Changing the text of a label from a different class in JavaFX

Question

This question was already asked here but was not able to find any answers. I have reproduced a similar situation where I would like to change the text of a label from another class using the controller

FXMLDocumentController.java

public class FXMLDocumentController implements Initializable {

    @FXML
    private Label label;

    @FXML
    private void handleButtonAction(ActionEvent event) {
        System.out.println("FXMLDocumentController.#handleButtonAction");
        label.setText("Hello World!");
        Connector.Connecting();
    }

    @Override
    public void initialize(URL url, ResourceBundle rb) {
        // TODO
    }    

    public void setLabelText(String text)
    {
        System.out.println("FXMLDocumentController.setLabelText(): Called");
        label.setText(text);
    }

}

FXMLDocument.fxml

<AnchorPane id="AnchorPane" prefHeight="200" prefWidth="320" xmlns:fx="http://javafx.com/fxml/1" fx:controller="demo5.FXMLDocumentController">
    <children>
        <Button layoutX="126" layoutY="90" text="Click Me!" onAction="#handleButtonAction" fx:id="button" />
        <Label layoutX="126" layoutY="120" minHeight="16" minWidth="69" fx:id="label" />
    </children>
</AnchorPane>

Demo5.java

public class Demo5 extends Application {

    @Override
    public void start(Stage stage) throws Exception {
        Parent root = FXMLLoader.load(getClass().getResource("FXMLDocument.fxml"));

        Scene scene = new Scene(root);

        stage.setScene(scene);
        stage.show();
    }

    /**
     * @param args the command line arguments
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        launch(args);
    }

}

Connector.java

public class Connector {
    public static void Connecting() {
        try {
            System.out.println("Connector.Connecting(): Called");

            FXMLLoader loader = new FXMLLoader(FXMLDocumentController.class.getResource("FXMLDocument.fxml"));
            loader.load();
            FXMLDocumentController controller = (FXMLDocumentController) loader.getController();

            controller.setLabelText("Bye World");
        } catch (IOException ex) {
            Logger.getLogger(Connector.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
        }
    }
}

Output at Console

Connector.Connecting(): Called
FXMLDocumentController.setLabelText(): Called

But could see no changes in the label. Am I missing something major here ?

Answer 1

You can change your Connector class to receive the Controller instance:

public class Connector {
    public static void Connecting(FXMLDocumentController controller) {
        try {
            System.out.println("Connector.Connecting(): Called");
            controller.setLabelText("Bye World");
        } catch (IOException ex) {
            Logger.getLogger(Connector.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
        }
    }
}


public class FXMLDocumentController implements Initializable {

    @FXML
    private Label label;

    @FXML
    private void handleButtonAction(ActionEvent event) {
        System.out.println("FXMLDocumentController.#handleButtonAction");
        label.setText("Hello World!");
        Connector.Connecting(this);
    }

    @Override
    public void initialize(URL url, ResourceBundle rb) {
        // TODO
    }    

    public void setLabelText(String text)
    {
        System.out.println("FXMLDocumentController.setLabelText(): Called");
        label.setText(text);
    }

}

Note:

If your Connector is going to take longer to execute whatever it needs to, you might want to use a Task, so you don't freeze your UI. To update the Label, you have to bind the text property and then update the Text value using the updateMessage() method.

public class FXMLDocumentController implements Initializable {

    @FXML
    private Label label;

    @FXML
    private void handleButtonAction(ActionEvent event) {
        System.out.println("FXMLDocumentController.#handleButtonAction");
        label.setText("Hello World!");

        Task<Boolean> connectorTask = new ConnectorTask();
        label.textProperty().bind(connectorTask.messageProperty());
        connectorTask.setOnSucceeded(e -> {
            // this is going to be called if the task ends up without error
            label.textProperty().unbind();
        });
        new Thread(connectorTask).start();
    }

    @Override
    public void initialize(URL url, ResourceBundle rb) {
        // TODO
    }    

    //public void setLabelText(String text)
    //{
    //    System.out.println("FXMLDocumentController.setLabelText(): Called");
    //    label.setText(text);
    //}


    public class ConnectorTask extends Task<Boolean> {

        @Override
        protected Boolean call() throws Exception {
            // ... do whatever you need here

            // then you call this method to update the TextProperty from the Label that was bound.
            updateMessage("Bye World");

            return Boolean.TRUE;
        }
    }

}