ActionListener for menuItem is not working with label

[vinoth vino]

I've designed a code with some menuItem. In that i m planning to prompt label as "Hey Programmer" in window while clicking Open(menuItem)

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
class NewClass extends Frame implements ActionListener{
MenuBar mb;
Menu m;
MenuItem exit;
MenuItem New;
MenuItem Open;
MenuItem Save;
Label lb;
public NewClass(){
createAndShowGUI();
}
private void createAndShowGUI(){
setTitle("Welcome to MenuItem");
//Creating menu, MenuItem, MenuBar
mb = new MenuBar();
m = new Menu("menu");
exit = new MenuItem("Exit");
New = new MenuItem("New");
Open = new MenuItem("Open");
Save = new MenuItem("Save");
lb = new Label();
//adding actionListener to exit(menuItem)
exit.addActionListener(this);
//Adding one into one
m.add(New);
m.add(Open);
m.add(Save);
m.add(exit);
mb.add(m);
//Set properties of Frames
setMenuBar(mb);
//Setting frame window size and visiblity
setSize(400,400);
setVisible(true);
//Adding actionListener to Open(menuItem)
Open.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
lb.setText("Hey Programmer");
}
});
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
System.exit(0);
}
public static void main(String args[]){
new NewClass();
}
}

But for me it show's nothing when clicking Open(menuItem) What is the issue with this code?
If i click exit(menuItem) it works fine Please anyone assist me. I would be very grateful for any help you are able to provide.

[Rob Camick]

1. Why are you spending time learning AWT? Your time would be better spend learning Swing: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/TOC.html

2. Variable names should NOT start with upper case characters. Some of your variables are correct, others are not. Be consistent and follow Java conventions!!!

3. Did you add the label to the frame?

[Campbell Ritchie]

It works a lot better if you actually add the label to the GUI.

All sorts of other things wrong, I am afraid.

Don't use Frame or Label Use Swing components throughout, not AWT.

Don't make a display component implement action listener. You used an anonymous class for one listener, why not use the same for the others? In Java8 you can go one better and use a λ instead:-
openItem.addActionListener(evt -> myLabel.setText("vino for ever!"));
More elegant isn't it.

Give all fields private access. I think most of those components should not be fields in the first place, but local variables in the set GUI method. You will probably have to mark the label as final.

Dreadful names for things. NewClass is the worst. The only way you could make that worse is by starting it with n rather than N.

But you will see the text if you write
add(lb);
before the setVisible call.

Once you start adding more components you will have to find a suitable layout, too.

[Campbell Ritchie]

 

Rob Camick wrote: . . .
3. Did you add the label to the frame?

Yes, I did. But VV didn't.

[vinoth vino]

 

Campbell Ritchie wrote:It works a lot better if you actually add the label to the GUI.

All sorts of other things wrong, I am afraid.

Don't use Frame or Label Use Swing components throughout, not AWT.

Don't make a display component implement action listener. You used an anonymous class for one listener, why not use the same for the others? In Java8 you can go one better and use a λ instead:-
openItem.addActionListener(evt -> myLabel.setText("vino for ever!"));
More elegant isn't it.

Give all fields private access. I think most of those components should not be fields in the first place, but local variables in the set GUI method. You will probably have to mark the label as final.

Dreadful names for things. NewClass is the worst. The only way you could make that worse is by starting it with n rather than N.

But you will see the text if you write
add(lb);
before the setVisible call.

Once you start adding more components you will have to find a suitable layout, too.

Yeah, You are right after adding label into Frame it works fine Thanks a lot

[vinoth vino]

 

Rob Camick wrote:1. Why are you spending time learning AWT? Your time would be better spend learning Swing: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/TOC.html

2. Variable names should NOT start with upper case characters. Some of your variables are correct, others are not. Be consistent and follow Java conventions!!!

3. Did you add the label to the frame?

Thankssss and Why ? AWT is not good? Now i m step into Event Handling bro. So in some sites they written event handling concept in AWT only. Thats why i did with AWT. Still now i didn't studied about Swing concepts.
Can you please explain me ? what is the exact difference between AWT and Swing?

[Rob Camick]

 

AWT is not good?

Swing replaced AWT over 10 years ago.

Now i m step into Event Handling bro.

Event handling is the same in Swing and AWT.

what is the exact difference between AWT and Swing?

Swing was designed to replace AWT 15 years ago and the API has been improved over the years. Look at the tutorial link I gave you. Maybe the section on "How to Use Labels" or "How to Write an ActionListener".

So in some sites they written event handling concept in AWT only

They are all old tutorials.

[vinoth vino]

 

Rob Camick wrote:

AWT is not good?

Swing replaced AWT over 10 years ago.

Now i m step into Event Handling bro.

Event handling is the same in Swing and AWT.

what is the exact difference between AWT and Swing?

Swing was designed to replace AWT 15 years ago and the API has been improved over the years. Look at the tutorial link I gave you. Maybe the section on "How to Use Labels" or "How to Write an ActionListener".

So in some sites they written event handling concept in AWT only

They are all old tutorials.

Thanks for your valuable Suggestions Gonna learn SWING
What is createAndShowGUI() method ? what is the purpose of using this? @Rob Camick

[Campbell Ritchie]

 

vinoth vino wrote: . . . Gonna learn SWING

Don't.
If you haven't learnt any GUI frameworks, yet, forget all about Swing. Learn JavaFX which is better and is intended to replace Swing within a few years.

What is createAndShowGUI() method ? what is the purpose of using this? @Rob Camick

Its meaning is what it sounds like. It creates and shows a GUI. You can set up all the GUI in the constructor instead if you wish.

[Brian Cole]

 

vinoth vino wrote:
What is createAndShowGUI() method ? what is the purpose of using this?

"createAndShowGUI" is just a method method name. You could have called it "fuzzyBunny" and your code would work the same.

Or you could copy the method body into the constructor. But the reason that's not a good idea, and why many programs contain createAndShowGUI() methods, is that instead of calling it directly from the constructor it is somewhat more proper to call SwingUtilities.invokeLater( () -> createAndShowGUI() ).