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How to Create Editable Notepad in Java

Introduction
 
This article explains how to create an editable notepad in Java.
 
Description
 
The main purpose for designing this type of notepad is to show how to make a notepad that enables us to cut, copy, paste and select all the text. For the development of this notepad we need to use the following procedure.
 
Step 1
 
Import the following packages:
  1. import java.awt.event.*;  
  2.   
  3. import javax.swing.*;  
Step 2
 
Create a MenuBar, MenuItem, TextArea and Menu as in the following:
  1. public class EditableNotepadEx implements ActionListener  
  2. {  
  3.     JFrame frm;  
  4.     JMenuBar mnubr;  
  5.     JMenu fileMenu, editMenu, helpMenu;  
  6.     JMenuItem cutItem, copyItem, pasteItem, selectAll;  
  7.     JTextArea txtarea;  
Step 3
 
Create a frame and sub-menu bar items, like cut, copy, paste and Select All. The following frame contains cut, copy, select and paste in the edit menu bar.
  1. EditableNotepadEx()  
  2. {  
  3.     frm = new JFrame();  
  4.     cutItem = new JMenuItem("cutItem");  
  5.     copyItem = new JMenuItem("copyItem");  
  6.     pasteItem = new JMenuItem("pasteItem");  
  7.     selectAll = new JMenuItem("selectAllItem");  
Step 4
 
Create and add a menu bar and sub bar items in the frame and set the bounds as in the following:
  1. copyItem.addActionListener(this);  
  2. cutItem.addActionListener(this);  
  3. selectAll.addActionListener(this);  
  4. pasteItem.addActionListener(this);  
  5. mnubr = new JMenuBar();  
  6. mnubr.setBounds(5, 5, 400, 40);  
  7. fileMenu = new JMenu("File");  
  8. editMenu = new JMenu("Edit");  
  9. helpMenu = new JMenu("Help");  
  10. editMenu.add(cutItem);  
  11. editMenu.add(copyItem);  
  12. editMenu.add(pasteItem);  
  13. editMenu.add(selectAll);  
  14. mnubr.add(fileMenu);  
  15. mnubr.add(editMenu);  
  16. mnubr.add(helpMenu);  
  17. txtarea = new JTextArea();  
  18. txtarea.setBounds(5, 30, 460, 460);  
  19. frm.add(mnubr);  
  20. frm.add(txtarea);  
  21. frm.setLayout(null);  
  22. frm.setSize(500, 500);  
  23. frm.setVisible(true);  
Step 5
 
Create an actionPerformed method to perform several actions, such as cut, copy, paste and selectAll depending on the user's click.
  1. public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)  
  2. {  
  3.     if (ae.getSource() == cutItem)  
  4.         txtarea.cut();  
  5.     if (ae.getSource() == pasteItem)  
  6.         txtarea.paste();  
  7.     if (ae.getSource() == copyItem)  
  8.         txtarea.copy();  
  9.     if (ae.getSource() == selectAll)  
  10.         txtarea.selectAll();  
  11. }  
Step 6
 
Display the editable notepad by creating a main function.
  1. public static void main(String[] args)  
  2. {  
  3.     new EditableNotepadEx();  
  4. }  
Step 7
 
The following is the complete Code.
 
EditableNotepadEx.java
  1. import java.awt.event.*;  
  2. import javax.swing.*;  
  3. public class EditableNotepadEx implements ActionListener  
  4. {  
  5.     JFrame frm;  
  6.     JMenuBar mnubr;  
  7.     JMenu fileMenu, editMenu, helpMenu;  
  8.     JMenuItem cutItem, copyItem, pasteItem, selectAll  
  9.     JTextArea txtarea;  
  10.     EditableNotepadEx()  
  11.     {  
  12.         frm = new JFrame();  
  13.         cutItem = new JMenuItem("cutItem");  
  14.         copyItem = new JMenuItem("copyItem");  
  15.         pasteItem = new JMenuItem("pasteItem");  
  16.         selectAll = new JMenuItem("selectAllItem");  
  17.         copyItem.addActionListener(this);  
  18.         cutItem.addActionListener(this);  
  19.         selectAll.addActionListener(this);  
  20.         pasteItem.addActionListener(this);  
  21.         mnubr = new JMenuBar();  
  22.         mnubr.setBounds(5, 5, 400, 40);  
  23.         fileMenu = new JMenu("File");  
  24.         editMenu = new JMenu("Edit");  
  25.         helpMenu = new JMenu("Help");  
  26.         editMenu.add(cutItem);  
  27.         editMenu.add(copyItem);  
  28.         editMenu.add(pasteItem);  
  29.         editMenu.add(selectAll);  
  30.         mnubr.add(fileMenu);  
  31.         mnubr.add(editMenu);  
  32.         mnubr.add(helpMenu);  
  33.         txtarea = new JTextArea();  
  34.         txtarea.setBounds(5, 30, 460, 460);  
  35.         frm.add(mnubr);  
  36.         frm.add(txtarea);  
  37.         frm.setLayout(null);  
  38.         frm.setSize(500, 500);  
  39.         frm.setVisible(true);  
  40.     }  
  41.     public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)  
  42.     {  
  43.         if (ae.getSource() == cutItem)  
  44.             txtarea.cut();  
  45.         if (ae.getSource() == pasteItem)  
  46.             txtarea.paste();  
  47.         if (ae.getSource() == copyItem)  
  48.             txtarea.copy();  
  49.         if (ae.getSource() == selectAll)  
  50.             txtarea.selectAll();  
  51.     }  
  52.     public static void main(String[] args)  
  53.     {  
  54.         new EditableNotepadEx();  
  55.     }  
  56. }  
Output
 
fig-1.jpg
 
After pressing enter, a new window is generated called notepad (in which we can write text) that contains file, edit and a help button.
 
fig-2.jpg
 
When we click on the edit button we have four choices; through that we can cut, copy, paste and selectAll of our text in the notepad.
 
fig-3.jpg


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