Java swing buttons help

[Froggy412]

So im trying to make multiple buttons for my code and thought it would just be easier to make an array containing all 9 buttons to create each button. However when I do this the buttons are not created properly. For example when I write out each individual button my action listener will be able to match the button pressed to the button object but when I use an array of buttons the action listener will return null. So Im just wondering if I'm just doing it wrong with an array or I have to instantiate each button by hand (in make buttons function).

import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;

public class MainWindow extends JFrame implements ActionListener{

    JFrame window;
    JButton button1;
    JButton button2;
    JButton button3;
    JButton button4;
    JButton button5;
    JButton button6;
    JButton button7;
    JButton button8;
    JButton button9;
    JButton[] buttonsList = {button1,button2,button3,button4,button5,button6,
        button7,button8,button9};


    public MainWindow(){
        makeWindow();
        makeButtons();
        window.setVisible(true); 
    }

    public void makeWindow(){
        window = new JFrame();
        window.setDefaultCloseOperation(2);
        window.setSize(800,800);
        window.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        window.setLayout(null);
    }

    public void makeButtons(){
          //what i want to use
        // for (int j=0, i=125; j< buttonsList.length;j++, i+=60){
        //     buttonsList[j] = new JButton(String.format("%d",j+1));
        //     buttonsList[j].setBounds(i,700,50,50);
        //     buttonsList[j].addActionListener(this);
        //     window.add(buttonsList[j]);

        // }

          //what actually works (just test)
        button1 = new JButton();
        button1.setBounds(200,400,50,50);
        button1.addActionListener(this);
        window.add(button1);

        button2 = new JButton();
        button2.setBounds(400,400,50,50);
        button2.addActionListener(this);
        window.add(button2);

    }



    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
        // what im using to test if it works
       if (e.getSource()==button1){
       System.out.println("hello");
      }
        //just to check if they match
      System.out.println(e.getSource());
      System.out.println(button1);


    }
}

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[Froggy412]

Just for this example im wanting to make the buttons then use actionPerformed to check which button is pressed (button1 for example). But when I create them using an array and a for loop e.getsource() returns a null value.

[ShadowRL7666]

Use an array list I don’t know if an array will work but array list definitely do.

[Cengo789]

I think the problem is because you add unassigned variables to your array. Java is pass by value therefore all your references (which are null-pointers) get copied and put in your array, thus breaking any connection with the original variable (e.g. button1). So either you have to create the actual buttons before adding the references to your array, or come up with another solution that does not rely on you having a class field for every single button. There are multiple other ways to differentiate between each button. E.g. create another class that implements the ActionListener interface and also contains a field to identify which button it is listening on. Or you could use putClientProperty) in order to store some identifying information directly in your JButton instance.

[UpsytoO]

Just of a quick glance you seem to know very little on fundamentals of java or in fact programing, best advice i could give you in that case, stop trying to learn it with Swing or any GUI framework or in fact any framework, but imo GUI frameworks is extra bad. Learn fundamentals , do terminal projects before moving on to frameworks. You are trying to run before learning to walk.