Adding to JList Issues

Question

I'm trying to make a class that will add objects to a JList by reading out of a text file at the punch of a button.
This is what I came up with:
public void importAction() {
        try {
            FileReader fileReader = new FileReader("children.txt");
            File file = new File("children.txt");
            BufferedReader buff = new BufferedReader(fileReader);
            int childrenInFile = Integer.parseInt(buff.readLine());
                for (int childrenOnList = 1; childrenOnList < childrenInFile; childrenOnList++ ) {
                    jList1 = new JList(listmodel);
                    listmodel.addElement(buff.readLine());
        } catch (IOException ex) {
    }...but obviously that didn't work for me.
It compiled correctly but when I pressed the import button in the applet, nothing happened.
I have googled this issue thoroughly.

Answer 1

Let's say you have 100 child elements. Then that one statement assigns a class variable called jList1 to 99 different JList objects (discarding them all) before settling down with the 100'th JList object. You then proceed to not actually do anything with this new JList component - like add it to a visible hierarchy. You can delete the statement all together.
Assuming that listmodel is the actual model of the JList you are trying to change, and that JList is already visible, then what you have here
listmodel.addElement(buff.readLine()); should be sufficient to see a some sort of change. Because you don't see any change, then the next question is what is "listmodel"? Is it the model of a JList in a visible hierarchy?