Create read-only (non-editable) JTextField

Byron KiourtzoglouNovember 11th, 2012Last Updated: April 25th, 2013

1 4,210 1 minute read

In this example we are going to see how to create read-only JTextFields in Java Desktop Applications. This is very useful in many occasions.

In order to create a non editable JTextField, all you have to do is:

Create a class that extends JFrame.
Create a new JTextField.
Use setEditable(false) that sets the specified boolean to indicate whether or not this textfield should be editable.
Use add to add the field to the frame.

Let’s see the code:

package com.javacodegeeks.snippets.desktop;
 
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
 
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
 
public class CreateReadOnlyJTextField extends JFrame {
 
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
 
    public CreateReadOnlyJTextField() {
 
        // set flow layout for the frame
        this.getContentPane().setLayout(new FlowLayout());
 
        // create JTextField
        JTextField field = new JTextField();
        field.setText("Java Code Geeks");
 
        // Sets the specified boolean to indicate whether or not
        // this textfield should be editable.
        field.setEditable(false);
 
        // add textfield to frame
        add(field);
 
    }
 
    private static void createAndShowGUI() {
 
  //Create and set up the window.
 
  JFrame frame = new CreateReadOnlyJTextField();
 
  //Display the window.
 
  frame.pack();
 
  frame.setVisible(true);
 
  frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
 
    }
 
    public static void main(String[] args) {
 
  //Schedule a job for the event-dispatching thread:
 
  //creating and showing this application's GUI.
 
  javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
 
public void run() {
 
    createAndShowGUI(); 
 
}
 
  });
    }
 
}