Linking Editing TextArea with Button Handler

Question

Java newbie here,i am trying to create a program to display a keyboard on screen and display the the letter in a text area when the character letter is pressed. And the complete sentence when return is pressed.
I have the GUI up, the problem is the letters are dispayed in a JOptionPane and i want them to be written to the TextArea.
Any help would be appreaciated
Here is the code in full so far.
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
* Alphabet is a program that will display a text pad and 27 buttons of the 25
* Letters of the Alphabet and display them when pressed and display all buttons
* when Return button is pressed..
* version (V 0.1)
public class Alphabet extends JFrame
    private JPanel buttonPanel  ;
    private JButton buttons[];
    private JButton SpaceButton;
    private JButton ReturnButton;
    //setup GUI
    public Alphabet()
    super("Alphabet");
    //get content pane
    Container container = getContentPane();
    //create button array
    buttons = new JButton[122];
    //intialize buttons
    SpaceButton = new JButton ("Space");
    ReturnButton = new JButton ("Return");
    //setup panel and set its layout
    buttonPanel = new JPanel();
    buttonPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout (7,buttons.length));
    //create text area
    JTextArea TextArea = new JTextArea ();
   TextArea.setEditable(false);
   container.add(TextArea, BorderLayout.CENTER);
   // set a nice titled border around the TextArea
    TextArea.setBorder(
      BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Your Text is Displayed Here"));
  //create and add buttons
    for (int count = 96; count <buttons.length; count++ ) {
    buttons[count] = new JButton( ""+ (char)(count +1 ));
    buttonPanel.add(buttons [count]);
    ButtonHandler handler = new ButtonHandler();
    buttons[count].addActionListener(handler);
    buttonPanel.add(SpaceButton);
   buttonPanel.add(ReturnButton);
   ReturnButton.setToolTipText( "Press to Display Sentence" ); 
     container.add(buttonPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
    // set a nice titled border around the ButtonPanel
    buttonPanel.setBorder(
      BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Click inside this Panel"));
        // create an instance of inner class ButtonHandler
          // to use for button event handling              
          ButtonHandler handler = new ButtonHandler(); 
          ReturnButton.addActionListener(handler);
        setSize (625,550);
        setVisible(true);
}// end constructor Alphabet
public static void main (String args[])
    Alphabet application = new Alphabet();
    application.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
// inner class for button event handling
     private class ButtonHandler implements ActionListener {
          // handle button event
         public void actionPerformed( ActionEvent event )
             JOptionPane.showMessageDialog( Alphabet.this,
                "You pressed: " + event.getActionCommand() );
}//END CLASS ALPHABET

Answer 1

import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Alphabet extends JFrame
private JPanel buttonPanel ;
private JButton buttons[];
private JButton SpaceButton;
private JButton ReturnButton;
JTextArea TextArea;
String str="";String stt="";
//setup GUI
public Alphabet()
super("Alphabet");
//get content pane
Container container = getContentPane();
//create button array
buttons = new JButton[122];
//intialize buttons
SpaceButton = new JButton ("Space");
ReturnButton = new JButton ("Return");
//setup panel and set its layout
buttonPanel = new JPanel();
buttonPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout (7,buttons.length));
//create text area
TextArea = new JTextArea ();
TextArea.setEditable(false);
container.add(TextArea, BorderLayout.CENTER);
// set a nice titled border around the TextArea
TextArea.setBorder(
BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Your Text is Displayed Here"));
//create and add buttons
for (int count = 96; count <buttons.length; count++ ) {
buttons[count] = new JButton( ""+ (char)(count +1 ));
buttonPanel.add(buttons [count]);
ButtonHandler handler = new ButtonHandler();
buttons[count].addActionListener(handler);
buttonPanel.add(SpaceButton);
buttonPanel.add(ReturnButton);
ReturnButton.setToolTipText( "Press to Display Sentence" );
container.add(buttonPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
// set a nice titled border around the ButtonPanel
buttonPanel.setBorder(
BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Click inside this Panel"));
// create an instance of inner class ButtonHandler
// to use for button event handling
ButtonHandler handler = new ButtonHandler();
ReturnButton.addActionListener(handler);
SpaceButton.addActionListener(handler);
setSize (625,550);
setVisible(true);
}// end constructor Alphabet
public static void main (String args[])
Alphabet application = new Alphabet();
application.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
// inner class for button event handling
private class ButtonHandler implements ActionListener {
// handle button event
public void actionPerformed( ActionEvent event )
          if((event.getActionCommand()).equals("Space")){
               TextArea.setText(event.getActionCommand());
               str+=" ";
               //TextArea.append(" ");
          else if((event.getActionCommand()).equals("Return")){
               stt+=str;
               stt+="\n";
               str="";
               TextArea.setText(stt);
               //TextArea.append(str);
               //TextArea.append("\n");
          else {
               TextArea.setText(event.getActionCommand());
               str+=event.getActionCommand();
               //TextArea.append(event.getActionCommand());
}//END CLASS ALPHABET
Ok?