How to make my "notepad-program" clean the textarea when clicking on "ny"

Question

Hi!
I'm having a problem cleaning the textarea when clicking on "ny" (new) in the menubar. What am I doing wrong? Could someone help me solve this problem?
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
public class AnteckningsProgram
                    implements ActionListener{     
          static JFrame frame;
          static JTextArea textArea;
     public void skapaVisaGUI () {
          frame = new JFrame ("Anteckningsprogram");
         frame.setSize (340, 240);
         frame.setVisible (true);
         frame.setTitle ("Ra Anteckningsprogram");
         Toolkit          tk = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit ();
         Image      bild = tk.getImage("r.png");
         frame.setIconImage(bild);
          JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea ();
         frame.add (textArea, "Center");
         JMenuBar cm = createMenuBar();       
         //frame.add(cm, BorderLayout.NORTH);     
         frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
     public     JMenuBar     createMenuBar () {
          JMenuBar     menyBar;
          JMenu          meny;
          JMenuItem     oppna;
          JMenuItem     quit;
          JMenuItem     ny;
          menyBar = new JMenuBar ();
          JMenu arkiv = new JMenu("Arkiv");
          oppna = new JMenuItem ("Oppna");
          quit = new JMenuItem("Quit");
          ny = new JMenuItem("Ny");
          ny.setActionCommand("Ny");
          ny.addActionListener(this);
          quit.setActionCommand("Quit");
          quit.addActionListener(this);
          //arkiv.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_U);
          arkiv.add(oppna);
          arkiv.addSeparator();
          arkiv.add(quit);
          arkiv.addSeparator();
          arkiv.add(ny);
          menyBar.add(arkiv);
          frame.setJMenuBar(menyBar);     
          return menyBar;     
     public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
         if ("Ny".equals(e.getActionCommand())) {
                  createTextArea();
             //annars går vi vidare till metoden quit
             else {
                 quit();
     protected void quit() {
             System.exit(0);
     protected void createTextArea() {
          JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea ();
          textArea.setText("fdfdsfdfsdf");
      public static void main(String[] args) {
              //anroppar metoden createandshowGUI
              AnteckningsProgram ap = new AnteckningsProgram();
              ap.skapaVisaGUI();
}

Answer 1

The basic problem here is 'scope'. The scope of an attribute is 'Java 101' by the way. I recommend you start on the basics *(<- link)* and leave GUIs aside for a while.