Introduction
This article explains how to create an editable notepad in Java.
Description
The main purpose for designing this type of notepad is to show how to make a notepad that enables us to cut, copy, paste and select all the text. For the development of this notepad we need to use the following procedure.
Step 1
Import the following packages:
  1. import java.awt.event.*;
  3. import javax.swing.*;
Step 2
Create a MenuBar, MenuItem, TextArea and Menu as in the following:
  1. public class EditableNotepadEx implements ActionListener
  2. {
  3. JFrame frm;
  4. JMenuBar mnubr;
  5. JMenu fileMenu, editMenu, helpMenu;
  6. JMenuItem cutItem, copyItem, pasteItem, selectAll;
  7. JTextArea txtarea;
Step 3
Create a frame and sub-menu bar items, like cut, copy, paste and Select All. The following frame contains cut, copy, select and paste in the edit menu bar.
  1. EditableNotepadEx()
  2. {
  3. frm = new JFrame();
  4. cutItem = new JMenuItem("cutItem");
  5. copyItem = new JMenuItem("copyItem");
  6. pasteItem = new JMenuItem("pasteItem");
  7. selectAll = new JMenuItem("selectAllItem");
Step 4
Create and add a menu bar and sub bar items in the frame and set the bounds as in the following:
  1. copyItem.addActionListener(this);
  2. cutItem.addActionListener(this);
  3. selectAll.addActionListener(this);
  4. pasteItem.addActionListener(this);
  5. mnubr = new JMenuBar();
  6. mnubr.setBounds(5, 5, 400, 40);
  7. fileMenu = new JMenu("File");
  8. editMenu = new JMenu("Edit");
  9. helpMenu = new JMenu("Help");
  10. editMenu.add(cutItem);
  11. editMenu.add(copyItem);
  12. editMenu.add(pasteItem);
  13. editMenu.add(selectAll);
  14. mnubr.add(fileMenu);
  15. mnubr.add(editMenu);
  16. mnubr.add(helpMenu);
  17. txtarea = new JTextArea();
  18. txtarea.setBounds(5, 30, 460, 460);
  19. frm.add(mnubr);
  20. frm.add(txtarea);
  21. frm.setLayout(null);
  22. frm.setSize(500, 500);
  23. frm.setVisible(true);
Step 5
Create an actionPerformed method to perform several actions, such as cut, copy, paste and selectAll depending on the user's click.
  1. public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
  2. {
  3. if (ae.getSource() == cutItem)
  4. txtarea.cut();
  5. if (ae.getSource() == pasteItem)
  6. txtarea.paste();
  7. if (ae.getSource() == copyItem)
  8. txtarea.copy();
  9. if (ae.getSource() == selectAll)
  10. txtarea.selectAll();
  11. }
Step 6
Display the editable notepad by creating a main function.
  1. public static void main(String[] args)
  2. {
  3. new EditableNotepadEx();
  4. }
Step 7
The following is the complete Code.
EditableNotepadEx.java
  1. import java.awt.event.*;
  2. import javax.swing.*;
  3. public class EditableNotepadEx implements ActionListener
  4. {
  5. JFrame frm;
  6. JMenuBar mnubr;
  7. JMenu fileMenu, editMenu, helpMenu;
  8. JMenuItem cutItem, copyItem, pasteItem, selectAll
  9. JTextArea txtarea;
  10. EditableNotepadEx()
  11. {
  12. frm = new JFrame();
  13. cutItem = new JMenuItem("cutItem");
  14. copyItem = new JMenuItem("copyItem");
  15. pasteItem = new JMenuItem("pasteItem");
  16. selectAll = new JMenuItem("selectAllItem");
  17. copyItem.addActionListener(this);
  18. cutItem.addActionListener(this);
  19. selectAll.addActionListener(this);
  20. pasteItem.addActionListener(this);
  21. mnubr = new JMenuBar();
  22. mnubr.setBounds(5, 5, 400, 40);
  23. fileMenu = new JMenu("File");
  24. editMenu = new JMenu("Edit");
  25. helpMenu = new JMenu("Help");
  26. editMenu.add(cutItem);
  27. editMenu.add(copyItem);
  28. editMenu.add(pasteItem);
  29. editMenu.add(selectAll);
  30. mnubr.add(fileMenu);
  31. mnubr.add(editMenu);
  32. mnubr.add(helpMenu);
  33. txtarea = new JTextArea();
  34. txtarea.setBounds(5, 30, 460, 460);
  35. frm.add(mnubr);
  36. frm.add(txtarea);
  37. frm.setLayout(null);
  38. frm.setSize(500, 500);
  39. frm.setVisible(true);
  40. }
  41. public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
  42. {
  43. if (ae.getSource() == cutItem)
  44. txtarea.cut();
  45. if (ae.getSource() == pasteItem)
  46. txtarea.paste();
  47. if (ae.getSource() == copyItem)
  48. txtarea.copy();
  49. if (ae.getSource() == selectAll)
  50. txtarea.selectAll();
  51. }
  52. public static void main(String[] args)
  53. {
  54. new EditableNotepadEx();
  55. }
  56. }
Output
fig-1.jpg
After pressing enter, a new window is generated called notepad (in which we can write text) that contains file, edit and a help button.
fig-2.jpg
When we click on the edit button we have four choices; through that we can cut, copy, paste and selectAll of our text in the notepad.
fig-3.jpg