Message Dialog Box Java Program

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Creating Message Boxes in Java

Man working in an office
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A message box is a simple pop-up window that displays a message to the user and is dismissed with the click of a button. Using Java, you don't have to build your own dialog boxes from scratch; the JOptionPane class provides standard methods for making a variety of dialog boxes. 

 

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Java Source Code for Dialog Boxes

Below is example code showing simple message dialog boxes created using the showMessageDialogshowOptionDialog and showConfirmDialog methods of the JOptionPane class. The program goes through a couple of examples for each method leading to a series of dialog boxes appearing one after the other. 

Tip: Have a look at JOptionPane Option Chooser Program for a more in-depth application that gives the user the option of creating all the different variations of a dialog box.

//This program shows a series of dialog boxes one //after the other //Imports are listed in full to show what's being used //could just import javax.swing.* and java.awt.* etc.. import javax.swing.JFrame; import javax.swing.JOptionPane; import javax.swing.UIManager; import javax.swing.Icon; import java.awt.EventQueue; public class SimpleDialogFrame extends JFrame{ //Using a standard Java icon private Icon optionIcon = UIManager.getIcon("FileView.computerIcon"); //Application start point public static void main(String[] args) { //Use the event dispatch thread for Swing components EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() { public void run() { //create GUI frame new SimpleDialogFrame().setVisible(true); } }); } public SimpleDialogFrame() { //make sure the program exits when the frame closes setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); setTitle("Simple Dialog Box Example");  setSize(500,500); //This will center the JFrame in the middle of the screen setLocationRelativeTo(null); //TO TRY: Comment out the above line and use null for the parent //component in one of the JOptionPane calls to see the difference //it makes to the position of the dialog box. setVisible(true); //Use the showMessageDialog method for a plain message dialog box JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this, "This is the dialog message" ,"This is the dialog title", JOptionPane.PLAIN_MESSAGE); //Use the showMessageDialog method for a error message dialog box JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this, "This is the dialog message" ,"This is the dialog title", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE); //Use the showConfirmDialog method for a warning message dialog box //with OK, CANCEL buttons. Capture the button number with an int variable int choice = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(this, "This is the dialog message" ,"This is the dialog title", JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE , JOptionPane.OK_CANCEL_OPTION); //Use the showConfirmDialog method for an information message dialog box //with YES, NO, CANCEL buttons. It shows the button choice of previous //message box JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(this,"Last button pressed was number " + choice , "This is the dialog title", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE , JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION); //The showOptionDialog method can be made to work as if it were the confirmDialog //method by using null for the last three parameters. In this case the options for //the button types (YES, NO, CANCEL) and the message type (INFORMATION_MESSAGE) //will be used. JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(this, "This is the dialog message" , "This is the dialog title", JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION, JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE ,null, null, null); //Use the showOptionDialog method to make a custom box. If the options parameter //is null the YES, NO, CANCEL buttons are used. Also notice that even though //the message type is INFORMATION_MESSAGE the usual icon is overriden by the one //provided. JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(this, "This is the dialog message" , "This is the dialog title", JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION, JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE ,optionIcon, null, null); //String array to be used for the buttons String[] buttonOptions = new String[] {"Happy Button", "Sad Button", "Confused Button"}; //If the options parameter is not null the YES, NO, CANCEL buttons are not used //The buttons are made with the object array - in this case a String array. JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(this, "This is the dialog message" , "This is the dialog title", JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION, JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE  ,optionIcon, buttonOptions, buttonOptions[0]); } }
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Leahy, Paul. "Message Dialog Box Java Program." ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/simple-message-dialog-boxes-program-2033985. Leahy, Paul. (2020, August 26). Message Dialog Box Java Program. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/simple-message-dialog-boxes-program-2033985 Leahy, Paul. "Message Dialog Box Java Program." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/simple-message-dialog-boxes-program-2033985 (accessed April 24, 2024).