Enter data in a form - save that data to disk...

Question

I've got a form application which has typical fields for data entry, ref number, name, address etc.....up to ten items.
I have a Main Menu form, four other forms, and can move between them fine.
This is a cut down example, with only one text field, of the type of form I'm using to enter data to:
package Test;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import com.borland.jbcl.control.*;
public class Frame1 extends JFrame {
Button button1 = new Button();
Label label1 = new Label();
TextField textField1 = new TextField();
Filer filer1 = new Filer();
//Construct the frame
public Frame1() {
enableEvents(AWTEvent.WINDOW_EVENT_MASK);
try {
jbInit();
catch(Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
//Component initialization
private void jbInit() throws Exception {
button1.setBounds(new Rectangle(136, 202, 133, 45));
button1.setLabel("a button");
button1.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
button1_actionPerformed(e);
this.getContentPane().setLayout(null);
this.setSize(new Dimension(400, 300));
this.setTitle("Form Test");
label1.setBounds(new Rectangle(18, 10, 111, 37));
label1.setAlignment(2);
label1.setText("a text field");
textField1.setBounds(new Rectangle(166, 13, 109, 23));
textField1.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
filer1.setDirectory("c:\\");
filer1.setFrame(this);
this.getContentPane().add(label1, null);
this.getContentPane().add(textField1, null);
this.getContentPane().add(button1, null);
//Overridden so we can exit on System Close
protected void processWindowEvent(WindowEvent e) {
super.processWindowEvent(e);
if(e.getID() == WindowEvent.WINDOW_CLOSING) {
System.exit(0);
void button1_actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
Frame2 myFrame = new Frame2();
myFrame.show();
I'd like to be able to enter the data, save individual records to disk, and access them individually. I've been trying to implement
'Serialize' but with no success so far. I'd be most grateful for any advice on how to save the individual records without implementing a database. I'm using applications for all the forms. To get me started, I'd be happy just to be able to enter something in the example form's text field, save it, and display it again.
Many Thanks

Answer 1

Though it would be better with ODBC bridge to an access DB.
... ( <--- that's dot, dot, dot) though for some reason you don't want to go down the DB path ?!?!