Java- How to add more textfields by clicking a button?

Question

I have created a frame in Java which has some textfields and buttons in it. Assuming that user wants more textfields (for example to add more data), I want to put a button and when a user clicks the button, then a new textfield should appear. then user can fill data in it and again by clicking that button another textfield should appear. How can I do this ? What code I need to write for the button to show more and more text fields by clicking button? Thank you !

Answer 1

It would be wise that instead of adding components to your JFrame directly, you add them to a JPanel. Though related to your problem, have a look at this small example, hopefully might be able to give you some hint, else ask me what is out of bounds.

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class JFrameExample
{   
    private JFrame frame;
    private JButton button;
    private JTextField tfield;
    private String nameTField;
    private int count;

    public JFrameExample()
    {
        nameTField = "tField";
        count = 0;
    }

    private void displayGUI()
    {
        frame = new JFrame("JFrame Example");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setLayout(new GridLayout(0, 1, 2, 2));
        button = new JButton("Add JTextField");
        button.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
        {
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
            {
                tfield = new JTextField();
                tfield.setName(nameTField + count);
                count++;
                frame.add(tfield);
                frame.revalidate();  // For JDK 1.7 or above.
                //frame.getContentPane().revalidate(); // For JDK 1.6 or below.
                frame.repaint();
            }
        });
        frame.add(button);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String... args)
    {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
        {
            @Override
            public void run()
            {
                new JFrameExample().displayGUI();
            }
        });
    }
}

Answer 2

Supposing that you have a main container called panel and a button variable button which is already added to panel, you can do:

// handle the button action event
button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
  public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
    // create the new text field
    JTextField newTextField = new JTextField();
    // add it to the container
    panel.add(newTextField);
    panel.validate();
    panel.repaint();
  }
});

When adding the new text field, you may need to mention some layout related characteristics, depending on the layout manager you are using (for instance if you use GridBagLayout, you will need to specify the constraints).