Question

This is my first time doing gui programming with java swing n co so I need some advice. I am currently adding functionality to buttons by setting action commands on the buttons. I then listen on the container for actions like below:

    colorButton.setText("Select Color");
    colorButton.setFocusable(false);
    colorButton.setHorizontalTextPosition(javax.swing.SwingConstants.CENTER);
    colorButton.setVerticalTextPosition(javax.swing.SwingConstants.BOTTOM);
    jToolBar1.add(colorButton);
    jToolBar1.add(jSeparator1);
    colorButton.setActionCommand("selectColor");
    colorButton.addActionListener(this);

I then check for which component a performed action was performed on using snippet like below:

else if("selectColor".equals(e.getActionCommand())) {
        Color c = JColorChooser.showDialog(this, "Select Color", Color.GREEN);
        if (selectedShape != null) {
            undoStack.add(copyOf(model.getAllShapes()));
            model.setShapeColor(selectedShape, c);  
        }
        else{
            defaultColor = c;
        }
    }

I just want to know if this is good or bad practice?

Answer 1

What I would usually do is use an anonymous class, e.g.

JButton button = new JButton("BUTTON");  

button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {  
  public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event ) {  
    // do relevant stuff
  }  
});  

EDIT: MadProgrammer’s comment (above) sums up your options nicely. This might indeed not be the best approach for ‘longer’ methods, but for simple ones it’s nice and clear imho.