Question

If you have a Java variable named xyz.
Then later on I define a string which has the value of the named variable I want to play with.

String x="xyz";

How do I get Java to recognise that String x as a pointer to variable xyz?

An arbitrary example:

JButton a= new JButton();

Later on …

String x="a";

I want to now say something like

JButton called string x.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(40,30));

Answer 1

In general, if you want to access a variable in this way, you have to use Reflection, which is slower and potentially dangerous.

However, since you have a very specific scenario in mind, I’d take a different approach. Why not put your buttons or other elements into a map, with keys that are strings:

Map<String, JComponent> currentComponents = new HashMap<String, JComponent>();

currentComponents.put("a", new JButton());

String x = "a";

currentComponents.get(x).setPreferredSize(new Dimension(40,30));