How to make Enter key and Submit button have same ActionEvent?

Question

So I have a Submit button with an ActionEvent that consists of around 50 lines of code. How would I assign the exact same ActionEvent for the JFrame as the Submit button whenever it detects the Enter key being pressed? This is what my Submit button's ActionEvent looks like

        btnSubmit.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
             // miscellaneous code that needs to be repeated for 'Enter' key press
           }
        });

What and where would the code for giving the JFrame the same ActionEvent as the Submit button go?

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5344823/how-can-i-listen-for-key-presses-within-java-swing-across-all-components — jheimbouch, Feb 09 '16 at 03:24

MadProgrammer · Answer 1 · 2016-02-09T22:24:17.423

Start by taking a look at How to Use Root Panes and in particular JRootPane#setDefaultButton

When you have components which may consume the Enter key (like text fields), you might need to consider using the key bindings API

InputMap im = getInputMap(WHEN_IN_FOCUSED_WINDOW);
ActionMap am = getActionMap();

im.put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_ENTER, 0), "Enter.pressed");
am.put("Enter.pressed", new AbstractAction() {
    @Override
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
        btnSubmit.doClick();
    }
});

Now, about now, I might consider making an Action which be applied to both the JButton and key binding

Have a look at How to Use Key Bindings and How to Use Actions for more details

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 09 '16 at 03:35

0

I don't know if there's a more correct swing way, but this should do the trick:

ActionListener listener = new ActionListener() {
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
        //...
    }
}
btnSubmit.addActionListener(listener);
btnEnter.addActionListener(listener);

answered Feb 09 '16 at 03:35

shmosel

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Enter as in the Enter key on the keyboard. Not an Enter JButton. – btrballin Feb 09 '16 at 03:41
@btrballin might be worth mentioning that in your post :) – shmosel Feb 09 '16 at 03:42
It looks like my description says Enter button but the title says Enter key. – btrballin Feb 09 '16 at 03:44
@btrballin, yep, see that now. – shmosel Feb 09 '16 at 03:45
Can you please update your answer so that it is for the Enter *key* and not an Enter *button*? – btrballin Feb 09 '16 at 03:46
1

@btrballin, I don't have an answer as I'm not familiar with Swing. Though I suspect it would look quite similar. I can delete this answer if you'd like. – shmosel Feb 09 '16 at 03:47
No Worries. I figured out a way where I create a KeyListener and use `btnSubmit.doClick()` within the `KeyPressed()`method to make it auto-click the submit button whenever the Enter key is pressed. – btrballin Feb 09 '16 at 04:03

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 09 '16 at 04:35

0

One way to do this is to use the .doClick() method on the Submit button and create a KeyAdapter:

    KeyAdapter Enter = new KeyAdapter(){
        @Override
        public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) {
            if(e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_ENTER){
                btnSubmit.doClick();
            }
        }
    };
    txtField1.addKeyListener(Enter);
    txtField2.addKeyListener(Enter);

answered Feb 09 '16 at 04:35

btrballin

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So, unless the component which the `KeyListener` is registered to has focus, a `KeyListener` won't work. As a general rule of thumb, you should avoid using `KeyListener` with text components. There are also simpler and easier ways to achieve the same result (rather than having to register a `KeyListener` to dozens of components) – MadProgrammer Feb 09 '16 at 05:28

How to make Enter key and Submit button have same ActionEvent?

3 Answers3