Value Change Listener to JTextField

Solution 1:

Add a listener to the underlying Document, which is automatically created for you.

// Listen for changes in the text
textField.getDocument().addDocumentListener(new DocumentListener() {
  public void changedUpdate(DocumentEvent e) {
    warn();
  }
  public void removeUpdate(DocumentEvent e) {
    warn();
  }
  public void insertUpdate(DocumentEvent e) {
    warn();
  }

  public void warn() {
     if (Integer.parseInt(textField.getText())<=0){
       JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,
          "Error: Please enter number bigger than 0", "Error Message",
          JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
     }
  }
});

Solution 2:

The usual answer to this is "use a DocumentListener". However, I always find that interface cumbersome. Truthfully the interface is over-engineered. It has three methods, for insertion, removal, and replacement of text, when it only needs one method: replacement. (An insertion can be viewed as a replacement of no text with some text, and a removal can be viewed as a replacement of some text with no text.)

Usually all you want is to know is when the text in the box has changed, so a typical DocumentListener implementation has the three methods calling one method.

Therefore I made the following utility method, which lets you use a simpler ChangeListener rather than a DocumentListener. (It uses Java 8's lambda syntax, but you can adapt it for old Java if needed.)

/**
 * Installs a listener to receive notification when the text of any
 * {@code JTextComponent} is changed. Internally, it installs a
 * {@link DocumentListener} on the text component's {@link Document},
 * and a {@link PropertyChangeListener} on the text component to detect
 * if the {@code Document} itself is replaced.
 * 
 * @param text any text component, such as a {@link JTextField}
 *        or {@link JTextArea}
 * @param changeListener a listener to receieve {@link ChangeEvent}s
 *        when the text is changed; the source object for the events
 *        will be the text component
 * @throws NullPointerException if either parameter is null
 */
public static void addChangeListener(JTextComponent text, ChangeListener changeListener) {
    Objects.requireNonNull(text);
    Objects.requireNonNull(changeListener);
    DocumentListener dl = new DocumentListener() {
        private int lastChange = 0, lastNotifiedChange = 0;

        @Override
        public void insertUpdate(DocumentEvent e) {
            changedUpdate(e);
        }

        @Override
        public void removeUpdate(DocumentEvent e) {
            changedUpdate(e);
        }

        @Override
        public void changedUpdate(DocumentEvent e) {
            lastChange++;
            SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> {
                if (lastNotifiedChange != lastChange) {
                    lastNotifiedChange = lastChange;
                    changeListener.stateChanged(new ChangeEvent(text));
                }
            });
        }
    };
    text.addPropertyChangeListener("document", (PropertyChangeEvent e) -> {
        Document d1 = (Document)e.getOldValue();
        Document d2 = (Document)e.getNewValue();
        if (d1 != null) d1.removeDocumentListener(dl);
        if (d2 != null) d2.addDocumentListener(dl);
        dl.changedUpdate(null);
    });
    Document d = text.getDocument();
    if (d != null) d.addDocumentListener(dl);
}

Unlike with adding a listener directly to the document, this handles the (uncommon) case that you install a new document object on a text component. Additionally, it works around the problem mentioned in Jean-Marc Astesana's answer, where the document sometimes fires more events than it needs to.

Anyway, this method lets you replace annoying code which looks like this:

someTextBox.getDocument().addDocumentListener(new DocumentListener() {
    @Override
    public void insertUpdate(DocumentEvent e) {
        doSomething();
    }

    @Override
    public void removeUpdate(DocumentEvent e) {
        doSomething();
    }

    @Override
    public void changedUpdate(DocumentEvent e) {
        doSomething();
    }
});

With:

addChangeListener(someTextBox, e -> doSomething());

Code released to public domain. Have fun!

