.CENTER);
     eButtonLabel.setBackground(Color.pink);
     eButtonLabel.setText("Press Exit to end Program.");
     rButtonLabel.setBounds(18, 460, 291, 23);
     rButtonLabel.setAlignment(Label.CENTER);
     rButtonLabel.setBackground(Color.cyan);
     rButtonLabel.setText("Press Reset for next pallet scan.");
     cTextArea.setBounds(18, 118, 291, 333);
     cTextArea.setBackground(Color.cyan);
     tTextArea.setBounds(322, 118, 291, 333);
     tTextArea.setBackground(Color.pink);
     //Place the GUI objects on the applet.
     add(buffaloLabel);
     add(scanLabel);
     add(cPalletLabel);
     add(cCountLabel);
     add(tCountLabel);
     add(tPalletLabel);
     add(cCountLabel);
     add(rButtonLabel);
     add(eButtonLabel);
     add(scanTextField);
     add(rButton);
     add(eButton);
     add(cTextArea);
     add(tTextArea);
     //Add applet as an action listener.
     scanTextField.addActionListener(this);
     rButton.addActionListener(this);
     eButton.addActionListener(this);
//               Methods that make the program work
//---------method for action performed and action event---------
     public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
     if (e.getSource() == eButton) exit();
     if (e.getSource() == scanTextField) {
          try {     
               scan();
          catch(IOException f){}
     if (e.getSource() == rButton) reset();
//-------------method for pressing the exit button---------------
     private void exit()
     System.exit(0);
//------------method for pressing the reset button---------------
     private void reset()
     scanCount = 0;
     scanTextField.setText("");
     cTextArea.setText("");
     cCountLabel.setText("Current Pallet Case Count = " + scanCount);
     scanTextField.requestFocus();
//------------method for scanning barcode------------------------
     private void scan() throws FileNotFoundException
     String scanText = scanTextField.getText();
     if (scanText.equals("999999")) reset();
     else{
     String cTime, cDate;
     File scan = new File("d:\\\\javaproj\\javalab", "scan.txt");
     //adds the date and time to entries
     Clock myClock = new Clock();
     cTime = myClock.getCurrentTime();
     cDate = myClock.getCurrentDate();
     //Add to counts
     ++scanCount;
     ++sessionCount;     
     //Append scanned data to text areas
     cTextArea.append(scanCount + "->" + scanText + " " + " " + cDate + " " + cTime );
     cCountLabel.setText("Current Pallet Case Count = " + scanCount);
     cTextArea.append("\r\n");
     tTextArea.append(sessionCount + "->" + scanText + " " + " " + cDate + " " + cTime);
     tCountLabel.setText("Total Pallet Case Count = " + sessionCount);
     tTextArea.append("\r\n");
     //Append scanned data directly to flat file.
     try
     FileWriter outputFile = new FileWriter("d:\\\\javaproj\\javalab\\scan.txt", true);
     outputFile.write(scanTextField.getText());
     outputFile.write(myClock.getCurrentDate());
     outputFile.write(myClock.getCurrentTime());
     outputFile.write("\r\n");
     outputFile.close();
catch (IOException e)
     //clear the scan field
     scanTextField.setText("");
     // position the cursor
     scanTextField.requestFocus();
Thanking you in advance for your assistance!!!!!!!!!
     

Answer 1

Sorry that you're still having trouble :-( The title of your post seems a little different to your description of the problem, but I'm assuming you want the textfields to auto-scroll so they always show the last entry?
Try this://Append scanned data to text areas
cTextArea.append(scanCount + "->" + scanText + " " + " " + cDate + " " + cTime );
cCountLabel.setText("Current Pallet Case Count = " + scanCount);
cTextArea.append("\r\n");
//ADD CALL TO AUTO-SCROLL METHOD:
autoScroll(cTextArea);
tTextArea.append(sessionCount + "->" + scanText + " " + " " + cDate + " " + cTime);
tCountLabel.setText("Total Pallet Case Count = " + sessionCount);
tTextArea.append("\r\n");
//ADD CALL TO AUTO-SCROLL METHOD:
autoScroll(tTextArea);Then you need to add this method to your class:private void autoScroll(TextArea textArea){
    //get the length of the text in the text area:
    int endOfText = (textArea.getText()).length();
    //...then set the caret position to the end:
    textArea.setCaretPosition(endOfText);