Dispatching Custom Events Help

Hello Everyone,
I am just learning how to handle custom events, and after spending couple of days tring to understand the process, I am unable to get it going. What I am trying to do is to write a Two Button (component/swf). So when I need to utilize this component in other projects, I can simply load the the swf and be able to fire the buttons.
I have two button objects on the stage, and I would like these two button object to fire custom events when the parent component is loaded as swf in other projects. Perhaps, I am going all wrong about what I am tring to accomplish here, I would highly appreciate your help.
After some research, I concluded that I will need to employ Custom Event(s) going for my component. I spent hours on google and have not been able to get it working.
Here is my code:
============================
CustomEvent Class
============================
package com.custom.apps
    import flash.events.Event;
    public class CustomEvent extends Event
        public static const CUSTOM:String = "custom";
        public var arg:*;
        public function CustomEvent(type:String, customArg:*=null, bubbles:Boolean=false, cancelable:Boolean=false)
            super(type, bubbles, cancelable);
            this.arg = customArg;
        public override function clone():Event
            return new CustomEvent(type, arg, bubbles, cancelable);
        public override function toString():String
            return formatToString("CustomEvent", "type", "arg",    "bubbles", "cancelable", "eventPhase");
============================
DISPATCHING THE EVENTS
============================
import com.custom.apps.*;
btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clickHandler);
function clickHandler(e:MouseEvent):void
    dispatchEvent(new Event(CustomEvent.CUSTOM, customHandler));
    //trace("FIRED");
function customHandler(e:CustomEvent):void
    trace(e.target);
    trace('hello');

Kalisto,
I appreciate your help. Do I have this right? So I can build a navigation component with two links:
LINK1 | LINK2
then I load this navigation component/swf into another project and when I click on either of the links, it will dispatch a CUSTOM EVENT and when the event is dispatched, lets say I have a function (sayHello) listening for that particular event and when the CUSTOM EVENT is dispatched when one of the navigation component's link is clicked the (sayHello()) function would fire itself.
Can this be done? Am I on the right track?
I have been at it for couple of days now, I am able to dispatch the event but don't know how to have a function listen for the events. I would highly appreciate it if you can have look at my code.
Thanks a lot

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Hello everybody,
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write it in the dynamic using a custom event dispatching.
Solution: I have 2 textfields on the stage.
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import flash.events.EventDispatcher;
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Hey
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yourClip.addEventListener("MyEvent", eventPassed);
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Eventhandlers of children of application can not receive custom event dispatched by application

Hello dear Adobe community,
hope you can help me with this issue.
When the application dispatches a custom event, the child uicomponent can only receive the event by using Application.application.addEventListener or systemManager.addEventListener. Simply adding a listener, without application or systemmanager, does not allow the event to be received by the child component.
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public
class MyCanvas extends Canvas{
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width=300;
height=300;
addEventListener(FlexEvent.CREATION_COMPLETE,handleCC,false,0,true);
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removeEventListener(FlexEvent.CREATION_COMPLETE,handleCC);
addEventListener(CustomEventOne.EventOne,handleCE,false,0,true);
addEventListener(Event.REMOVED_FROM_STAGE,handleEvt,false,0,true);
systemManager.addeventListener(CustomEventOne.eventOne,sysManHandleCE,false,0,true);
private function handleEvt(event:Event):void
trace("In removed from stage handler");
systemManager.removeEventListener(CustomEventOne.EventOne,sysManHandleCE);
trace(hasEventListener(FlexEvent.CREATION_COMPLETE));
trace(hasEventListener(CustomEventOne.EventOne));
trace(hasEventListener(Event.REMOVED_FROM_STAGE));
private function handleCE(event:CustomEventOne):void
trace("I got it");
private function sysManHandleCE(event:CustomEventOne):void
trace("I got it");
public class CustomEventOne extends Event
public static const EventOne:String = "EventOne";
public function CustomEventOne(type:String, bubbles:Boolean=false, cancelable:Boolean=false)
super(type, bubbles, cancelable);
override public functionclone():Event
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Michael

I think you need to look at event propogation. The object that dispatches an event will be sitting on the display tree. The event propagates up the tree to the roots. Your canvas should be attached to the application, but even then it sits lower in the tree branches than the event dispatcher, so it won't see the event being dispatched because the event is not propagated to the children of the object that dispatches it but to the parent of the object that dispatches it.
So, your canvas is a child of the application, but dispatching the event from the application means that the canvas doesn't see it because events are notified up the tree using the parent link, not the child links.
You may wish to investigate how the display list and event propagation works and then the MVC pattern.
Paul

Need help with custom event from Main class to an unrelated class.

