javax.swing.event
Class EventListenerList

java.lang.Object
  |
  +--javax.swing.event.EventListenerList

All Implemented Interfaces:

Serializable

public class EventListenerList

extends Object

implements Serializable

A class that holds a list of EventListeners. A single instance can be used to hold all listeners (of all types) for the instance using the list. It is the responsiblity of the class using the EventListenerList to provide type-safe API (preferably conforming to the JavaBeans spec) and methods which dispatch event notification methods to appropriate Event Listeners on the list. The main benefits that this class provides are that it is relatively cheap in the case of no listeners, and it provides serialization for event-listener lists in a single place, as well as a degree of MT safety (when used correctly). Usage example: Say one is defining a class that sends out FooEvents, and one wants to allow users of the class to register FooListeners and receive notification when FooEvents occur. The following should be added to the class definition:

 EventListenerList listenerList = new EventListenerList();
 FooEvent fooEvent = null;

 public void addFooListener(FooListener l) {
     listenerList.add(FooListener.class, l);
 }

 public void removeFooListener(FooListener l) {
     listenerList.remove(FooListener.class, l);
 }


 // Notify all listeners that have registered interest for
 // notification on this event type.  The event instance 
 // is lazily created using the parameters passed into 
 // the fire method.

 protected void fireFooXXX() {
     // Guaranteed to return a non-null array
     Object[] listeners = listenerList.getListenerList();
     // Process the listeners last to first, notifying
     // those that are interested in this event
     for (int i = listeners.length-2; i>=0; i-=2) {
         if (listeners[i]==FooListener.class) {
             // Lazily create the event:
             if (fooEvent == null)
                 fooEvent = new FooEvent(this);
             ((FooListener)listeners[i+1]).fooXXX(fooEvent);
         }
     }
 }
 

foo should be changed to the appropriate name, and fireFooXxx to the appropriate method name. One fire method should exist for each notification method in the FooListener interface.

Warning: Serialized objects of this class will not be compatible with future Swing releases. The current serialization support is appropriate for short term storage or RMI between applications running the same version of Swing. A future release of Swing will provide support for long term persistence.

See Also:

Serialized Form

Field Summary

protected Object[]

listenerList

Constructor Summary

EventListenerList()

Method Summary

void	add(Class t, EventListener l) Adds the listener as a listener of the specified type.
int	getListenerCount() Returns the total number of listeners for this listener list.
int	getListenerCount(Class t) Returns the total number of listeners of the supplied type for this listener list.
Object[]	getListenerList() Passes back the event listener list as an array of ListenerType-listener pairs.
EventListener[]	getListeners(Class t) Return an array of all the listeners of the given type.
void	remove(Class t, EventListener l) Removes the listener as a listener of the specified type.
String	toString() Returns a string representation of the EventListenerList.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

listenerList

protected transient Object[] listenerList

Constructor Detail

EventListenerList

public EventListenerList()

Method Detail

getListenerList

public Object[] getListenerList()

Passes back the event listener list as an array of ListenerType-listener pairs. Note that for performance reasons, this implementation passes back the actual data structure in which the listener data is stored internally! This method is guaranteed to pass back a non-null array, so that no null-checking is required in fire methods. A zero-length array of Object should be returned if there are currently no listeners. WARNING!!! Absolutely NO modification of the data contained in this array should be made -- if any such manipulation is necessary, it should be done on a copy of the array returned rather than the array itself.

getListeners

public EventListener[] getListeners(Class t)

Return an array of all the listeners of the given type.

Since:

1.3

getListenerCount

public int getListenerCount()

Returns the total number of listeners for this listener list.

getListenerCount

public int getListenerCount(Class t)

Returns the total number of listeners of the supplied type for this listener list.

add

public void add(Class t,
                EventListener l)

Adds the listener as a listener of the specified type.

Parameters:

t - the type of the listener to be added

l - the listener to be added

remove

public void remove(Class t,
                   EventListener l)

Removes the listener as a listener of the specified type.

Parameters:

t - the type of the listener to be removed

l - the listener to be removed

toString

public String toString()

Returns a string representation of the EventListenerList.

Overrides:

toString in class Object

Following copied from class: java.lang.Object

Returns:

a string representation of the object.