Quick Java Question

[OrangeJuicey]

Okay first off, I've created a set of swing buttons. There are a lot of them and with names which refer to their position on the screen e.g a1-a9, b1-b9

for (int i=1;i<9;i++)
{
String name;
name = "a" + Integer.toString(i);
name.addActionListener(this);

}

so obviously i want to add ActionListener to the buttons, but i have a problem. How do i get it to use the String within name as the button name, for example here it'd be a1-a9. Do i use a map or reflection?

Secondly is there a way of creating an array of buttons. Obviously an array can only take primary types, my ultimate goal is to create a tiled grid for creating a simple connect 4 game. Instead of just creating each button individually creating them as an array using a for loop to increment button names.

My first go at creating a java game!

[BFG]

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;

public class AL extends Frame implements WindowListener,ActionListener {
TextField text = new TextField(20);
Button b;
private int numClicks = 0;

public static void main(String[] args) {
AL myWindow = new AL("My first window");
myWindow.setSize(350,100);
myWindow.setVisible(true);
}

public AL(String title) {

super(title);
setLayout(new FlowLayout());
addWindowListener(this);
b = new Button("Click me");
add(b);
add(text);
b.addActionListener(this);
}

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
numClicks++;
text.setText("Button Clicked " + numClicks + " times");
}

public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e) {
dispose();
System.exit(0);
}

public void windowOpened(WindowEvent e) {}
public void windowActivated(WindowEvent e) {}
public void windowIconified(WindowEvent e) {}
public void windowDeiconified(WindowEvent e) {}
public void windowDeactivated(WindowEvent e) {}
public void windowClosed(WindowEvent e) {}

}


http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutor...nlistener.html

decent page here to read, with examples.

[OrangeJuicey]

Okay I think you've miss understood me, I can implement the action listener no problem. What i want is to get a variable name which is stored in a string out of the string.

e.g

JButton b1 = new JButton();

String nameofButton = "b1";

then i want to do

nameofButton.addActionListener(this);

but it won't let me since this is of type string not Jbutton b1.

[Mobius]

bung them in an array then itterate over the array instead

[OrangeJuicey]

Ok, but you can't place JButtons in an array, it only accepts primitive types like Strings, Int, bool, floats, etc.. if you could provide an example of how to create an array of buttons that'd be great. I've got 2 books here and i've searched the net but making a tiled game board of buttons is proving harder than I first expected. If i figure it out i'll let people know as well incase your interested.

[canardo]

of course you can make an array of JButtons

 

JButtons[] myJButtons = new JButtons[20];

for(int i=0; i < myJButtons.length; i++)
{
      myJButtons[i] = new JButton("a"+i);
}

ps ""+i will achieve the same as Integer.toString(i);