Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Java AWT/Swing getComponentByName(window, name)

C# offers a Controls collection, so you can access controls by name using form.Controls["controlName"]. Java/Swing does not appear to have any such functionality, but here's what I'd like to be able to do ...


    // get a button (or other component) by name
    JButton button = Awt1.getComponentByName(someOtherFrame, "jButton1");

    // do something useful with it (like toggle it's enabled state)
    button.setEnabled(!button.isEnabled());



So, you know ... here's the code to make it possible ...

import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.Window;
import java.lang.reflect.Field;

/**
 * additional utilities for working with AWT/Swing.
 * this is a single method for demo purposes.
 * recommended to be combined into a single class
 * module with other similar methods,
 * e.g. MySwingUtilities
 * 
 * @author http://javajon.blogspot.com/2013/07/java-awtswing-getcomponentbynamewindow.html
 */
public class Awt1 {

    /**
     * attempts to retrieve a component from a JFrame or JDialog using the name
     * of the private variable that NetBeans (or other IDE) created to refer to
     * it in code.
     * @param <T> Generics allow easier casting from the calling side.
     * @param window JFrame or JDialog containing component
     * @param name name of the private field variable, case sensitive
     * @return null if no match, otherwise a component.
     */
    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    static public <T extends Component> T getComponentByName(Window window, String name) {

        // loop through all of the class fields on that form
        for (Field field : window.getClass().getDeclaredFields()) {

            try {
                // let us look at private fields, please
                field.setAccessible(true);

                // compare the variable name to the name passed in
                if (name.equals(field.getName())) {

                    // get a potential match (assuming correct <T>ype)
                    final Object potentialMatch = field.get(window);

                    // cast and return the component
                    return (T) potentialMatch;
                }

            } catch (SecurityException | IllegalArgumentException 
                    | IllegalAccessException ex) {

                // ignore exceptions
            }

        }

        // no match found
        return null;
    }

}

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