How to use setVisible in JFrames?

Question

In my program I have two JFrame instances. When I click next button I want to show next frame and hide current frame. So I use this.setVisible(false) and new Next().setVisible(true). But in Next window if I click back button I want to set previous frame to be visible again and next frame must be ended (which means it must be exited).

Is there any special method(s) to do this? How can I do it?

Answer 1

Consider using CardLayout instead of hunting for how many JFrames there are. Then..

• only one JFrame would be needed
• any of Next/Back Actions will be only switching between cards

There are lots of examples in this forum - e.g. as shown here.

Answer 2

That is an odd & quirky GUI. I suggest instead to run a JFrame for the main GUI, and when the user wants to search, pop a JOptionPane (or modal JDialog) to accept the details to search for. This will not have the effect described above, but will follow the 'path of least surprise' for the end user.