Hey guys,
I'm new to Flash and not great with OOP. I've made it pretty far with google and lurking, but I've been pulling my hair out on this problem for a day and everything I try throws an error or simply doesn't hit the listener.
I'm trying to get my Main class to send a custom event to an unrelated class called BigIcon. The rest of the code works fine, it's just the addEventListener and dispatchEvent that isn't working.
I've put in the relevant code in below. Let me know if anything else is needed to troubleshoot. Thank you!
Main.as
package
    import flash.display.MovieClip;
    import flash.events.MouseEvent;
    public class Main extends MovieClip
        var iconLayer_mc:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
        public function Main()
            Spin_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,fl_MouseClickHandler);
            addChildAt(iconLayer_mc,0);
            placeIcons();
        function placeIcons():void
            var i:int;
            var j:int;
            for (i = 0; i < 4; i++)
                for (j = 0; j < 5; j++)
                    //iconString_array has the names of illustrator objects that have been converted to MovieClips and are in the library.
                    var placedIcon_mc:BigIcon = new BigIcon(iconString_array[i][j],i,j);
                    iconLayer_mc.addChild(placedIcon_mc);
        function fl_MouseClickHandler(event:MouseEvent):void
            dispatchEvent(new Event("twitchupEvent",true));
BigIcon.as
package
    import flash.display.MovieClip;
    import flash.events.Event;
    import flash.utils.getDefinitionByName;
    public class BigIcon extends MovieClip
        private var iconImage_str:String;
        private var iconRow_int:int;
        private var iconColumn_int:int;
        public function BigIcon(iconImage_arg:String, iconRow_arg:int, iconColumn_arg:int)
            iconImage_str = iconImage_arg;
            iconRow_int = iconRow_arg;
            iconColumn_int = iconColumn_arg;
            this.addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, Setup);
        function Setup(e:Event)
            this.y = iconRow_int;
            this.x = iconColumn_int;
            var ClassReference:Class = getDefinitionByName(iconImage_str) as Class;
            var thisIcon_mc:MovieClip = new ClassReference;
            this.addChild(thisIcon_mc);
            addEventListener("twitchupEvent", twitchUp);
        function twitchUp(e:Event)
            this.y += 10;

