JTextArea problem

Question

Why does the following code not print "Test" in the JTextArea?
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.TextArea;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.LinkedList;
import java.util.List;
public class ImportServer extends JPanel implements ActionListener {
     protected JTextField textField;
     protected JTextArea textArea;
     private final static String newline = "\n";
     public ImportServer() {
          super(new GridBagLayout());
          textField = new JTextField(20);
          textField.addActionListener(this);
          textArea = new JTextArea(5, 20);
          textArea.setEditable(false);
          JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(textArea,
          JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS,
          JScrollPane.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);
          //Add Components to this panel.
          GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
          c.gridwidth = GridBagConstraints.REMAINDER;
          c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
          add(textField, c);
          c.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
          c.weightx = 1.0;
          c.weighty = 1.0;
          add(scrollPane, c);
     public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
          String text = textField.getText();
          textArea.append(text + newline);
          textField.selectAll();
          //Make sure the new text is visible, even if there
          //was a selection in the text area.
          textArea.setCaretPosition(textArea.getDocument().getLength());
     * Create the GUI and show it. For thread safety,
     * this method should be invoked from the
     * event-dispatching thread.
     private void createAndShowGUI() {
          //Make sure we have nice window decorations.
          JFrame.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(false);
          //Create and set up the window.
          JFrame frame = new JFrame("Cbhk.net Import Server");
          frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
          //Create and set up the content pane.
          JComponent newContentPane = new ImportServer();
          newContentPane.setOpaque(true); //content panes must be opaque
          frame.setContentPane(newContentPane);
          //Display the window.
          frame.pack();
          frame.setSize(800,600);
          frame.setVisible(true);
     private void runImports() {
          textArea.append("Test\n");
          textArea.setCaretPosition(textArea.getDocument().getLength());
          textArea.repaint();
          textArea.validate();
          System.out.println(textArea.getText());
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          ImportServer server = new ImportServer();
          server.createAndShowGUI();
          server.runImports();

Answer 1

in main, you create an instance of the ImportServer. In createAndShowGUI, you do it again. You are not working with the same instance as the one you see. Your text is appended to the textarea created in main, but you are looking at the one created in createAndShowGUI.
Instead of creating a new ImportServer in the createAndShowGUI method, use 'this'.
here is the updated version of createAndShowGUI:
private void createAndShowGUI() {
     //Make sure we have nice window decorations.
     JFrame.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(false);
     //Create and set up the window.
     JFrame frame = new JFrame("Cbhk.net Import Server");
     frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
     //Create and set up the content pane.
     this.setOpaque(true); //content panes must be opaque
     frame.setContentPane(this);
     //Display the window.
     frame.pack();
     frame.setSize(800,600);
     frame.setVisible(true);