implementing a copy/paste action in java

Question

Im having some issues getting the copy and paste methods from JTextComponent working

for my program i have an array of strings that will be the menu choices. "Copy" and "Paste" are two of these.

 else if (e.getActionCommand().equalsIgnoreCase("Copy"))
            {
                JTextArea a = new JTextArea();
                a.setEditable(true);
                a.copy();
            }
            else if (e.getActionCommand().equalsIgnoreCase("Paste"))
            {
               JTextArea a = new JTextArea();
                a.setEditable(true);
                 a.getSelectedText();
                 a.paste();
            }

im getting no error messages but its not working. any help would be appreciated

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 04 '13 at 04:35

You're creating a new instance of JTextArea each time your want to perform an action.

These won't represent what is actually on the screen. Instead, interact with a instance variable or pass the instance of the JTextArea that is on the screen in as a parameter

JNL · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-04T05:02:09.610

0

You are declaring a local object whose scope is limited only in an if condition:

            else if (e.getActionCommand().equalsIgnoreCase("Copy"))
            {
                JTextArea a = new JTextArea();    // CREATING A NEW OBJECT
                a.setEditable(true);
                a.copy();
            }                // AS Soon as the code comes HERE THE Instance IS LOST with the data

Declare;

 JTextArea a = new JTextArea();  outside the if condition, maybe in the class before main(){}
 Create an private instance variable of the same.

Hope this helps. Let me know, if you have any questions.

class TEST{
         public JTextArea a = new JTextArea();   

          TEST objectOfTEST = new TEST():
          publis static String someText = "";

         public static void main(String[] args){

               if(e.getActionCommand().equalsIgnoreCase("Copy")){
                   someText = objectOfTEST.a.getText();
               }
               else if(e.getActionCommand().equalsIgnoreCase("Paste")){
                   // PERFORM SOME OPERATION
                   someText = "Paste this";
                   objectOfTEST.a.setText("Some TEXT that you want to set here");
               }
         }
}

edited Aug 04 '13 at 05:02

answered Aug 04 '13 at 04:37

JNL

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i created a instance variable of JTextArea and also stated JtextArea a = new JTextArea(); outside of the if statement but now i am having some trouble figuring out what operation to perform inside of the esle ifs.... – HologramWolf Aug 04 '13 at 04:51
What do you mean by difficulty? – JNL Aug 04 '13 at 04:57
I have edited the answer. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have questions or if the answer helped you. – JNL Aug 04 '13 at 05:02
i havent gotten it to work yet but thank you very much for the help. – HologramWolf Aug 04 '13 at 05:08
The above answer should solve the question asked by you. If you have other issue. Just try to debug it or post another question if you don't find the solution after trying. – JNL Aug 04 '13 at 05:16

implementing a copy/paste action in java

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