Ned Murphy wrote:
You should be getting an error for the Main.as class due to missing a line to import the Event class...
import flash.events.Event;
My apologies, I should attempt to compile my example code before I ask for help...
Alright, this compiles, gives me no errors, shows my 'book' and 'flowers' icons perfectly when ran, and prints 'addEventListener' to the output window as expected. I get no errors when I press the button, 'dispatchEvent' is output (good), but the 'twitchUp' function is never called and 'EventTriggered' is never output.
How do I get the 'twitchUp' event to trigger?
Main.as
package
    import flash.display.MovieClip;
    import flash.events.MouseEvent;
    import flash.events.*;
    public class Main extends MovieClip
        var iconLayer_mc:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
        var iconString_array:Array = new Array(2);
        public function Main()
            Spin_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,fl_MouseClickHandler);
            addChildAt(iconLayer_mc,0);
            buildStringArray();
            placeIcons();
        function buildStringArray():void
            var i:int;
            var j:int;
            for (i = 0; i < 2; i++)
                iconString_array[i] = new Array(3);
                for (j = 0; j < 3; j++)
                    if (Math.random() > .5)
                        //'flowers' is the name of an illustrator object that has been converted to a MovieClip and is in the library
                        iconString_array[i][j] = "flowers";
                    else
                        //'book' is the name of an illustrator object that has been converted to a MovieClip and is in the library
                        iconString_array[i][j] = "book";
        function placeIcons():void
            var i:int;
            var j:int;
            for (i = 0; i < 2; i++)
                for (j = 0; j < 3; j++)
                    //iconString_array has the names of illustrator objects that have been converted to MovieClips and are in the library.
                    var placedIcon_mc:BigIcon = new BigIcon(iconString_array[i][j],i*50,j*50);
                    iconLayer_mc.addChild(placedIcon_mc);
        function fl_MouseClickHandler(event:MouseEvent):void
            dispatchEvent(new Event("twitchupEvent",true));
            trace("dispatchEvent");
BigIcon.as
package
    import flash.display.MovieClip;
    import flash.events.*;
    import flash.utils.getDefinitionByName;
    public class BigIcon extends MovieClip
        private var iconImage_str:String;
        private var iconRow_int:int;
        private var iconColumn_int:int;
        public function BigIcon(iconImage_arg:String, iconRow_arg:int, iconColumn_arg:int)
            iconImage_str = iconImage_arg;
            iconRow_int = iconRow_arg;
            iconColumn_int = iconColumn_arg;
            this.addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, Setup);
        function Setup(e:Event)
            this.y = iconRow_int;
            this.x = iconColumn_int;
            var ClassReference:Class = getDefinitionByName(iconImage_str) as Class;
            var thisIcon_mc:MovieClip = new ClassReference;
            this.addChild(thisIcon_mc);
            addEventListener("twitchupEvent", twitchUp);
            trace("addEventListener");
        function twitchUp(e:Event)
            this.y += 10;
            trace("EventTriggered");
Output:
[SWF] Untitled-1.swf - 40457 bytes after decompression
addEventListener
addEventListener
addEventListener
addEventListener
addEventListener
addEventListener
dispatchEvent
[UnloadSWF] Untitled-1.swf
Test Movie terminated.

Please Help me with my Custom Event

I am new in java, please help me about my custom event
I have a simple source code about custom event but it doesn't work like I want. This code generate result :
start
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but I want result :
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package TestBean;
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protected javax.swing.event.EventListenerList listenerList =
new javax.swing.event.EventListenerList();
public void addMyEventListener(MyEventListener listener) {
listenerList.add(MyEventListener.class, listener);
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listenerList.remove(MyEventListener.class, listener);
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Object[] listeners = listenerList.getListenerList();
for (int i=0; i<listeners.length; i+=2) {
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aaa(evt);
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System.out.println("my custom event");
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setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
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getContentPane().setLayout(layout);
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java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
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package TestBean;
class MyEvent extends java.util.EventObject {
    public MyEvent(Object source) {
           super(source);
interface MyEventListener extends java.util.EventListener {
    public void myEventOccurred(MyEvent evt);
class MyClass {
    protected javax.swing.event.EventListenerList listenerList =
    new javax.swing.event.EventListenerList();
    public void addMyEventListener(MyEventListener listener) {
          listenerList.add(MyEventListener.class, listener);
    public void removeMyEventListener(MyEventListener listener) {
          listenerList.remove(MyEventListener.class, listener);
    protected void fireMyEvent(MyEvent evt) {
         Object[] listeners = listenerList.getListenerList();
         for (int i=0; i<listeners.length; i+=2) {
                if (listeners==MyEventListener.class) {
                      ((MyEventListener)listeners[i+1]).myEventOccurred(evt);
public class BeanFrame extends javax.swing.JFrame {
      public BeanFrame() {
            initComponents();
            MyClass c = new MyClass();
            System.out.println("start");
            c.addMyEventListener(new MyEventListener(){
                              public void myEventOccurred(MyEvent evt){
                                          aaa(evt);
            System.out.println("end");
      private void aaa(MyEvent evt) {
            System.out.println("my custom event");
     // ><editor-fold defaultstate="collapsed" desc=" Generated Code ">
     private void initComponents() {
           setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
       javax.swing.GroupLayout layout = new
       javax.swing.GroupLayout(getContentPane());
       getContentPane().setLayout(layout);
       layout.setHorizontalGroup(
       layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
       .addGap(0, 400, Short.MAX_VALUE)
       layout.setVerticalGroup(
       layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
.addGap(0, 300, Short.MAX_VALUE)
      pack();
}// </editor-fold>
public static void main(String args[]) {
         java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
         public void run() {
                  new BeanFrame().setVisible(true);
}just enclosed it with the code tags.

