When to call requestFocus()?

Question

I have a panel with some JTextFields and I want to focus to one of them. I know that calls to java.awt.Component's requestFocus() function only work if the Component is already displayed.
My question is, when is the best time to call requestFocus()?
Should I explicitly figure out when this is getting drawn, and then drill back down to my panel to call requestFocus() on the field, or perhaps just hack and override the paint method of the panel like this?
    public void paint (Graphics g)
        super.paint(g);
        myTextField.requestFocus();
    }Any ideas?

Answer 1

* Focus_Test.java
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Focus_Test extends JFrame {
    public Focus_Test() {
        initComponents();
        setVisible(true);
        jTextField2.requestFocus();
        getRootPane().setDefaultButton(jButton1);
    private void initComponents() {
        jTextArea1 = new JTextArea();
        jPanel2 = new JPanel();
        jPanel1 = new JPanel();
        jLabel1 = new JLabel();
        jTextField1 = new JTextField();
        jLabel2 = new JLabel();
        jTextField4 = new JTextField();
        jLabel3 = new JLabel();
        jTextField2 = new JTextField();
        jLabel4 = new JLabel();
        jTextField5 = new JTextField();
        jLabel5 = new JLabel();
        jTextField3 = new JTextField();
        jLabel6 = new JLabel();
        jTextField6 = new JTextField();
        jButton1 = new JButton();
        setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setTitle("Focus Test (2)");
        jTextArea1.setBackground(new Color(255, 255, 204));
        jTextArea1.setEditable(false);
        jTextArea1.setText("Hit the Tab/Enter key and watch the Caret postition.");
        jTextArea1.setFocusable(false);
        getContentPane().add(jTextArea1, BorderLayout.NORTH);
        jPanel2.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
        jPanel1.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(260, 105));
        jLabel1.setText("1 : ");
        jPanel1.add(jLabel1);
        jTextField1.setNextFocusableComponent(jTextField2);
        jTextField1.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 19));
        jPanel1.add(jTextField1);
        jLabel2.setText("4 : ");
        jPanel1.add(jLabel2);
        jTextField4.setNextFocusableComponent(jTextField5);
        jTextField4.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 19));
        jPanel1.add(jTextField4);
        jLabel3.setText("2 : ");
        jPanel1.add(jLabel3);
        jTextField2.setNextFocusableComponent(jTextField3);
        jTextField2.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 19));
        jPanel1.add(jTextField2);
        jLabel4.setText("5 : ");
        jPanel1.add(jLabel4);
        jTextField5.setNextFocusableComponent(jTextField6);
        jTextField5.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 19));
        jPanel1.add(jTextField5);
        jLabel5.setText("3 : ");
        jPanel1.add(jLabel5);
        jTextField3.setNextFocusableComponent(jTextField4);
        jTextField3.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 19));
        jPanel1.add(jTextField3);
        jLabel6.setText("6 : ");
        jPanel1.add(jLabel6);
        jTextField6.setNextFocusableComponent(jTextField1);
        jTextField6.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 19));
        jPanel1.add(jTextField6);
        jButton1.setText("OK");
        jButton1.setFocusable(false);
        jButton1.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
                jButton1ActionPerformed(evt);
        jPanel1.add(jButton1);
        jPanel2.add(jPanel1, new GridBagConstraints());
        getContentPane().add(jPanel2, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        Dimension screenSize = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize();
        setBounds((screenSize.width-415)/2, (screenSize.height-182)/2, 415, 182);
    private void jButton1ActionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
        if( jTextField1.hasFocus() ){
            jTextField2.requestFocus();
        }else if( jTextField2.hasFocus() ){
            jTextField3.requestFocus();
        }else if( jTextField3.hasFocus() ){
            jTextField4.requestFocus();
        }else if( jTextField4.hasFocus() ){
            jTextField5.requestFocus();
        }else if( jTextField5.hasFocus() ){
            jTextField6.requestFocus();
        }else {
            jTextField1.requestFocus();
    public static void main(String args[]) {
         new Focus_Test();
    private JButton jButton1;
    private JLabel jLabel1;
    private JLabel jLabel2;
    private JLabel jLabel3;
    private JLabel jLabel4;
    private JLabel jLabel5;
    private JLabel jLabel6;
    private JPanel jPanel1;
    private JPanel jPanel2;
    private JTextArea jTextArea1;
    private JTextField jTextField1;
    private JTextField jTextField2;
    private JTextField jTextField3;
    private JTextField jTextField4;
    private JTextField jTextField5;
    private JTextField jTextField6;
}