JTextfield: Changing focus, then doing stuff

Question

So I have 3 JTextFields that are essentially "connected" (I automate tabbing and such back and forth). I have no problem gaining focus, whether it be transferFocusBackward(), or whatever else. My problem is when getting the focus I cannot do anything with it like taking the letter the user typed and insert it into the next field.
My code that I used is in KeyTyped and I do a
JTextField fake = new JTextField();
fake.transferFocus();
JTextField newFocus = ((JTextField)KeyboardFocusManager.getCurrentKeyboardFocusManager().getFocusOwner();
newFocus.setText(String.valueOf(event.getKeyChar))
When I check to see who the focus is on before and after I call transferFocus(), it doesn't change JTextFields (I know because I name them differently and ask their names). Does someone know a better way...that actually changes focus, when it is called, or have any workarounds?

Answer 1

Nevermind I figured a workaround for it. I set the setFocusCycleRoot to true in the constructor, and then said
JTextField fake = new JTextField();
JTextField newFocus = ((JTextField)this.getFocusTraversalPolicy().getComponentBefore(this, fake));
//I stuck what the user typed at the beginning of the text field...not really sure which is the better way
newFocus.setText(event.getKeyChar()+newFocus.getText());
fake.transferFocus();
The reason it wasn't working is because swing hadn't actually acknowledged that the focus had changed yet...apparently this happens later.
The reason I had asked was that there was an edge case on the three JTextField, lets say the user types something into the first text field and moves to the next field, then randomly goes back, well, when they press a letter, then they would just jump to the next JTextField, and the letter wouldn't appear...i think that would be more confusing than having the letter appear in the next text field, but meh, we'll see.