Effect of super() in JDialog constructor on focusability/modality

Question

Hello again,
this is a JFrame which calls a JDialog which calls a JDialog.
Using super(...) in the constructor of SecondDialog makes this dialog
unfocusable as long as FirstDialog is shown. Without super(...) one can freely
move between the dialogs.
Can somebody exlain what "super" does to produce this difference?
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class SuperConstructor extends JFrame {
  public SuperConstructor() {
    setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    setSize(300,300);
    setTitle("Super constructor");
    Container cp= getContentPane();
    JButton b= new JButton("Show dialog");
    b.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
      public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
     new FirstDialog(SuperConstructor.this);
    cp.add(b, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
    setVisible(true);
  public static void main(String args[]) {
    EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
      public void run() {
     new SuperConstructor();
  class FirstDialog extends JDialog {
    public FirstDialog(final Frame parent) {
      super(parent, "FirstDialog");
      setSize(200,200);
      setLocationRelativeTo(parent);
      setModalityType(Dialog.ModalityType.DOCUMENT_MODAL);
      JButton bNext= new JButton("Show next dialog");
      bNext.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
     public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
       new SecondDialog(parent, false);
      add(bNext, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
      setVisible(true);
  int i;
  class SecondDialog extends JDialog {
    public SecondDialog(Frame parent, boolean modal) {
      super(parent); // Makes this dialog unfocusable as long as FirstDialog is 
shown
      setSize(200,200);
      setLocation(300,50);
      setModal(modal);
      setTitle("SecondDialog "+(++i));
      JButton bClose= new JButton("Close");
      bClose.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
     public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
       dispose();
      add(bClose, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
      setVisible(true);
}

Answer 1

nice day,
there are three areas of get potential problem
1/ FirstDialog helt pernament MODALITY, SecondDialog to have to same ...
2/ there isn't something about change Window focus (if Parent inside of EDT, then you alyway lost focus, meaning SecondDialog)
3/ constructor super inside class doesn't works, block move focus to the SecondDialog (and nonModal)
... but
4/ here is second coins_side [http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11020377#11020377]
5/ in this form is my example returns similair result, isn't possible setWindow focus for visible JDialog (sure, remove Extend JDialog and create separate constuctor for JDialog, solve that)
6/ maybe I'm wrong
package JDialog;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
* Parent Modal Dialog. When in modal mode, this dialog
* will block inputs to the "parent Window" but will
* allow events to other components
* @see javax.swing.JDialog
public class PMDialog extends JDialog {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
    private boolean modal = false;
    private WindowAdapter parentWindowListener;
    private Window owner;
    private JFrame blockedFrame = new JFrame("No blocked frame");
    private JFrame noBlockedFrame = new JFrame("Blocked Frame");
    public PMDialog() {
        noBlockedFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        noBlockedFrame.getContentPane().add(new JButton(new AbstractAction("Test button") {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
                System.out.println("Non blocked button pushed");
                /*if (blockedFrame.isVisible()) {
                    noBlockedFrame.setVisible(false);
                } else {
                    blockedFrame.setVisible(true);
                noBlockedFrame.setVisible(true);
                blockedFrame.setVisible(true);
        noBlockedFrame.setSize(200, 200);
        noBlockedFrame.setVisible(true);
        blockedFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.HIDE_ON_CLOSE);
        blockedFrame.getContentPane().add(new JButton(new AbstractAction("Test Button") {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
                final PMDialog pmd = new PMDialog(blockedFrame, "Partial Modal Dialog", true);
                pmd.setSize(200, 100);
                pmd.setLocationRelativeTo(blockedFrame);
                pmd.getContentPane().add(new JButton(new AbstractAction("Test button") {
                    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
                    @Override
                    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
                        System.out.println("Blocked button pushed");
                        pmd.setVisible(false);
                        blockedFrame.setVisible(false);
                        noBlockedFrame.setVisible(true);
                pmd.setDefaultCloseOperation(PMDialog.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
                pmd.setVisible(true);
                System.out.println("Returned from Dialog");
        blockedFrame.setSize(200, 200);
        blockedFrame.setLocation(300, 0);
        blockedFrame.setVisible(false);
    public PMDialog(JDialog parent, String title, boolean isModal) {
        super(parent, title, false);
        initDialog(parent, title, isModal);
    public PMDialog(JFrame parent, String title, boolean isModal) {
        super(parent, title, false);
        initDialog(parent, title, isModal);
    private void initDialog(Window parent, String title, boolean isModal) {
        owner = parent;
        modal = isModal;
        parentWindowListener = new WindowAdapter() {
            @Override
            public void windowActivated(WindowEvent e) {
                if (isVisible()) {
                    System.out.println("Dialog.getFocusBack()");
                    getFocusBack();
    private void getFocusBack() {
        Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().beep();
        super.setVisible(false);
        super.pack();
        super.setLocationRelativeTo(owner);
        super.setVisible(true);
        //super.toFront();
    @Override
    public void dispose() {
        owner.setEnabled(true);
        owner.setFocusableWindowState(true);
        super.dispose();
    @Override
    @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
    public void hide() {
        owner.setEnabled(true);
        owner.setFocusableWindowState(true);
        super.hide();
    @Override
    public void setVisible(boolean visible) {
        boolean blockParent = (visible && modal);
        owner.setEnabled(!blockParent);
        owner.setFocusableWindowState(!blockParent);
        super.setVisible(visible);
        if (blockParent) {
            System.out.println("Adding listener to parent ...");
            owner.addWindowListener(parentWindowListener);
            try {
                if (SwingUtilities.isEventDispatchThread()) {
                    System.out.println("EventDispatchThread");
                    EventQueue theQueue = getToolkit().getSystemEventQueue();
                    while (isVisible()) {
                        AWTEvent event = theQueue.getNextEvent();
                        Object src = event.getSource();
                        if (event instanceof ActiveEvent) {
                            ((ActiveEvent) event).dispatch();
                        } else if (src instanceof Component) {
                            ((Component) src).dispatchEvent(event);
                } else {
                    System.out.println("OUTSIDE EventDispatchThread");
                    synchronized (getTreeLock()) {
                        while (isVisible()) {
                            try {
                                getTreeLock().wait();
                            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                                break;
            } catch (Exception ex) {
                ex.printStackTrace();
                System.out.println("Error from EDT ... : " + ex);
        } else {
            System.out.println("Removing listener from parent ...");
            owner.removeWindowListener(parentWindowListener);
            owner.setEnabled(true);
            owner.setFocusableWindowState(true);
    @Override
    public void setModal(boolean modal) {
        this.modal = modal;
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        PMDialog pMDialog = new PMDialog();
}