Help with swing

[boburob]

Hey ive only been programming java for about a month now and im a little stuck:/

Basically im making a basic text editor in java, at the moment im trying to load text from a file to a text area but i get this compile error

TextEditor.java:123: cannot find symbol
symbol  : variable edit
location: class TextEditor
					edit.setText(line);
					^

Anyone have any idea what im doing wrong?
Heres my code:

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.io.*;

public class TextEditor extends JFrame implements ActionListener {
	//create icons used in toolbar
	ImageIcon loadIcon = new ImageIcon("load.gif");
	ImageIcon saveIcon = new ImageIcon("save.gif");
	ImageIcon spellIcon = new ImageIcon("spelling.gif");
	ImageIcon undoIcon = new ImageIcon("back.gif");
	ImageIcon newIcon = new ImageIcon("subscribe.gif");
	//create buttons
	JButton load = new JButton("Load", loadIcon);
	JButton save = new JButton("Save", saveIcon);
	JButton spell = new JButton("Spell Check", spellIcon);
	JButton undo = new JButton("Undo", undoIcon);
	JButton p_new = new JButton("New", newIcon);
	//constructor
	public TextEditor() {
		super("Text Editor");
		setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
		//add buttons to the toolbar
		JToolBar bar = new JToolBar();
		bar.add(p_new);
		bar.add(load);
		bar.add(save);
		bar.add(spell);
		bar.add(undo);
		//create menu
		//menu items
		JMenuItem menuLoad = new JMenuItem("Load");
		JMenuItem menuSave = new JMenuItem("Save");
		JMenuItem menuSpell = new JMenuItem("Spell Check");
		JMenuItem menuUndo = new JMenuItem("Undo");
		JMenuItem menuNew = new JMenuItem("New");
		JMenuItem menuPrint = new JMenuItem("Print");
		JMenuItem menuAbout = new JMenuItem("About");
		JMenuItem menuToolbar = new JMenuItem("Toolbar");
		JMenuItem menuStatusbar = new JMenuItem("Statusbar");
		//5 menus
		JMenuBar menubar = new JMenuBar();
		JMenu menu = new JMenu("File");
		JMenu menu2 = new JMenu("Edit");
		JMenu menu3 = new JMenu("Tools");
		JMenu menu4 = new JMenu("View");
		JMenu menu5 = new JMenu("Help");
		//add items to menu
		menu.add(menuNew);
		menu.addSeparator();
		menu.add(menuLoad);
		menu.add(menuSave);
		menu.addSeparator();
		menu.add(menuPrint);
		menu3.add(menuSpell);
		menu2.add(menuUndo);
		menu5.add(menuAbout);
		menu4.add(menuToolbar);
		menu4.add(menuStatusbar);
		menubar.add(menu);
		menubar.add(menu2);
		menubar.add(menu3);
		menubar.add(menu4);
		menubar.add(menu5);	
		//listen for button clicks
		load.addActionListener(this);
		save.addActionListener(this);
		p_new.addActionListener(this);
		spell.addActionListener(this);
		undo.addActionListener(this);
		//prepare user interface
		JTextArea edit = new JTextArea(40, 120);
		JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane(edit);
		BorderLayout bord = new BorderLayout();
		setLayout(bord);
		add("North", bar);
		add("Center", scroll);
		setJMenuBar(menubar);
		setSize(800, 600);
		pack();
		setVisible(true);
	}

	//button clicks
	public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
		Object source = evt.getSource();
		if (source == load) {
			loadFile();
		}
		if (source == save) {
			saveFile();
		}
		if (source == p_new) {
			setTitle("New!");
			repaint();
		}
		if (source == spell) {
			setTitle("Spell!");
			repaint();
		}
		if (source == undo) {
			setTitle("Undo!");
			repaint();
		}

	}
	//Loads text into text editor
	void loadFile()
	{
		try {

			FileReader file = new

				FileReader("myfile.txt");

			BufferedReader buff = new

				BufferedReader(file);

			boolean eof = false;

			while (!eof) {

				String line = buff.readLine();

				if (line == null)

					eof = true;

				else

					edit.setText(line);

				}

				buff.close();

			} catch (IOException e) {

				System.out.println("Error -- " + e.toString());

			}
	}
	//saves text into file
	void saveFile()
	{
		FileOutputStream fout;		
		try
		{
			fout = new FileOutputStream ("myfile.txt");
			new PrintStream(fout).println ("hello world!");
			fout.close();		
		}
		catch (IOException e)
		{
			System.err.println ("Unable to write to file");
			System.exit(-1);
		}
	}

	//main function
	public static void main(String[] arguments) {
		TextEditor main = new TextEditor();
	}
}

Thanks for any help!

[dlorde]

You're declaring JTextArea edit as a local variable in the constructor. As soon as the constructor finishes, it goes out of scope. You need to declare it as a class field and initialize it in the constructor. Then it will be visible and available to all instance methods.

I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my telephone. My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my telephone...
Bjarne Stroustrup

[boburob]

Thanks alot for your help!
Completely forgot about moving that one!

[boburob]

Sorry another quick question, how do i add text to the text area without deleting the rest, eg at the moment im using:

				edit.setText(line);

Which just puts the last line of text on the screen.

[Londbrok]

like,

edit.setText(edit.getText()+text);

[keang]

Always read the API docs they list all the available methods such as append(text) which could be just what you are after.