Dispatching & listening for custom events from custom component [Flex 4.1]

I'm giving this a try for the first time and I'm not sure I have the recipe correct!
I have a custom component - it contains a data grid where I want to double click a row and dispatch an event that a row has been chosen.
I created a custom event
package oss
    import flash.events.Event;
    public class PersonChosenEvent extends Event
        public function PersonChosenEvent(type:String, bubbles:Boolean=false, cancelable:Boolean=false)
            super(type, bubbles, cancelable);
        // Define static constant.
        public static const PERSON_CHOSEN:String = "personChosen";
        // Define a public variable to hold the state of the enable property.
        public var isEnabled:Boolean;
        // Override the inherited clone() method.
        override public function clone():Event {
            return new PersonChosenEvent(type);
Then I try to dispatch the event within the component when the datagrid is doubleclicked:
import oss.PersonChosenEvent
dispatchEvent(new PersonChosenEvent(PersonChosenEvent.PERSON_CHOSEN, true, false));
And in the parent application containing the component I do on creationComplete
addEventListener(PersonChosenEvent.PERSON_CHOSEN,addPersonToList);
The event does not seem to fire though. And if I try to evaluate the "new PersonChosenEvent(..." code it tells me "no such variable".
What am I doing wrong?
(It was so easy in VisualAge for Java, what have we done in the last 10 years?? )
Martin

I've done this kind of thing routinely, when I want to add information to the event. I never code the "clone" method at all.
Be sure that you are listening to the event on a parent of the dispatching component.
You can also have the dispatching component listen for the event too, and use trace() to get a debug message.
I doubt if it has anything to to with "bubbles" since the default is true.
Sample code
In a child (BorderContainer)
dispatchEvent(new ActivationEvent(ActivationEvent.CREATION_COMPLETE,null,window));
In the container parent (BorderContainer)
activation.addEventListener(ActivationEvent.CREATION_COMPLETE,activationEvent);
package components.events
    import components.containers.SemanticWindow;
    import components.triples.SemanticActivation;
    import flash.events.Event;
    public class ActivationEvent extends Event
        public static const LOADED:String = "ActivationEvent: loaded";
        public static const CREATION_COMPLETE:String = "ActivationEvent: creation complete";
        public static const RELOADED:String = "ActivationEvent: reloaded";
        public static const LEFT_SIDE:String = "ActivationEvent: left side";
        public static const RIGHT_SIDE:String = "ActivationEvent: right side";
        private var _activation:SemanticActivation;
        private var _window:SemanticWindow;
        public function ActivationEvent(type:String, activation:SemanticActivation, window:SemanticWindow)
            super(type);
            _activation = activation;
            _window = window
        public function get activation():SemanticActivation {
            return _activation;
        public function get window():SemanticWindow{
            return _window;

Help with dispatching JTable event to underlying components in a cell.

