Leaving JTextField with TAB

Question

A simple question really ... I have a JTextField that I would like to have the user exit from with TAB and get
the same action as if they had left the field with the
ENTER key, i.e., I'd like to be able to use the getText
method to retrieve what the user entered. Currently, with
no modifcations whatsoever to the JTextField, when I
invoke getText after the user leaves the field with a TAB,
getText returns NULL. I've tried just about everything,
but can't get any of it to work (removeKeyStrokeBinding(), extending JTextField, etc.).
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Answer 1

As you have niticed this is not such a simple question at all.
After some experimentation I decided to make the enter key cause the text field to loose focus.
addKeyListener (new KeyAdapter()
public void keyPressed (KeyEvent evt)
int key = evt.getKeyCode();
if (key == KeyEvent.VK_ENTER)
transferFocus ();
Then give the text field a focus listener
class TextListener extends java.awt.event.FocusAdapter
public void focusLost (FocusEvent e)
// evalutate the text using getText()
Which gets the field's content, validates it and then save it in the appropriate place.
The advantage to this approach is the whole field edits are always done in the same place (the focus adapter), and the enter and tab actions appear the same to the user.
The disadvantage is that, unless you know the initial value, you won't be able to tell if the value has changed.
hope this helpds some.
Terry