Mnemonics in JDialog

[Cameron Miller]

Hi everyone.
I am working on a JDialog for an application I am developing. I want to use mnemonics with my buttons but without having to press Alt for them to come up. Does anyone have a solution to this?
(I would use a KeyListener but I want the letter on the button underlined as well, without pressing Alt)

Here is my code so far (code involving the buttons anyway)...

public class NewGameDialog extends JDialog implements ActionListener{
	
	JButton okButton = new JButton("OK");
	JButton cancelButton = new JButton("Cancel");
	
	public NewGameDialog(){
		
		setSize(300, 300);
		setLocation(200, 200);
		setLayout(null);
		
		okButton.addActionListener(this);
		okButton.setBounds(15, 150, 120, 25);
		add(okButton);
		getRootPane().setDefaultButton(okButton);
		okButton.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_O);
		
		cancelButton.addActionListener(this);
		cancelButton.setBounds(145, 150, 120, 25);
		add(cancelButton);
		cancelButton.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_C);
		
		setModal(true);
		setVisible(true);
	}
	
	public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
		//...
	}
	
	public static void main(String[] args){
		try {UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
	    } catch (Exception e){}
		NewGameDialog dialog = new NewGameDialog();
	}

[Nam Ha Minh]

Hi folk, I am afraid that you cannot change the way mnemonics work, as it always associate with the Alt key.
If you really want to use one key, consider using hot key.

[Rob Camick]

but I want the letter on the button underlined as well, without pressing Alt)

Pressing the Alt is a well defined standard for invoking a button. MS and other companies have spend millions of dollars developing a common UI for Users to use and understand. I don't know why you would try to change this practice.

I would use a KeyListener

Using a KeyListener is not the proper way to attempt to do this. If you really want to go againt all conventions then instead you need to use Key Bindings. Read the section from the Swing tutorial on How To Use Key Bindings. Then it would be a 2 step process:

1) You still have to do what you are doing, that is set the mnemonic so that the letter is underlined
2) Create the key binding using the same Action.

Now the user will have the choice of using either approach.