Problem with JButtons Text field not updating

Question

Im working on a program (which has its full code included below incase its part of the problem) which wants to change a Jbutton's name during a program. The way I'm trying to make it change is by having a string, "test", be called "before update". then have the jbuttons text equal test. then, in an actionlistener, it changes string test to equal "after update". This doesn't update the Jbuttons text.
I don't get any errors when I press the button, but the buttons name is not updating. Whats causing the buttons name not to be updated?
Thanks for help in advance.
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*; 
public class TicTac extends JFrame {
public int Teamplaying = 0;
public int CrossA, CrossB, CrossC, CrossD, CrossF, CrossG, CrossH, CrossI, CircleA, CircleB, CircleC, CircleD, CircleE, CircleF, CircleG, CircleH, CirclI, TLB, TMB, TRB, MLB, MMB, MRB, LLB, LMB, LRB = 0;
String test = "Before Update";
    public TicTac() {
         JPanel TicTac = new JPanel();
         TicTac.setLayout(new GridLayout(3,4));
              TicTac.add(new JButton(test));
              TicTac.add(new JLabel("a"));
              TicTac.add(new JLabel("a"));
              TicTac.add(new JLabel("a"));
              TicTac.add(new JLabel("a"));
              TicTac.add(new JLabel("a"));
              TicTac.add(new JLabel("a"));
              TicTac.add(new JLabel("a"));
              TicTac.add(new JLabel("a"));
              TicTac.add(new JLabel("a"));
              TicTac.add(new JLabel("a"));
              TicTac.add(new JLabel("a"));
              TicTac.add(new JLabel("a"));
              TicTac.add(new JLabel("a"));
              setContentPane(TicTac);
         pack();
         setTitle("Add Numbers Together TicTac");
         setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
         setLocationRelativeTo(null);
    class TopLeftBox implements ActionListener {
         public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
         String test = "After update";
         if (Teamplaying == 0) {
              CrossA = CrossA + 1;
              CrossD = CrossD + 1;
              CrossG = CrossG + 1;
         else {
              CircleA = CircleA + 1;
              CircleB = CircleB + 1;
     public static void main(String[]args) {
    TicTac Toe = new TicTac();
    Toe.setVisible(true);
}

Answer 1

1) Strings are immutable meaning you can't change them.
2) Even if you could, the two test strings are completely different variables.
3) To change JButton text, you should call its setText method.
4) For a JButton to perform an action on button press, it needs to have an actionlistener added to it via the addActionListener(...) method.
5) Please read, study, and review the Sun Swing tutorials. You will benefit greatly from having a solid foundation in Swing basics before you try coding in Swing.
Good luck.
Edit: a small example code (SSCCE, if you will):
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class Frame extends JFrame
    public Frame()
        JPanel panel = new JPanel();
        JButton button = new JButton("Before Update");
        button.addActionListener(new ButtonListener()); // add actionlistener here
        panel.add(button);
        setContentPane(panel);
        pack();
        setTitle("Frame");
        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setLocationRelativeTo(null);
    private class ButtonListener implements ActionListener
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
            // get the button that called this action
            JButton button = (JButton)e.getSource();
            // update the button's text
            button.setText("After update");
    public static void main(String[] args)
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
            @Override
            public void run()
                new Frame().setVisible(true);               
}Edited by: Encephalopathic on Apr 28, 2008 9:26 PM