Confusion about how object interact and are aware of each other

Question

I have this java applet
Two of the classes it contains are the main class with the init method and a UI class that is code for the interface.
the main class instantiates the UI class anonymously (i think you call it that) i.e it does not put it into a named reference it just creates it by calling new without assigning it to anything.
When I click on a button from the UI class I want to call a method in the main class...but how so?
At first I tried to make the function i want to call in the main class static so I could easily call it from the UI class...but then it began to get complex...so i just sent a reference of the main class to the UI class via its constructer.
Now i want the main class to update a JTable in the UI class, but how? It does not have any reference to the UI class.
What is really the standard method of operation for this sort of thing when objects have to be calling methods of each other. How do I make them aware of each other.

Answer 1

the best way to do it is like this:
public class Main {
  //this is the main class
  private static class MyUIFrame extends JFrame {
    //create the class. It is useable within Main this way
    //static means it doesn't implicitly 'know' about the Main class. You can also
    //remove this and call Main.this to use Main's methods
}Edited by: tjacobs01 on Apr 11, 2009 2:28 AM