Combo Box

[lbgladson]

I am trying to use a combo box to change the background color. I have the following code but it is not working correctly. The combo box is there with the three choices but the choices are not changing the color of the background.

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.GridLayout;

import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JComboBox;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;

public class ColorViewerComboBox extends JFrame
{

	
	private JLabel sampleField;
	private JComboBox colornameCombo;
	private ActionListener listener;
	private static final int FRAME_WIDTH = 300;
	private static final int FRAME_HEIGHT = 400;
	
	public ColorViewerComboBox()
	{
		sampleField = new JLabel();
		add(sampleField, BorderLayout.CENTER);
	
	class ColorListener implements ActionListener
	{
		public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
		{
			setSampleColor();
		}
	}
		
		ActionListener listener = new ColorListener();
		createControlPanel();
		setSampleColor();
		setSize(FRAME_WIDTH, FRAME_HEIGHT);
	}
	

	public void createControlPanel()
	{
		JPanel colornamePanel = createComboBox();
		
		JPanel controlPanel = new JPanel();
		controlPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(3,1));
		controlPanel.add(colornamePanel);
			
		add(controlPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
    }
	
	public JPanel createComboBox()
	{
		colornameCombo = new JComboBox();

		colornameCombo.addItem("Red");
		colornameCombo.addItem("Green");
		colornameCombo.addItem("Blue");
		colornameCombo.setEditable(true);
		colornameCombo.addActionListener(listener);
		
		JPanel panel = new JPanel();
		panel.add(colornameCombo);
		return panel;
	}
	
	public void setSampleColor()
	{
		String colorname = (String) colornameCombo.getSelectedItem();
		
		sampleField.setColor(new Color(colorname));
		sampleField.repaint();
	}
}

[Ezzaral]

Check the scope of your 'listener' variable where you are initializing it. Your listener is not being called at all.

After that is corrected, you need to figure out how to specify the color, because there is no Color constructor for the name of the color.

[lbgladson]

So I have this but it's still not working correctly and I have no idea what to do. I have tried many different things but none of them work.

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.GridLayout; 
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JComboBox;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent; 

public class ColorViewerComboBox extends JFrame
{  	
	private JLabel sampleField;	
	private JComboBox colornameCombo;	
	private ActionListener listener;	
	private JPanel colorPanel;
	
	private static final int FRAME_WIDTH = 300;	
	private static final int FRAME_HEIGHT = 400; 
	
	
	public ColorViewerComboBox()
	{		
		sampleField = new JLabel();	
		add(sampleField, BorderLayout.CENTER); 
		
		class ColorListener implements ActionListener
		{		
			public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)	
			{		
				int index = colornameCombo.getSelectedIndex();
			        
					       if(index == 0)
					       {
					        colorPanel.setBackground(Color.RED); //
					       }
					        else if(index == 1)
					        {
					            colorPanel.setBackground(Color.GREEN);
					                    }
					        else if(index == 2)
					        {
					            colorPanel.setBackground(Color.BLUE);
				                                 
		         }
				setSampleColor();	
			}	
		} 	
		
		ActionListener listener = new ColorListener();		
		
		createControlPanel();		
		setSampleColor();		
		
		setSize(FRAME_WIDTH, FRAME_HEIGHT);
	}  
	
	public void createControlPanel()	
	{		
		JPanel colornamePanel = createComboBox(); 		
		JPanel controlPanel = new JPanel();	
		controlPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(3,1));	
		controlPanel.add(colornamePanel); 	
		add(controlPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH); 
	} 	
	
	public JPanel createComboBox()	
	{	
		colornameCombo = new JComboBox(); 	
		
		colornameCombo.addItem("Red");	
		colornameCombo.addItem("Green");	
		colornameCombo.addItem("Blue");		
		colornameCombo.setEditable(true);	
		
		colornameCombo.addActionListener(listener); 
		
		JPanel panel = new JPanel();	
		
		panel.add(colornameCombo);	
		return panel;	
	} 	
	
	public void setSampleColor()	
	{		
		String colorname = (String) colornameCombo.getSelectedItem(); 	
		
		sampleField.repaint();
	}
}

[zeroliken]

One thing I notice is that you dont have a main method
Is this on purpose?

public static void main(String[] args){
//...
}

[Ezzaral]

As I said in my previous post: mind the scope of your "listener" variable. The one that you are creating on line 50 is only in scope in that method.