Solution 3:

Just create an interface that extends DocumentListener and implements all DocumentListener methods:

@FunctionalInterface
public interface SimpleDocumentListener extends DocumentListener {
    void update(DocumentEvent e);

    @Override
    default void insertUpdate(DocumentEvent e) {
        update(e);
    }
    @Override
    default void removeUpdate(DocumentEvent e) {
        update(e);
    }
    @Override
    default void changedUpdate(DocumentEvent e) {
        update(e);
    }
}

and then:

jTextField.getDocument().addDocumentListener(new SimpleDocumentListener() {
    @Override
    public void update(DocumentEvent e) {
        // Your code here
    }
});

or you can even use lambda expression:

jTextField.getDocument().addDocumentListener((SimpleDocumentListener) e -> {
    // Your code here
});

Solution 4:

Be aware that when the user modify the field, the DocumentListener can, sometime, receive two events. For instance if the user selects the whole field content, then press a key, you'll receive a removeUpdate (all the content is remove) and an insertUpdate. In your case, I don't think it is a problem but, generally speaking, it is. Unfortunately, it seems there's no way to track the content of the textField without subclassing JTextField. Here is the code of a class that provide a "text" property :

package net.yapbam.gui.widget;

import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.text.AttributeSet;
import javax.swing.text.BadLocationException;
import javax.swing.text.PlainDocument;

/** A JTextField with a property that maps its text.
 * <br>I've found no way to track efficiently the modifications of the text of a JTextField ... so I developed this widget.
 * <br>DocumentListeners are intended to do it, unfortunately, when a text is replace in a field, the listener receive two events:<ol>
 * <li>One when the replaced text is removed.</li>
 * <li>One when the replacing text is inserted</li>
 * </ul>
 * The first event is ... simply absolutely misleading, it corresponds to a value that the text never had.
 * <br>Anoter problem with DocumentListener is that you can't modify the text into it (it throws IllegalStateException).
 * <br><br>Another way was to use KeyListeners ... but some key events are throw a long time (probably the key auto-repeat interval)
 * after the key was released. And others events (for example a click on an OK button) may occurs before the listener is informed of the change.
 * <br><br>This widget guarantees that no "ghost" property change is thrown !
 * @author Jean-Marc Astesana
 * <BR>License : GPL v3
 */

public class CoolJTextField extends JTextField {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    public static final String TEXT_PROPERTY = "text";

    public CoolJTextField() {
        this(0);
    }

    public CoolJTextField(int nbColumns) {
        super("", nbColumns);
        this.setDocument(new MyDocument());
    }

    @SuppressWarnings("serial")
    private class MyDocument extends PlainDocument {
        private boolean ignoreEvents = false;

        @Override
        public void replace(int offset, int length, String text, AttributeSet attrs) throws BadLocationException {
            String oldValue = CoolJTextField.this.getText();
            this.ignoreEvents = true;
            super.replace(offset, length, text, attrs);
            this.ignoreEvents = false;
            String newValue = CoolJTextField.this.getText();
            if (!oldValue.equals(newValue)) CoolJTextField.this.firePropertyChange(TEXT_PROPERTY, oldValue, newValue);
        }

        @Override
        public void remove(int offs, int len) throws BadLocationException {
            String oldValue = CoolJTextField.this.getText();
            super.remove(offs, len);
            String newValue = CoolJTextField.this.getText();
            if (!ignoreEvents && !oldValue.equals(newValue)) CoolJTextField.this.firePropertyChange(TEXT_PROPERTY, oldValue, newValue);
        }
    }

Solution 5:

I know this relates to a really old problem, however, it caused me some problems too. As kleopatra responded in a comment above, I solved the problem with a JFormattedTextField. However, the solution requires a bit more work, but is neater.

The JFormattedTextField doesn't by default trigger a property change after every text changes in the field. The default constructor of JFormattedTextField does not create a formatter.

However, to do what the OP suggested, you need to use a formatter which will invoke the commitEdit() method after each valid edit of the field. The commitEdit() method is what triggers the property change from what I can see and without the formatter, this is triggered by default on a focus change or when the enter key is pressed.

See http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/components/formattedtextfield.html#value for more details.

Create a default formatter (DefaultFormatter) object to be passed to the JFormattedTextField either via its constructor or a setter method. One method of the default formatter is setCommitsOnValidEdit(boolean commit), which sets the formatter to trigger the commitEdit() method every time the text is changed. This can then be picked up using a PropertyChangeListener and the propertyChange() method.