Trouble with RadioButtons and booleans connection

Question

Well its weird. I am not good with radiobuttons by the way. But I made a JPanel program in netbeans which includes a RadioButton. You enter all this information with JTextFields(no problem) and then lastly I had a JButton which you click the choice you want. Then I have a JButton that takes all the information and outputs this. For the RadioButton, I first entered the usual:

    family = new JRadioButton("Family", true);
    friend = new JRadioButton("Friend");
    relative = new JRadioButton("Relative");
    friendFriend = new JRadioButton("Friend of Friend");

    ButtonGroup group = new ButtonGroup();
    group.add (friend);
    group.add (family);
    group.add (relative);
    group.add (friendFriend);

(I'm not sure if I needed a listner for the RadioButtons or not but my program still seems to "crash" no matter what).

then I had one action listner for the JButton which included all the textfields and radio buttons. But the RadioButton is the issue.

In the action listner I had: Object source = event.getSource();

        if (source == family)
            relation1 = true;
        else
            if (source == friend)
                relation2 = true;
            else
                if(source == relative)
                    relation3 = true;
                else
                    if(source == friendFriend)
                    relation4 = true;

Then I made a relation class: public class Relation { private boolean arrayFamily, arrayFriend, arrayRelative, arrayFriendFriend;

public Relation(boolean relation1, boolean relation2, boolean relation3,
        boolean relation4)
{
    this.arrayFamily = relation1;
    this.arrayFriend = relation2;
    this.arrayRelative = relation3;
    this.arrayFriendFriend = relation4;
}

public String relations ()
{
    String relationship = null;

    if(arrayFamily && !arrayFriend && !arrayRelative && !arrayFriendFriend == true)
    {
        relationship = "Family";
    }
    else
        if(arrayFriend && !arrayFamily && !arrayRelative && 
                !arrayFriendFriend == true)
        {
            relationship = "Friend";
        }
        else
            if(arrayRelative && !arrayFamily && !arrayFriend && 
                    !arrayFriendFriend == true)
            {
                relationship = "Relative";
            }
            else
                if(arrayFriendFriend && !arrayFamily && !arrayFriend &&
                        !arrayRelative == true)
                {
                    relationship = "Friend of a Friend";
                }
    return relationship;
}

}

LASTLY back in the action listner, I implementer this class:

        Relation relationship = new Relation(relation1, relation2, relation3
                , relation4);

        String arrayRelation = relationship.relations();

I lastly included arrayRelation in an array but the array worked fine.

My problem is that the output of the array for my RadioButtons keeps reading "null" (most likey because this code: String relationship = null;). I assume this means that none of my if else statements were satisfied and I really dont know why. Also important to point out is that if I click submit without clicking any radio button (the button stays on "family"), it reads null. If I click a button once it works perfectly reading the string I intended. But if I click another button afterwards and click submit again, the string goes back to "null".

I know its lengthy but I would really appreciate any help because I am lost.

P.S. some parts of my code are repetitive because I was playing around trying to fix the problem.

Answer 1

I suggest you handle your action events separately, for example:

family.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
        public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
            familyActionPerformed(evt);
        }
    });

Then implement familyActionPerformed(evt):

private void familyActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
    // every click on family radio button causes the code here to be executed
    relation1 = true;
}

Also write an event handler for the button you click, like this:

submitButtonActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
    // Here test the state of each radio button
    relation1 = family.isSelected();
    relation2 = friend.isSelected();
    relation3 = relative.isSelected();
    relation4 = friendFriend.isSelected();
}

MORE EDIT: Doing what you're doing with NetBeans should be very easy. Here are tutorials that will clear it all up for you:

1. Tutorial 1

2. Tutorial 2

---

I explain the solution again:

Using 'family' button as an example, in your constructor where you have created and initialised your GUI components do this:

JRadioButton family = new JRadioButton();
// do any other thing you want to do to this button and finally..
family.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
        public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
            familyActionPerformed(evt);
        }
    });

JButton submit = new JButton("Submit");
submit.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
        public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
            submitActionPerformed(evt);
        }
    });

Then somewhere create these methods:

private void familyActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt){
    // each time family is selected, you code processes the lines below:
    ...
}

private void submiteActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt){
    relation1 = family.isSelected();
    relation2 = friend.isSelected();
    relation3 = relative.isSelected();
    relation4 = friendFriend.isSelected();
}

Do something similar for the rest of the RadioButtons.

Answer 2

I think that you're making things way too complex for yourself. If all you want is the String of the JRadioButton pressed, then use the ButtonGroup to get it for you. It can return the ButtonModel of the selected JRadioButton (if any one was selected), and from that you can extract the actionCommand String, although you'll have to remember to set this when you create your JRadioButton.

For example:

import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import javax.swing.*;

@SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class JRadioExample extends JPanel {
   private static final String[] RADIO_TITLES = { "Family", "Friend",
         "Relative", "Friend or Relative" };
   private ButtonGroup btnGrp = new ButtonGroup();

   public JRadioExample() {
      for (int i = 0; i < RADIO_TITLES.length; i++) {
         JRadioButton rBtn = new JRadioButton(RADIO_TITLES[i]);
         rBtn.setActionCommand(RADIO_TITLES[i]); // ***** this is what needs to
                                                 // be set
         btnGrp.add(rBtn);
         add(rBtn);
      }

      add(new JButton(new BtnAction("Get Chosen Selection")));
   }

   private class BtnAction extends AbstractAction {

      public BtnAction(String name) {
         super(name);
      }

      @Override
      public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
         ButtonModel model = btnGrp.getSelection();
         if (model != null) {
            String actionCommand = model.getActionCommand();
            System.out.println("Selected Button: " + actionCommand);
         } else {
            System.out.println("No Button Selected");
         }    
      }
   }

   private static void createAndShowGui() {
      JRadioExample mainPanel = new JRadioExample();

      JFrame frame = new JFrame("JRadioExample");
      frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
      frame.getContentPane().add(mainPanel);
      frame.pack();
      frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
      frame.setVisible(true);
   }

   public static void main(String[] args) {
      SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
         public void run() {
            createAndShowGui();
         }
      });
   }
}