JMenuBar Event Handling

Question

I am customizing my own menu bar, I would like to create some event handling, for the top most level, it is not a problem, but when I try to implement some event handling for the drop-down list/menu, nothing happens.
The following is the whole class:
package diagramillustrator;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class DIM extends JMenuBar implements MouseListener
     * Creates a new instance of DIM
    public DIM()
        configFileMenu();
        configOptionsMenu();
        configAllItems();
        configMenuBar();
    //Creation and Initialization of objects
    //<editor-fold>    
    //file and options menus to be added to the menubar
    JMenu fileMenu =  new JMenu("File");
    JMenu optionsMenu = new JMenu("Options");
    //file items
    JMenuItem newItem = new JMenuItem("New");
    JMenuItem openItem = new JMenuItem("Open");
    JMenuItem saveItem = new JMenuItem("Save");
    JMenuItem printItem = new JMenuItem("Print");
    JMenuItem exitItem = new JMenuItem("Exit");
    //options items
    JMenuItem createFileItem = new JMenuItem("Create properties file");
    JMenuItem propertiesItem = new JMenuItem("Properties");
    //</editor-fold>
    //adds mouse listener to every item
    private void configAllItems()
        this.addMouseListener(this);
        fileMenu.addMouseListener(this);
        optionsMenu.addMouseListener(this);
        newItem.addMouseListener(this);
        openItem.addMouseListener(this);
        saveItem.addMouseListener(this);
        printItem.addMouseListener(this);
        exitItem.addMouseListener(this);
        createFileItem.addMouseListener(this);
        propertiesItem.addMouseListener(this);
    //creats the file menu
    private void configFileMenu()
        fileMenu.add(newItem);
        fileMenu.addSeparator();
        fileMenu.add(saveItem);
        fileMenu.add(openItem);
        fileMenu.add(printItem);
        fileMenu.addSeparator();
        fileMenu.add(exitItem);
    //creats the options menu
    private void configOptionsMenu()
        optionsMenu.add(createFileItem);
        optionsMenu.add(propertiesItem);
    //configures the menubar, adds all items to it etc
    private void configMenuBar()
        this.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.LEFT));
        this.add(fileMenu);
        this.add(new JSeparator(SwingConstants.VERTICAL));
        this.add(new JSeparator(SwingConstants.VERTICAL));
        this.add(optionsMenu);
        this.setToolTipText("Menu Bar");
    //event handling
    //<editor-fold>
    public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e)
        //works
        //if(e.getSource().equals(fileMenu))this.setBackground(Color.yellow);
        //else this.setBackground(Color.black);
        //dowsn't work
        if(e.getSource().equals(newItem))this.setBackground(Color.yellow);
    public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e)
    public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent e)
    public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent e)
    public void mouseExited(MouseEvent e)
    //</editor-fold>
    //main method to test class
    public static void main(String[] args)
        JFrame f= new JFrame("Testing menu");
        f.setSize(400,400);
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        f.setJMenuBar(new DIM());
        f.show();
} This is the troubling part:
public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e)
        //works
        //if(e.getSource().equals(fileMenu))this.setBackground(Color.yellow);
        //else this.setBackground(Color.black);
        //dowsn't work
        if(e.getSource().equals(newItem))this.setBackground(Color.yellow);
    } The first two lines work perfectly fine as they apply to the top most level, the rest doesn't do anything at all.
Can anyone help me to handle events for the drop-down please?
AndXer

Answer 1

Sorry posted the prvious by mistake.
Oh, I usually used MouseListener for buttons...I tried using ActionListener and it worked great, the only flaw is that any mouse button clicked triggers an event, I want the event to be triggered only when BUTTON_1 is clicked (like in MouseListener).
Can that be done as I found nothing in the API. If yes, a code sample would be greatly appreciated.
The current code for handling it is:
    if(e.getSource().equals(newItem))
         this.setBackground(Color.green);
}Thanks,
AndXer