Hello..
I have a JTable in which i show a panel with clickable labels.. I found that jTable by default doesnt dispatch or allow mouseevents to be caught by underlying elements..
i need help with dispatching an event from jTable to a label on a panel in a jTable cell.. below is the code i have come up with after finding help with some websites. but i couldnt not get it right.. my dispatched event seems to go back to the jtable itself ..
any help or suggestion is appreciated..
Thanks
'Harish.
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import javax.swing.table.*;
* @author harish
public class tableDemo extends javax.swing.JFrame {
    JTable jTable1;
    testpane dummyPane;
    /** Creates new form tableDemo */
    public tableDemo() {
        initComponents();
        //table settings
        String[] columnNames = {"Task", "Action"," "};
        Object[][] data = { };
        DefaultTableModel model = new DefaultTableModel(data, columnNames) {
          // This method returns the Class object of the first
          // cell in specified column in the table model.
        public Class getColumnClass(int mColIndex) {
            int rowIndex = 0;
            Object o = getValueAt(rowIndex, mColIndex);
            if (o == null)
                return Object.class;
            } else
                return o.getClass();
        jTable1 = new javax.swing.JTable(model);
        jTable1.addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter(){
          public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e){
              System.out.println("Clicked");
              handleTableMouseEvents(e);
             //invokeExternalApp("http://www.pixagogo.com");
          public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent e){
              System.out.println("Entered");
              //handleTableMouseEvents(e);
          public void mouseExited(MouseEvent e){
              System.out.println("Exited");
              //handleTableMouseEvents(e);
        jTable1.setRowHeight(100);
        jTable1.getTableHeader().setReorderingAllowed(false);
        jTable1.setBackground(new java.awt.Color(255, 255, 255));
        jTable1.setGridColor(new Color(250,250,250));
        jTable1.setShowGrid(true);
        jTable1.setShowVerticalLines(true);
        jTable1.setShowHorizontalLines(false);
        jTable1.setFont(new Font("Arial",0,11));
        jTable1.setMaximumSize(new java.awt.Dimension(32767, 32767));
        jTable1.setMinimumSize(new java.awt.Dimension(630, 255));
        jTable1.setPreferredSize(null);
        jTable1.setBackground(new Color(255,255,255));
        int vColIndex=0;
        TableColumn col = jTable1.getColumnModel().getColumn(vColIndex);
        int width = 100;
        col.setPreferredWidth(width);
        //add item to 2nd cell
        Vector vec = new Vector();
        vec.addElement(null);
        dummyPane = new testpane();
        vec.addElement(dummyPane);
        ((DefaultTableModel)jTable1.getModel()).addRow(vec);
        jTable1.repaint();
        this.getContentPane().add(jTable1);
        jTable1.getColumn("Action").setCellRenderer(
          new MultiRenderer());
    protected void handleTableMouseEvents(MouseEvent e){
        TableColumnModel columnModel = jTable1.getColumnModel();
        int column = columnModel.getColumnIndexAtX(e.getX());
        int row    = e.getY() / jTable1.getRowHeight();
        testpane contentPane = (testpane)(jTable1.getModel().getValueAt(row, column));
        // get the mouse click point relative to the content pane
        Point containerPoint = SwingUtilities.convertPoint(jTable1, e.getPoint(),contentPane);
        if (column==1 && row==0)
        // so the user clicked on the cell that we are bothered about.
        MouseEvent ev1 = (MouseEvent)SwingUtilities.convertMouseEvent(jTable1, e, contentPane);
        //once clicked on the cell.. we dispatch event to the object in that cell
     jTable1.dispatchEvent(ev1);
    private void initComponents() {
        addWindowListener(new java.awt.event.WindowAdapter() {
            public void windowClosing(java.awt.event.WindowEvent evt) {
                exitForm(evt);
        java.awt.Dimension screenSize = java.awt.Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize();
        setBounds((screenSize.width-528)/2, (screenSize.height-423)/2, 528, 423);
    /** Exit the Application */
    private void exitForm(java.awt.event.WindowEvent evt) {
        System.exit(0);
     * @param args the command line arguments
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        new tableDemo().show();
    // Variables declaration - do not modify
    // End of variables declaration
    class testpane extends JPanel{
        public testpane(){
        GridBagConstraints gridBagConstraints;
        JPanel testpane = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
        testpane.setBackground(Color.CYAN);
        JLabel lblTest = new JLabel("test");
        lblTest.addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter(){
          public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e){
              System.out.println("panelClicked");
          public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent e){
              System.out.println("panelEntered");
          public void mouseExited(MouseEvent e){
              System.out.println("panelExited");
        gridBagConstraints = new java.awt.GridBagConstraints();
        gridBagConstraints.gridx = 0;
        gridBagConstraints.gridy = 0;
        gridBagConstraints.anchor = java.awt.GridBagConstraints.NORTHWEST;
        testpane.add(lblTest,gridBagConstraints);
        this.add(testpane);
class MultiRenderer extends DefaultTableCellRenderer {
JCheckBox checkBox = new JCheckBox();
public Component getTableCellRendererComponent(
                     JTable table, Object value,
                     boolean isSelected, boolean hasFocus,
                     int row, int column) {
    if (value instanceof Boolean) {                    // Boolean
      checkBox.setSelected(((Boolean)value).booleanValue());
      checkBox.setHorizontalAlignment(JLabel.CENTER);
      return checkBox;
    String str = (value == null) ? "" : value.toString();
    return super.getTableCellRendererComponent(
         table,str,isSelected,hasFocus,row,column);
    return (testpane)value;
class MultiEditor implements TableCellEditor {
public MultiEditor() {
public boolean isCellEditable(EventObject anEvent) {return false;}
public boolean stopCellEditing() {return true;}
public Object getCellEditorValue() {return null;}
public void cancelCellEditing() {}
public boolean shouldSelectCell(EventObject anEvent) {return false;}
public Component getTableCellEditorComponent(JTable table, Object value,
              boolean isSelected, int row, int column) {
    if (value instanceof testpane) {                       // ComboString
      System.out.println("yes instance");
    return null;
public void addCellEditorListener(javax.swing.event.CellEditorListener l) {
public void removeCellEditorListener(javax.swing.event.CellEditorListener l) {
}

