Question

I have a JFrame which looks like a typical chat box. To connect and disconnect from the server I implemented a JPopupMenu and added a MouseListener to the main window.
However the popup menu does not appear.

Various JComponents in the main window:

JTextArea within a JScrollPane

JTextField to enter the message

Send button

JScrollPane and an ArrayList to display the users

The popup is supposed to appear no matter where you right click. Be it on the JTextArea or the field to enter your message.
To which all components do I add listeners and what listener do I add ?

Code

Variables:

    private static A_Chat_Client chatClient;
    public static String userName = "Anonymous";

//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    public static JFrame mainFrame = new JFrame();
    public static JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea(30,30);
    public static JScrollPane pane = new JScrollPane(textArea);
    public static JTextField message = new JTextField(10);
    public static JButton send = new JButton("Send");

    public static JPopupMenu popup = new JPopupMenu();
    public static JMenuItem connect = new JMenuItem("Connect");
    public static JMenuItem disconnect = new JMenuItem("Disconnect");
    public static JMenuItem help = new JMenuItem("Help");

    public static JList usersOnline = new JList();
    public static JScrollPane userPane = new JScrollPane(usersOnline);  

Main method

public static void main(String[] args) {
        buildMainWindow();
        initialize();
        addListeners();
        popup.show(mainFrame, 0, 0); //forcefully popup
    }  

addListeners()

public static void addListeners(){

        mainFrame.addMouseListener(new MouseHandler());

        send.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
                actionSend();
            }
        });
        connect.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
                actionConnect();
            }
        });
        disconnect.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
                actionDisconnect();
            }
        });
        help.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
                actionHelp();
            }
        });
    }  

class MouseHandler

private static class MouseHandler extends MouseAdapter{
        @Override
        public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e){
            if(e.isPopupTrigger()){
                popup.show(mainFrame, e.getX(), e.getY());
            }
        }
    }

Answer 1

You could attach an AWTEventListener to the main event queue using Toolkit#addAWTEventListener

You would then need to check the type of event your are receiving and check to see if it’s popup event.

public class TestGlobalPopup {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new TestGlobalPopup();
    }

    public TestGlobalPopup() {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                try {
                    UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
                } catch (ClassNotFoundException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException | UnsupportedLookAndFeelException ex) {
                }

                JFrame frame = new JFrame();
                frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
                frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
                frame.add(new TestPane());
                frame.pack();
                frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
                frame.setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }

    public class TestPane extends JPanel {

        public TestPane() {
            Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().addAWTEventListener(new AWTEventListener() {
                @Override
                public void eventDispatched(AWTEvent event) {
                    if (event instanceof MouseEvent) {
                        MouseEvent me = (MouseEvent) event;
                        if (me.isPopupTrigger()) {
                            Component component = me.getComponent();
                            JPopupMenu popup = new JPopupMenu();
                            popup.add(new JLabel("Clicked on " + component.getClass().getName()));
                            popup.show(component, me.getX(), me.getY());
                        }
                    }
                }
            }, AWTEvent.MOUSE_EVENT_MASK);

            setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
            GridBagConstraints gbc = new GridBagConstraints();
            gbc.gridx = 0;
            gbc.gridy = 0;
            add(new JLabel("Label: "), gbc);
            gbc.gridx++;
            add(new JTextField(10), gbc);

            gbc.gridy++;
            gbc.gridx = 0;
            gbc.gridwidth = 2;
            add(new JScrollPane(new JTextArea(5, 20)), gbc);
        }

    }

}