Unable to make text areas uneditable in java [closed]

Question

I am pretty new to java, and I'm currently learning how to make GUIs. To test out making them, I tried making one on my own. In order to find out how to make text boxes uneditable, I googled it and found it on the oracle website and tried it out. Unfortunately when I attempt to execute this, I am given the errors 'Syntax error on token(s), misplaced construct(s)' and 'Syntax error on token "false", delete this token'. This is what I had so far for the text area:

    JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea("Testing the text", 5, 10);
    JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(textArea);
    textArea.setEditable(false);

The error is at the period between 'textArea' and 'setEditable' and (of course) the 'false'. I get the same kind of error when I try to do setText.

If it helps, what I imported was:

    import javax.swing.JButton;
    import javax.swing.JFrame;
    import javax.swing.JLabel;
    import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
    import javax.swing.JPanel;
    import javax.swing.JTextField;
    import javax.swing.JTextArea;
    import javax.swing.JScrollPane;

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

I also extended JFrame and implemented ActionListener

Any help would be appreciated :)

So upon request, I am posting the rest of the code here. Unfortunately I haven't gotten very far in the program yet, but I will post what I have so far and try to finish it soon.

RunTestGui.java file:

import javax.swing.JFrame;

public class RunTestGui {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub

        TestGui gui = new TestGui();
        gui.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

    }

}

TestGui.java file:

/*import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;*/

//import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;

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

public class TestGui extends JFrame /*implements ActionListener*/ {
//Global components
JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea("Testing the text", 5, 10);
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(textArea);
textArea.setEditable(false);

JTextField textBox;

//constructor
TestGui(String title){

super(title);

this.init();
this.pack();
this.setVisible(true);
}//end constructor

public void init(){

    JLabel ltextBox = new JLabel("TextBox: ");

    textBox = new JTextField(10);

    JPanel leftPanel = new JPanel();
    leftPanel.add(ltextBox);
    leftPanel.add(textBox);

    JPanel rightPanel = new JPanel();
    rightPanel.add(textArea);

}



}

Answer 1

Problem is you have to put this line textArea.setEditable(false); in the method body, so either you can put in constructor or method:

public void init(){

    JLabel ltextBox = new JLabel("TextBox: ");

    textBox = new JTextField(10);

    JPanel leftPanel = new JPanel();
    leftPanel.add(ltextBox);
    leftPanel.add(textBox);

    JPanel rightPanel = new JPanel();
    rightPanel.add(textArea);

    textArea.setEditable(false); //<-- put it here

}

Answer 2

The line that causes you the error (textArea.setEditable(false);) is a statement with a method call, not a statement with a declaration.

Declarations are allowed directly in the class, but statements with just a method call are only allowed inside a method.

Just move this line into your init() method and it will be fine.