any help on this.. anybody. ?

Trying to make up a Modal Dialog with customized event dispatcher

Hello everyone.
I try to make up a ModalDialog class with customized event dispatcher in order to wait an invoker.
But it fails :-(
import javafx.event.ActionEvent;
import javafx.event.Event;
import javafx.event.EventDispatchChain;
import javafx.event.EventHandler;
import javafx.event.EventTarget;
import javafx.event.EventType;
import javafx.scene.Group;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.stage.Modality;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.stage.StageStyle;
import javafx.stage.Window;
import javafx.stage.WindowEvent;
import com.sun.javafx.stage.WindowEventDispatcher;
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class ModalDialog extends Stage {
ArrayList<Button> buttons;
int rc;
Stage stage;
Event event;
EventDispatchChain tail;
public ModalDialog( Window owner, String title ){
    initModality( Modality.APPLICATION_MODAL );
    initOwner( owner );
    initStyle( StageStyle.UTILITY );
    setTitle( title );
    stage = this;
public void setContents( Group group, ArrayList<Button> buttons ){
    BorderPane root = new BorderPane();
    Scene scene = new Scene(root);
    setScene(scene);
    root.setCenter( group );
    this.buttons = buttons;
    HBox buttonPane = new HBox();
    buttonPane.setSpacing(10);
    for( int i=0 ; i<buttons.size() ; i++ ){
      buttons.get(i).setOnAction( actionHandler );
    buttonPane.getChildren().setAll( buttons );
    root.setBottom( buttonPane );
public int show( double screenX, double screenY ){
    setX( screenX ); setY( screenY );
    show();
    MyWindowEventDispatcher dispatcher = new MyWindowEventDispatcher( stage );
    setEventDispatcher( dispatcher );
    while(true){
      event = dispatcher.dispatchEvent( event, tail );
      EventType<? extends Event> type = event.getEventType();
      if( type==WindowEvent.WINDOW_HIDDEN ){
        break;
    return( rc );
EventHandler<ActionEvent> actionHandler = new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
    public void handle( ActionEvent e ){
      EventTarget src = e.getTarget();
      rc = buttons.indexOf( src );
      stage.hide();
class MyWindowEventDispatcher extends WindowEventDispatcher {
    public MyWindowEventDispatcher( Window window ){
      super( window );
    public Event dispatchEvent( Event event, EventDispatchChain tail) {
      ModalDialog.this.event = dispatchCapturingEvent( event );
      ModalDialog.this.tail = tail;
      return( event );
}A sample code to invoke ModalDialog
import java.util.ArrayList;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.event.EventHandler;
import javafx.scene.Group;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.stage.WindowEvent;
public class WindowEvent06 extends Application {
Stage mainStage;
public void start(Stage stage) throws Exception {
    Group root = new Group();
    Scene scene = new Scene(root);
    stage.setScene(scene);
    stage.setTitle("WindowEvent06");
    mainStage = stage;
    stage.setOnCloseRequest(new EventHandler<WindowEvent>() {
      public void handle(WindowEvent e){
        ModalDialog dialog = new ModalDialog( mainStage, "Question" );
        Button yes = new Button( "Yes" );
        Button no = new Button( "No" );
        ArrayList<Button> buttons = new ArrayList<>();
        buttons.add(yes); buttons.add(no);
        Label msg = new Label( "Really Exit ?" );
        Group groupInDialog = new Group();
        groupInDialog.getChildren().add( msg );
        dialog.setContents( groupInDialog, buttons );
        int ans = dialog.show( 300, 300 );
        System.out.println("returned from a modal dialog");
        if( ans == 1 ){
          e.consume(); // this blocks window closing
    stage.show();
public static void main(String[] args) {
    launch(args);
}

