Help with if statement for a beginner.

Question

Hello, I’m new to the dev lark and wondered if someone could point me in the right direction.
I have the following (working!) app that lets users press a few buttons instead of typing console commands (please do not be too critical of it, it’s my first work prog).
//DBS File send and Receive app 1.0
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JCheckBox;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import java.applet.Applet;
public class Buttons extends JFrame
     public Buttons()
          super("DBS 2");          
          JTextArea myText = new JTextArea   ("Welcome to the DBS application." +
                                                       "\n" +
                                                       "\n\n1. If you have received an email informing you that the DBS is ready to dowload please press the \"Receive DBS\" button." +
                                                       "\n" +
                                                       "\n1. Once this has been Received successfully please press the \"Prep File\" button." +
                                                       "\n\n2. Once the files have been moved to their appropriate locations, please do the \"Load\" into PAS." +
                                                       "\n\n3. Once the \"Load\" is complete, do the \"Extract\"." +
                                                       "\n\n4. When the \"Extract\" has taken place please press the \"File Shuffle\" button." +
                                                       "\n\n5. When the files have been shuffled, please press the \"Send DBS\" Button." +
                                                       "\n\nJob done." +
                                                       "\n", 20,50);
          JPanel holdAll = new JPanel();
          JPanel topPanel = new JPanel();
          JPanel bottomPanel = new JPanel();
          JPanel middle1 = new JPanel();
          JPanel middle2 = new JPanel();
          JPanel middle3 = new JPanel();
          topPanel.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
          middle1.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
          middle2.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
          middle3.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
          bottomPanel.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
          myText.setBackground(new java.awt.Color(0, 0, 0));     
          myText.setForeground(new java.awt.Color(255,255,255));
          myText.setFont(new java.awt.Font("Times",0, 16));
          myText.setLineWrap(true);
          myText.setWrapStyleWord(true);
          holdAll.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
          topPanel.setBackground(new java.awt.Color(153, 101, 52));
          bottomPanel.setForeground(new java.awt.Color(153, 0, 52));
          holdAll.add(topPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
          topPanel.add(myText, BorderLayout.NORTH);
          setSize(700, 600);
          setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
          getContentPane().add(holdAll, BorderLayout.CENTER);
          Container c = getContentPane();
          c.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
          final JButton receiveDBS = new JButton("Receive DBS"); //marked as final as it is called in an Inner Class later
          final JButton filePrep = new JButton("Prep File");
          final JButton fileShuffle = new JButton("File Shuffle");
          final JButton sendDBS = new JButton("Send DBS");
          JButton exitButton = new JButton("Exit");
//          JLabel statusbar = new JLabel("Text here");
          receiveDBS.setFont(new java.awt.Font("Arial", 0, 25));
          filePrep.setFont(new java.awt.Font("Arial", 0, 25));
          fileShuffle.setFont(new java.awt.Font("Arial", 0, 25));
          sendDBS.setFont(new java.awt.Font("Arial", 0, 25));
          exitButton.setBorderPainted ( false );
          exitButton.setMargin( new Insets ( 10, 10, 10, 10 ));
          exitButton.setToolTipText( "EXIT Button" );
          exitButton.setFont(new java.awt.Font("Arial", 0, 20));
          exitButton.setEnabled(true);  //Set to (false) to disable
          exitButton.setForeground(new java.awt.Color(0, 0, 0));
          exitButton.setHorizontalTextPosition(SwingConstants.CENTER); //Don't know what this does
          exitButton.setBounds(10, 30, 90, 50); //Don't know what this does
          exitButton.setBackground(new java.awt.Color(153, 101, 52));     
          topPanel.add(receiveDBS);
          middle1.add(filePrep);
          middle2.add(exitButton);
          middle3.add(fileShuffle);
          bottomPanel.add(sendDBS);
          receiveDBS.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
               public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
                    if (ae.getSource() == receiveDBS);
                    try
                         Runtime.getRuntime().exec("cmd.exe /c start c:\\DBS\\ReceiveDBSfile.bat");
                    catch(Exception e)
                         System.out.println(e.toString());
                         e.printStackTrace();
          filePrep.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
               public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
                    if (ae.getSource() == filePrep);
                    try
                         Runtime.getRuntime().exec("cmd.exe /c start c:\\DBS\\filePrep.bat");
                    catch(Exception e)
                         System.out.println(e.toString());
                         e.printStackTrace();
          exitButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
               public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
                    System.exit(0);
          fileShuffle.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
               public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
                    if (ae.getSource() == fileShuffle);
                    try
                         Runtime.getRuntime().exec("cmd.exe /c start c:\\DBS\\fileShuffle.bat");
                    catch(Exception e)
                         System.out.println(e.toString());
                         e.printStackTrace();
          sendDBS.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
               public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
                    if (ae.getSource() == sendDBS);
                    try
                         Runtime.getRuntime().exec("cmd.exe /c start c:\\DBS\\sendDBSFile.bat");
                    catch(Exception e)
                         System.out.println(e.toString());
                         e.printStackTrace();
          c.add(receiveDBS);
          c.add(filePrep);
          c.add(fileShuffle);
          c.add(sendDBS);
          c.add(exitButton);
//          c.add(statusbar);
     public static void main(String args[])
          Buttons xyz = new Buttons();
          xyz.setVisible(true);
     }What I would like help with is the following…
I would like output to either a JLabel or JTextArea to appear if a file appears on the network. Something along these lines…
If file named nststrace*.* is in \\[network path] then output “Download successful, please proceed.”
btw I have done my best to search this forum for something similar and had no luck, but I am looking forward to Encephalopathic’s answer as he/she has consistently made me laugh with posted responses (in a good way).
Thanks in advance, Paul.

Answer 1

Hospital_Apps_Monkey wrote:
we're starting to get aquainted, but I think "best friend" could take a while as it is still as hard going as I recall, but I will persevere.Heh, it's not so bad! For example, if I had no idea how to test whether a file exists, I would just scan the big list of classes on the left for names that sound like they might include File operations. Hey look, File! Then I'd look at all of File's methods for something that tests whether it exists or not. Hey, exists! Then if I still couldn't figure out how to use it, I'd do a google search on that particular method.