I've never seen the easter bunny : (

Question

But that doesn't mean he doesn't exist !
Also, I've never seen a java swing app like the one I want to create. But that doesn't mean its not possible ! (I hope)
They don't offer anything gui related at school, it's all scientific blah. Example: this summer I have Unix and Perl. So I have to learn swing on my own. The app I'm trying to create is for my own personal use. I like to play online dungeon crawlers and really need a way to time many events that occur. Also, I bet that once I graduate, some crazy employer will expect me to know how to create and manage a gui..."No sir, but I can write a really mean Bubble Sort !....wooot! "
What I would like to do is have a window / JFrame(?) that contains one container(?) that contains eight JPanels(?), each of which hold a start JButton(?), reset JButton(?), JProgressBar(?), JLabel(?), and a JTextArea(?).
The text area will display a digital clock face which is animated using a swing timer(?) and updated (input new time )using a popup(?), the label will provide the name of that particular panel which can be changed by employing a popup(?), the progressbar will be sync'ed to the text areas digital clock face, and the whole shabang will be put into motion by the start button and reset to its initial starting phase by the reset button, at which point it can reactivated by pressing start.
I have actually created all the stuff and pieced them together, but they don't do anything yet......
What I have done is write a driver class to create the JFrame and the main container to hold the eight JPanels. I have also written an inner class whose constructor creates the eight panels giving each all the components they need.
Now, my understanding of java classes is that each time my subclass of JPanel calls its constructor , it creates an instance of a JPanel as well as an instance of each component that it adds. So, even though all eight panels look the same, the start button from panel 4 is unique to 4 and the start button for panel 7 is unique and will work only on panel 7. Is that a correct assumption ?
I added ActionListeners that did silly stuff like change the border or the button color etc and all seems to work fine.
So, what I want to know is should I continue trying to build this thing or is it impossible to make this type of structure ??
Also, if it is possible, any suggestions on where to go from here? I just finished downloading the sun tutorial and have a slew of books from the library, but some input from the pros would really nice.... : )
thanks

Answer 1

But that doesn't mean he doesn't exist !
Also, I've never seen a java swing app like the one I
want to create. But that doesn't mean its not
possible ! (I hope)
They don't offer anything gui related at school, it's
all scientific blah. Example: this summer I have Unix
and Perl. So I have to learn swing on my own. The app
I'm trying to create is for my own personal use. I
like to play online dungeon crawlers and really need
a way to time many events that occur. Also, I bet
that once I graduate, some crazy employer will expect
me to know how to create and manage a gui..."No sir,
but I can write a really mean Bubble Sort !....wooot!
What I would like to do is have a window / JFrame(?)
that contains one container(?) that contains eight
JPanels(?), each of which hold a start JButton(?),
reset JButton(?), JProgressBar(?), JLabel(?), and a
JTextArea(?).
The text area will display a digital clock face which
is animated using a swing timer(?) and updated (input
new time )using a popup(?), the label will provide
the name of that particular panel which can be
changed by employing a popup(?), the progressbar will
be sync'ed to the text areas digital clock face, and
the whole shabang will be put into motion by the
start button and reset to its initial starting phase
by the reset button, at which point it can
reactivated by pressing start.
I have actually created all the stuff and pieced them
together, but they don't do anything yet......
What I have done is write a driver class to create
the JFrame and the main container to hold the eight
JPanels. I have also written an inner class whose
constructor creates the eight panels giving each all
the components they need.
Now, my understanding of java classes is that each
time my subclass of JPanel calls its constructor , it
creates an instance of a JPanel as well as an
instance of each component that it adds. So, even
though all eight panels look the same, the start
button from panel 4 is unique to 4 and the start
button for panel 7 is unique and will work only on
panel 7. Is that a correct assumption ?Yes. Provided that the inner class isn't trying to add the same instance of the component to each panel.
>
I added ActionListeners that did silly stuff like
change the border or the button color etc and all
seems to work fine.
So, what I want to know is should I continue trying
to build this thing or is it impossible to make this
type of structure ??This is all possible. However, What you should do is create a class to represent one of your timer panels. It should have all the functionality required for a single timer panel. Start button, Reset button, label, etc.
Get this class working completely, and then just add eight separate instances of this class to your main frame.
>
Also, if it is possible, any suggestions on where to
go from here? I just finished downloading the sun
tutorial and have a slew of books from the library,
but some input from the pros would really nice....Write some code. When it doesn't work the way you expect, create a SSCCE (http://mindprod.com/jgloss/sscce.html) and ask your questions in whatever forum best fits your problem.
Jim S.