Using Forms to create records

Question

I've got a form application which has typical fields for data entry, ref number, name, address etc.....up to ten items.
I have a Main Menu form, four other forms, and can move between them fine.
This is a cut down example, with only one text field, of the type of form I'm using to enter data to:
package Test;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import com.borland.jbcl.control.*;
public class Frame1 extends JFrame {
Button button1 = new Button();
Label label1 = new Label();
TextField textField1 = new TextField();
Filer filer1 = new Filer();
//Construct the frame
public Frame1() {
enableEvents(AWTEvent.WINDOW_EVENT_MASK);
try {
jbInit();
catch(Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
//Component initialization
private void jbInit() throws Exception {
button1.setBounds(new Rectangle(136, 202, 133, 45));
button1.setLabel("a button");
button1.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
button1_actionPerformed(e);
this.getContentPane().setLayout(null);
this.setSize(new Dimension(400, 300));
this.setTitle("Form Test");
label1.setBounds(new Rectangle(18, 10, 111, 37));
label1.setAlignment(2);
label1.setText("a text field");
textField1.setBounds(new Rectangle(166, 13, 109, 23));
textField1.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
filer1.setDirectory("c:\\");
filer1.setFrame(this);
this.getContentPane().add(label1, null);
this.getContentPane().add(textField1, null);
this.getContentPane().add(button1, null);
//Overridden so we can exit on System Close
protected void processWindowEvent(WindowEvent e) {
super.processWindowEvent(e);
if(e.getID() == WindowEvent.WINDOW_CLOSING) {
System.exit(0);
void button1_actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
Frame2 myFrame = new Frame2();
myFrame.show();
I'd like to be able to enter the data, save individual records to disk, and access them individually. I've been trying to implement
'Serialize' but with no success so far. I'd be most grateful for any advice on how to save the individual records without implementing a database. I'm using applications for all the forms. To get me started, I'd be happy just to be able to enter something in the example form's text field, save it, and display it again.
Many Thanks

Answer 1

Create an class with attributes to represent the data you want to save (see Person below)
When you want to the contents of the form (i'm assuming here a form with two JTextField on it for the names) create a new Person object using the data from the form.
As Person is Serializable you can save it to a file using an ObjectOutputStream (see java.io).
You will then also be able to create Person objects by reading them back from file with an ObjectInputStream and setting data in the form by calling the accessor methods in the Person class.
Hope this helps.
public class Person implements Serializable
   private String forename;
   private String lastname;
   public Person(String forename, String lastname)
       this.forename = forename;
       this.surname = surname;
   // accessor methods
   public String getLastname { return lastname; }
   public String getForename { return surname; }
}