USING LISTS

The List class provides a compact, multiple-choice, scrolling selection list. Unlike the
Choice object, which shows only the single selected item in the menu, a List object can
be constructed to show any number of choices in the visible window. It can also be
created to allow multiple selections. List provides these constructors:
List( )
List(int numRows)
List(int numRows, boolean multipleSelect)
The first version creates a List control that allows only one item to be selected at any
one time. In the second form, the value of numRows specifies the number of entries in
the list that will always be visible (others can be scrolled into view as needed). In the
third form, if multipleSelect is true, then the user may select two or more items at a time.
If it is false, then only one item may be selected.
To add a selection to the list, call add( ). It has the following two forms:
void add(String name)
void add(String name, int index)
Here, name is the name of the item added to the list. The first form adds items to the
end of the list. The second form adds the item at the index specified by index. Indexing
begins at zero. You can specify –1 to add the item to the end of the list.
For lists that allow only single selection, you can determine which item is currently
selected by calling either getSelectedItem( ) or getSelectedIndex( ). These methods are
shown here:
String getSelectedItem( )
int getSelectedIndex( )
The getSelectedItem( ) method returns a string containing the name of the item. If
more than one item is selected or if no selection has yet been made, null is returned.
getSelectedIndex( ) returns the index of the item. The first item is at index 0. If more
than one item is selected, or if no selection has yet been made, –1 is returned.
For lists that allow multiple selection, you must use either getSelectedItems( ) or
getSelectedIndexes( ), shown here, to determine the current selections:
String[ ] getSelectedItems( )
int[ ] getSelectedIndexes( )
getSelectedItems( ) returns an array containing the names of the currently selected
items. getSelectedIndexes( ) returns an array containing the indexes of the currently
selected items.

To obtain the number of items in the list, call getItemCount( ). You can set the
currently selected item by using the select( ) method with a zero-based integer index.
These methods are shown here:
int getItemCount( )
void select(int index)
Given an index, you can obtain the name associated with the item at that index by
calling getItem( ), which has this general form:
String getItem(int index)
Here, index specifies the index of the desired item.
Handling Lists
To process list events, you will need to implement the ActionListener interface.
Each time a List item is double-clicked, an ActionEvent object is generated. Its
getActionCommand( ) method can be used to retrieve the name of the newly selected
item. Also, each time an item is selected or deselected with a single click, an ItemEvent
object is generated. Its getStateChange( ) method can be used to determine whether a
selection or deselection triggered this event. getItemSelectable( ) returns a reference
to the object that triggered this event.
Here is an example that converts the Choice controls in the preceding section into
List components, one multiple choice and the other single choice:
// Demonstrate Lists.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.applet.*;
/*


*/
public class ListDemo extends Applet implements ActionListener {
List os, browser;
String msg = "";
public void init() {
os = new List(4, true);
browser = new List(4, false);

// add items to os list
os.add("Windows 98/XP");
os.add("Windows NT/2000");
os.add("Solaris");
os.add("MacOS");
// add items to browser list
browser.add("Netscape 3.x");
browser.add("Netscape 4.x");
browser.add("Netscape 5.x");
browser.add("Netscape 6.x");
browser.add("Internet Explorer 4.0");
browser.add("Internet Explorer 5.0");
browser.add("Internet Explorer 6.0");
browser.add("Lynx 2.4");
browser.select(1);
// add lists to window
add(os);
add(browser);
// register to receive action events
os.addActionListener(this);
browser.addActionListener(this);
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
repaint();
}
// Display current selections.
public void paint(Graphics g) {
int idx[];
msg = "Current OS: ";
idx = os.getSelectedIndexes();
for(int i=0; i
msg += os.getItem(idx[i]) + " ";

g.drawString(msg, 6, 120);
msg = "Current Browser: ";
msg += browser.getSelectedItem();
g.drawString(msg, 6, 140);
}
}