Trail: Creating a GUI with JFC/Swing
Lesson: Writing Event Listeners
Listener API Table
Listener API Table
In the table that follows, the first column gives the name of the listener interface, with either a link to the tutorial page that discusses the listener or, if the tutorial doesn't discuss the listener, a link to the API docs. The second column names the corresponding adapter class, if any. (For a discussion of using adapters, see Using Adapters and Inner Classes to Handle Events.) The third column lists the methods that the listener interface contains and shows the type of the event object passed into the method. Typically, the listener, the adapter, and the event type have the same name prefix, but this is not always the case.

To see which Swing components can fire which kinds of events, see Listeners Supported by Swing Components.

Listener Interface Adapter Class Listener Methods
ActionListener none actionPerformed(ActionEvent)
AncestorListener none ancestorAdded(AncestorEvent)
ancestorMoved(AncestorEvent)
ancestorRemoved(AncestorEvent)
CaretListener none caretUpdate(CaretEvent)
CellEditorListener none editingStopped(ChangeEvent)
editingCanceled(ChangeEvent)
ChangeListener none stateChanged(ChangeEvent)
ComponentListener ComponentAdapter componentHidden(ComponentEvent)
componentMoved(ComponentEvent)
componentResized(ComponentEvent)
componentShown(ComponentEvent)
ContainerListener ContainerAdapter componentAdded(ContainerEvent)
componentRemoved(ContainerEvent)
DocumentListener none changedUpdate(DocumentEvent)
insertUpdate(DocumentEvent)
removeUpdate(DocumentEvent)
ExceptionListener
(introduced in 1.4)
none exceptionThrown(Exception)
FocusListener FocusAdapter focusGained(FocusEvent)
focusLost(FocusEvent)
HierarchyBoundsListener
(introduced in 1.3)
HierarchyBoundsAdapter ancestorMoved(HierarchyEvent)
ancestorResized(HierarchyEvent)
HierarchyListener
(introduced in 1.3)
none hierarchyChanged(HierarchyEvent)
HyperlinkListener none hyperlinkUpdate(HyperlinkEvent)
InputMethodListener none caretPositionChanged(InputMethodEvent)
inputMethodTextChanged(InputMethodEvent)
InternalFrameListener InternalFrameAdapter internalFrameActivated(InternalFrameEvent)
internalFrameClosed(InternalFrameEvent)
internalFrameClosing(InternalFrameEvent)
internalFrameDeactivated(InternalFrameEvent)
internalFrameDeiconified(InternalFrameEvent)
internalFrameIconified(InternalFrameEvent)
internalFrameOpened(InternalFrameEvent)
ItemListener none itemStateChanged(ItemEvent)
KeyListener KeyAdapter keyPressed(KeyEvent)
keyReleased(KeyEvent)
keyTyped(KeyEvent)
ListDataListener none contentsChanged(ListDataEvent)
intervalAdded(ListDataEvent)
intervalRemoved(ListDataEvent)
ListSelectionListener none valueChanged(ListSelectionEvent)
MenuDragMouseListener none menuDragMouseDragged(MenuDragMouseEvent)
menuDragMouseEntered(MenuDragMouseEvent)
menuDragMouseExited(MenuDragMouseEvent)
menuDragMouseReleased(MenuDragMouseEvent)
MenuKeyListener none menuKeyPressed(MenuKeyEvent)
menuKeyReleased(MenuKeyEvent)
menuKeyTyped(MenuKeyEvent)
MenuListener none menuCanceled(MenuEvent)
menuDeselected(MenuEvent)
menuSelected(MenuEvent)
MouseInputListener (extends MouseListener and MouseMotionListener MouseInputAdapter mouseClicked(MouseEvent)
mouseEntered(MouseEvent)
mouseExited(MouseEvent)
mousePressed(MouseEvent)
mouseReleased(MouseEvent)
mouseDragged(MouseEvent)
mouseMoved(MouseEvent)
MouseListener MouseAdapter, MouseInputAdapter mouseClicked(MouseEvent)
mouseEntered(MouseEvent)
mouseExited(MouseEvent)
mousePressed(MouseEvent)
mouseReleased(MouseEvent)
MouseMotionListener MouseMotionAdapter, MouseInputAdapter mouseDragged(MouseEvent)
mouseMoved(MouseEvent)
MouseWheelListener
(introduced in 1.4)
none mouseWheelMoved(MouseWheelEvent)
PopupMenuListener none popupMenuCanceled(PopupMenuEvent)
popupMenuWillBecomeInvisible(PopupMenuEvent)
popupMenuWillBecomeVisible(PopupMenuEvent)
PropertyChangeListener none propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent)
TableColumnModelListener none columnAdded(TableColumnModelEvent)
columnMoved(TableColumnModelEvent)
columnRemoved(TableColumnModelEvent)
columnMarginChanged(ChangeEvent)
columnSelectionChanged(ListSelectionEvent)
TableModelListener none tableChanged(TableModelEvent)
TreeExpansionListener none treeCollapsed(TreeExpansionEvent)
treeExpanded(TreeExpansionEvent)
TreeModelListener none treeNodesChanged(TreeModelEvent)
treeNodesInserted(TreeModelEvent)
treeNodesRemoved(TreeModelEvent)
treeStructureChanged(TreeModelEvent)
TreeSelectionListener none valueChanged(TreeSelectionEvent)
TreeWillExpandListener none treeWillCollapse(TreeExpansionEvent)
treeWillExpand(TreeExpansionEvent)
UndoableEditListener none undoableEditHappened(UndoableEditEvent)
VetoableChangeListener none vetoableChange(PropertyChangeEvent)
WindowFocusListener
(introduced in 1.4)
WindowAdapter windowGainedFocus(WindowEvent)
windowLostFocus(WindowEvent)
WindowListener WindowAdapter windowActivated(WindowEvent)
windowClosed(WindowEvent)
windowClosing(WindowEvent)
windowDeactivated(WindowEvent)
windowDeiconified(WindowEvent)
windowIconified(WindowEvent)
windowOpened(WindowEvent)
WindowStateListener
(introduced in 1.4)
WindowAdapter windowStateChanged(WindowEvent)

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