ActionListener for ComboBox

Question

I'm trying to make the panel realign with the choice received from the ComboBox, but it's not responding at all. Any ideas?
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class Layout
     public static int x = 5;
     public static int y = 5;
     public static int itext;
     public static String align = new String();
     public static String RIGHT = new String();
     public static String CENTER = new String();
     public static String LEFT = new String();
     public static void main(String[] args)
          JFrame frame = new JFrame("Exercise 28_1");                   //creating JFrame
          frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
          final JPanel panel = new JPanel();
          panel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(650, 400));               //setting panel size
          //creating and setting the flowLayout to the panel
          final FlowLayout layout = new FlowLayout();
          panel.setLayout(layout);          
          //making the buttons and adding them to the panel
          panel.add(new JButton("Component 0"));
          panel.add(new JButton("Component 1"));
          panel.add(new JButton("Component 2"));
          panel.add(new JButton("Component 3"));
          panel.add(new JButton("Component 4"));
          panel.add(new JButton("Component 5"));
          panel.add(new JButton("Component 6"));
          panel.add(new JButton("Component 7"));
          panel.add(new JButton("Component 8"));
          panel.add(new JButton("Component 9"));
          panel.add(new JButton("Component 10"));
          panel.add(new JButton("Component 11"));
          panel.add(new JButton("Component 12"));
          panel.add(new JButton("Component 13"));
          panel.add(new JButton("Component 14"));
          //creating ComboxBox and TextFields, and determining their size
          final JComboBox alignment = new JComboBox(new String[]{"LEFT", "CENTER", "RIGHT"});
          alignment.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(570, 25));
          alignment.addActionListener(new ActionListener()   //creating the actionListener
               public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
                    align = (String)alignment.getSelectedItem();
                    if(align == RIGHT)
                         layout.setAlignment(FlowLayout.RIGHT);
                         System.out.println("right");
                         panel.revalidate();
                         panel.repaint();
                    if(align == CENTER)
                         layout.setAlignment(FlowLayout.CENTER);
                         System.out.println("Center");
                         panel.revalidate();
                         panel.repaint();
                    panel.repaint();
                    if(align == LEFT)
                         layout.setAlignment(FlowLayout.LEFT);
                         System.out.println("Left");
                         panel.revalidate();
                         panel.repaint();
          final JTextField hField = new JTextField();
          hField.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(600, 25));
          hField.addActionListener(new ActionListener()   //creating the actionListener
               public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
                    try
                         x = Integer.parseInt(hField.getText()); //parsing the text from the TextField
                    catch(NumberFormatException nfe)
                    JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"Only Numeric Values Allowed"); //catching any non-numeric answers
                    hField.setText("");  //clearing the textField
                    layout.setHgap(x); //setting the Hgap with the entered answer
                    panel.revalidate();
                    hField.setText("");  //clearing the textField
                    panel.repaint();    //repainting the textField with new Hgap value
          final JTextField vField = new JTextField();
          vField.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(600, 25));
          vField.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
               public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
                    try
                         y = Integer.parseInt(vField.getText());
                    catch(NumberFormatException nfe)
                    JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"Only Numeric Values Allowed");
                    vField.setText("");
                    layout.setVgap(y);
                    System.out.println(y);
                    panel.revalidate();
                    vField.setText("");
                    panel.repaint();
          //adding content to panel - labels, comboBox, and TextFields
          panel.add(new JLabel("Alignment"));   
          panel.add(alignment);                         
          panel.add(new JLabel("HGap"));
          panel.add(hField);
          panel.add(new JLabel("VGap"));
          panel.add(vField);
          Container content = frame.getContentPane();
        content.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        content.add(panel, BorderLayout.NORTH);
          frame.pack();
          frame.setVisible(true);
     } //end of main
} //end of class

Answer 1

Besides; I think you ment to do something like this:
     public static String align = "";
     public final static String RIGHT = "RIGHT";
     public final static String CENTER = "CENTER";
     public final static String LEFT = "LEFT";
     // but you still need to use the equals method in String:
     if (align.equals(RIGHT)) {
          // something
     }But try to remember (and notice) that the align.equals(RIGHT) checks the variable RIGHT, not the String "RIGHT", though, in this case, the variable called RIGHT in fact contains the String "RIGHT".