Hi,
The logic what you follows is some what in the right direction but need to have some changes.
What I would say is, first consume the windowClose event. Then open the dialog box and close the parent accordingly.
So after refactoring your code.
import javafx.event.ActionEvent;
import javafx.event.EventHandler;
import javafx.scene.Group;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.stage.Modality;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.stage.StageStyle;
public class ModalDialog extends Stage {
     Stage owner;
     Stage stage;
     BorderPane root;
public ModalDialog( Stage owner, String title){
    root = new BorderPane();
    stage = this;
    this.owner = owner;
    initModality( Modality.APPLICATION_MODAL );
    initOwner( owner );
    initStyle( StageStyle.UTILITY );
    setTitle( title );
    setContents();
public void setContents(){
    Scene scene = new Scene(root,150,150);
    setScene(scene);
    Group groupInDialog = new Group();
    groupInDialog.getChildren().add( new Label("Really Exit ?") );
    root.setCenter( groupInDialog );
    Button yes = new Button( "Yes" );
    yes.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
          @Override
          public void handle(ActionEvent paramT) {
               stage.close(); // Closing the pop up.
               owner.close(); // Closing the parent stage also.
    Button no = new Button( "No" );
    no.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
          @Override
          public void handle(ActionEvent paramT) {
               stage.close(); // Closing the pop up only
    HBox buttonPane = new HBox();
    buttonPane.setSpacing(10);
    buttonPane.getChildren().addAll(yes,no);
    root.setBottom(buttonPane);
    stage.show();
}And the main class to check this implementation is
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.event.EventHandler;
import javafx.scene.Group;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.stage.WindowEvent;
public class WindowEvent06 extends Application {
public void start(final Stage stage) throws Exception {
    Group root = new Group();
    Scene scene = new Scene(root);
    stage.setScene(scene);
    stage.setTitle("WindowEvent06");
    stage.setOnCloseRequest(new EventHandler<WindowEvent>() {
      public void handle(final WindowEvent e){
         e.consume(); // Consuming the event by default.
         new ModalDialog( stage, "Question");
    stage.show();
public static void main(String[] args) {
    launch(args);
}I hope the above code will give you some idea what i mean. :)
Happy Coding !!
Regards,
Sai Pradeep Dandem.
Edited by: Sai Pradeep Dandem on Jan 20, 2012 4:03 AM

Help with my custom event

Hi all!
I've extended JTextField to add some custom features. They can add my custom event called ValueChangedListener which listens for change in my textfields. Theese changes is registered in my JFrame holding the textfields so I can determine whether or not to save data to file on exit.
My question is this:
Can I listen to my custom events in a global way in my JFrame? Instead of adding the listener to each and every custom textfield (JFlexTextField) I would like to add ONE listener in my JFrame by calling MyJFrame.addValueChangedListener(ValueChangedEvent vce). (The method addValueChangedListener is located in my custom textfields).
Thanks in advance.

You need some kind of glue between the object that creates the message and the listeners. When the events are generated by your textfields, then those textfields needs at least one "address" to send the events to. Obviously, if the listener list is stored in the JFrame, your textfields will have difficulties using it.
What you can do, which might help if you want to add several listeners to all the textfields, is:
- Add only the JFrame as a listener to the textfields
- Other listeners registers themselves with the JFrame
- The JFrame keeps track of all the other listeners,
- The 'valueChanged' method in the JFrame you forward the event to all the other listeners.
You still have to call addValueChangedListener once for every textfield, though.
You can also send a reference to the JFrame to the constructor for the textfields, and do the addValueChangedListener call in that constructor.

Dispatching Custom Events Help

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