What is java.awt.Component.getName() and setName() used for?

java awt
JohnnyLambada picture JohnnyLambada · Oct 22, 2008 · Viewed 23k times · Source

What is java.awt.Component.getName() used for? It always seems to be null in the applications I build with NetBeans. I'm thinking of storing some help text per component in it -- I don't want to use the tooltip, I have another panel where I'll show the help text.

Answer

Herman Lintvelt picture Herman Lintvelt · Oct 22, 2008

Component.setName(..) is used in the JDK mostly by the look and feel implementation classes to set ID-like strings for each component, e.g. BasicOptionPaneUI might call it on a button component to set its name to "OptionPane.button".

The getName() is used in toString() methods, when setting the names of child components inside a Composite/parent Component and in AWT and Swing debug logging code. I suspect strongly that the getName() method is also used by some AWT/Swing testing frameworks.

So if you're not dependent on any of the above uses of getName(), you might try using it for your help messages, though I would not recommend it.

Maybe you should reconsider your design? Use the name to do some lookup in a hashmap that loads the help text from a resource bundle?

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