Private inner classes

Question

I'm trying to complete a "turn the lightbulb on and off" program, but when I try to draw circle2 in the
ButtonListener class I get an error message cannot find symbol. This is in reference to the Graphics
variable "page" created in the paintComponent method below. Shouldn't the inner class, private or
public inherit all data variables including objects from the parent class, in this case, the Bulb class? The code is below.
By the way, this IS NOT a school assignment so any help would be appreciated. I'm just trying to learn
this language.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Bulb extends JPanel
     private JButton push;
     private Circle circle, circle2;
     private final int DIAMETER = 100;
     private final int X = 10;
     private final int Y = 10;
     public Bulb()
          circle = new Circle(DIAMETER, Color.white, X,Y);
          circle2 = new Circle(DIAMETER, Color.yellow, X, Y); // to separate class
          push = new JButton("Turn on the Bulb");
          push.addActionListener(new ButtonListener());
          add(push);
          setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 500));
          setBackground(Color.black);
     public void paintComponent(Graphics page)
          super.paintComponent(page);
          circle.draw(page);
private class ButtonListener implements ActionListener
          public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) //PROBLEM AREA. I GET ERROR MESSAGE STATING
// "CANNOT FIND SYMBOL" IN REFERENCE TO VARIABLE "PAGE."
// I THOUGHT THE INNER CLASS INHERITS ALL DATA FROM
// PARENT CLASS SUCH AS "PAGE."
               circle2.draw(page);
}

Answer 1

There are fields, which are associated with either a class or an object (and thus live in the heap in an object on the heap), and there are local variables, which are associated with methods and threads (i.e., a method invoked within a thread, and which thus live on the stack).
They're not the same thing.
You can't use a local variable in your paintComponent method in a different method.
Anyway you're designing your class wrong. Think model-view-controller. You have the model: a bunch of state and possibly behavior that represents the thing being seen, modified, and displayed. You have the view, which is how you see the model. And you have the controller, which modifies the model.
Your event handlers are part of the controller. They should change the model.
Your paintComponent method is part of the view.
So the event handlers should change some data, e.g., add a note that a circle should be displayed.
Then your paintComponent method should look at the data and act accordingly -- e.g., see that there's a circle to be displayed, and display it.