Disabling an inherited JButton

Question

Dear all,
I have 2 child classes (ChildPanel1 & ChildPanel2) that extend ParentPanel. ParentPanel has a JButton component coupled with an accessor method toggleButton() to enable/disable the button.
I currently enable/disable the button by calling toggleButton() twice, once on the ChildPanel1 instance and then again on the ChildPanel2 instance. I'd like to be able to organise things so that I could enable/disable the button on all the instances of all the classes that extend ParentPanel with one call.
How can I do this?
Cheers!
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class ButtonTest {
    public class ParentPanel extends JPanel {
        protected JPanel buttonPanel;
        protected boolean enabled;
        protected JButton button1;
        public void toggleButton() {
            button1.setEnabled(enabled);
            if (enabled)
                enabled = false;
            else
                enabled = true;
        public ParentPanel(String title) {
            super(new BorderLayout());
            enabled = false;
            button1 = new JButton("Button 1");
            buttonPanel = new JPanel();
            buttonPanel.add(button1);
            setLayout(new BorderLayout());
            add(buttonPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
    public class ChildPanel1 extends ParentPanel {
        public ChildPanel1() {
            super("Panel 1");
            JTextArea ta = new JTextArea();
            JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane();
            scroll.getViewport().add(ta);
            add(scroll, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    public class ChildPanel2 extends ParentPanel {
        protected JList myList;
        public ChildPanel2() {
            super("Panel 2");
            myList = new JList(new String[] { "item 1", "item 2" });
            JScrollPane ps = new JScrollPane();
            ps.getViewport().add(myList);
            JButton button2 = new JButton("Button 2");
            buttonPanel.add(button2);
            add(ps, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    public static void main(String argv[]) {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Button Test");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setSize(370, 330);
        JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
        ButtonTest myTest = new ButtonTest();
        final ChildPanel1 panel1 = myTest.new ChildPanel1();
        final ChildPanel2 panel2 = myTest.new ChildPanel2();
        JTabbedPane jtp = new JTabbedPane();
        jtp.addTab("Tab 1", panel1);
        jtp.addTab("Tab 2", panel2);
        JButton disableButton = new JButton(new AbstractAction(
                "Toggle button 1") {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                panel1.toggleButton();
                panel2.toggleButton();
        mainPanel.add(disableButton, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        mainPanel.add(jtp, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        frame.setContentPane(mainPanel);
        frame.pack();
        frame.show();
}

Answer 1

I've added another button to your test class that calls LoadSurfacesAction.getLoadSurfaceAction().setEnabled(false) when it's pressed. Once this method is invoked, LoadSurfacesAction.getLoadSurfaceAction().isEnabled does return false, however the button remains enabled.
Am I missing something?
Cheers!import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class TestClass {
    public static class LoadSurfacesAction extends AbstractAction {
        private static LoadSurfacesAction theInstance;
        private static final Action DEFAULT_ACTION = new AbstractAction() {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                System.out.println("Default load surfaces action called");
        private static Action theDelegate = DEFAULT_ACTION;
        public static Action getLoadSurfaceAction() {
            if (theInstance == null) {
                theInstance = new LoadSurfacesAction();
            return theInstance;
        public static void setAction(Action anAction) {
            theDelegate = anAction;
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            theDelegate.actionPerformed(e);
    public class LoadVolPanel extends JPanel {
        protected JPanel buttonPanel;
        public LoadVolPanel(String title) {
            super(new BorderLayout());
            setBorder(new CompoundBorder(new TitledBorder(new EtchedBorder(),
                    title), new EmptyBorder(3, 5, 3, 5)));
            JButton loadButton = new JButton("Load surfaces");
            loadButton.setMnemonic('L');
            loadButton.addActionListener(LoadSurfacesAction
                    .getLoadSurfaceAction());
            buttonPanel = new JPanel();
            buttonPanel.add(loadButton);
            setLayout(new BorderLayout());
            add(buttonPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
    public class LogPanel extends LoadVolPanel {
        public LogPanel() {
            super("Log");
            JTextArea ta = new JTextArea();
            ta.setLineWrap(true);
            ta.setWrapStyleWord(true);
            ta.setEditable(false);
            ta.append("The Load Surfaces button below kicks off\n");
            ta.append("a shell script on a unix box\n");
            ta.append("Output from the script appears here.\n");
            JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane();
            scroll.getViewport().add(ta);
            add(scroll, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    public class LoadPanel extends LoadVolPanel {
        protected JList securitiesList;
        public final int VISIBLE_ROWS = 12;
        public LoadPanel() {
            super("Codes");
            securitiesList = new JList(new String[] { "item 1", "item2" });
            securitiesList
                    .setSelectionMode(ListSelectionModel.SINGLE_SELECTION);
            securitiesList.setLayoutOrientation(JList.VERTICAL_WRAP);
            securitiesList.setVisibleRowCount(VISIBLE_ROWS);
            JScrollPane ps = new JScrollPane();
            ps.getViewport().add(securitiesList);
            JButton refreshButton = new JButton("Refresh Securities List");
            buttonPanel.add(refreshButton);
            add(ps, BorderLayout.CENTER);
    public static void main(String argv[]) {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Load Volatility");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setSize(370, 330);
        JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
        JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel();
        mainPanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        TestClass myTest = new TestClass();
        JPanel logPanel = myTest.new LogPanel();
        LoadPanel loadPanel = myTest.new LoadPanel();
        JTabbedPane jtp = new JTabbedPane();
        jtp.addTab("Load Volatility", loadPanel);
        jtp.addTab("Log", logPanel);
        mainPanel.add(jtp, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        LoadSurfacesAction.getLoadSurfaceAction().setEnabled(false);
        JButton changeActionButton = new JButton(new AbstractAction(
                "change action") {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                LoadSurfacesAction.setAction(new AbstractAction() {
                    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                        System.out
                                .println("Modified load surfaces action called");
        JButton disableButton = new JButton(new AbstractAction(
                "disable load button") {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                LoadSurfacesAction.getLoadSurfaceAction().setEnabled(false);
                System.out
                        .println("LoadSurfacesAction.getLoadSurfaceAction().isEnabled returned: "
                                + LoadSurfacesAction.getLoadSurfaceAction()
                                        .isEnabled());
        buttonPanel.add(changeActionButton);
        buttonPanel.add(disableButton);
        mainPanel.add(buttonPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        frame.setContentPane(mainPanel);
        frame.pack();
        frame.show();
}