Get selected value from JList

Ilias TsagklisNovember 11th, 2012Last Updated: April 8th, 2013

0 2,627 1 minute read

In this example we are going to learn how to get the selected value form a JList in a Java Desktop Application. This example is very useful because JList component provides a very easy way to get user input, especially when you want to give the user a number of specific options.

In order to get the selected value from a JList, one should follow these steps:

Create a class that extends JFrame and implements ActionListener interface.
Create an array of objects. These will be the values of the JList.
Create a new JList with the above array.
Create a new JButton. Add an ActionListener to the button and override the actionPerformed method. Now every time the user presses the button this method will fire up.
Call getSelectedIndex to get the index of the selected item in the JList.
Call getSelectedValue method to get the value of the selected item in the JList.

Let’s see the code:

package com.javacodegeeks.snippets.desktop;

import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JList;

public class GetSelectedValueFromJList extends JFrame implements ActionListener {

	private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

	private JList list;
	private JButton button;

	public GetSelectedValueFromJList() {

		// set flow layout for the frame
		this.getContentPane().setLayout(new FlowLayout());

		Object[] data = { "Value 1", "Value 2", "Value 3", "Value 4", "Value 5" };

		list = new JList(data);
		button = new JButton("Check");

		button.addActionListener(this);

		// add list to frame
		add(list);
		add(button);

	}

	@Override
	public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
		if (e.getActionCommand().equals("Check")) {
			int index = list.getSelectedIndex();
			System.out.println("Index Selected: " + index);
			String s = (String) list.getSelectedValue();
			System.out.println("Value Selected: " + s);
		}
	}

	private static void createAndShowGUI() {

  //Create and set up the window.

  JFrame frame = new GetSelectedValueFromJList();

  //Display the window.

  frame.pack();

  frame.setVisible(true);

  frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

    }

	public static void main(String[] args) {

  //Schedule a job for the event-dispatching thread:

  //creating and showing this application's GUI.

  javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

public void run() {

    createAndShowGUI(); 

}

  });
    }

}

This was an example on how to get the selected value from a JList.