Message Dialog Box Java Program

Creating Message Boxes in Java

A message box is a simple pop-up window that displays a message to the user and is dismissed with the click of a button. Using Java, you don't have to build your own dialog boxes from scratch; the JOptionPane class provides standard methods for making a variety of dialog boxes. 

Java Source Code for Dialog Boxes

Below is example code showing simple message dialog boxes created using the showMessageDialog, showOptionDialog and showConfirmDialog methods of the JOptionPane class. The program goes through a couple of examples for each method leading to a series of dialog boxes appearing one after the other. 

Tip: Have a look at JOptionPane Option Chooser Program for a more in-depth application that gives the user the option of creating all the different variations of a dialog box.

//This program shows a series of dialog boxes one //after the other //Imports are listed in full to show what's being used //could just import javax.swing.* and java.awt.* etc.. import javax.swing.JFrame; import javax.swing.JOptionPane; import javax.swing.UIManager; import javax.swing.Icon; import java.awt.EventQueue; public class SimpleDialogFrame extends JFrame{ //Using a standard Java icon private Icon optionIcon = UIManager.getIcon("FileView.computerIcon"); //Application start point public static void main(String[] args) { //Use the event dispatch thread for Swing components EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() { public void run() { //create GUI frame new SimpleDialogFrame().setVisible(true); } }); } public SimpleDialogFrame() { //make sure the program exits when the frame closes setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); setTitle("Simple Dialog Box Example");  setSize(500,500); //This will center the JFrame in the middle of the screen setLocationRelativeTo(null); //TO TRY: Comment out the above line and use null for the parent //component in one of the JOptionPane calls to see the difference //it makes to the position of the dialog box. setVisible(true); //Use the showMessageDialog method for a plain message dialog box JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this, "This is the dialog message" ,"This is the dialog title", JOptionPane.PLAIN_MESSAGE); //Use the showMessageDialog method for a error message dialog box JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this, "This is the dialog message" ,"This is the dialog title", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE); //Use the showConfirmDialog method for a warning message dialog box //with OK, CANCEL buttons. Capture the button number with an int variable int choice = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(this, "This is the dialog message" ,"This is the dialog title", JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE , JOptionPane.OK_CANCEL_OPTION); //Use the showConfirmDialog method for an information message dialog box //with YES, NO, CANCEL buttons. It shows the button choice of previous //message box JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(this,"Last button pressed was number " + choice , "This is the dialog title", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE , JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION); //The showOptionDialog method can be made to work as if it were the confirmDialog //method by using null for the last three parameters. In this case the options for //the button types (YES, NO, CANCEL) and the message type (INFORMATION_MESSAGE) //will be used. JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(this, "This is the dialog message" , "This is the dialog title", JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION, JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE ,null, null, null); //Use the showOptionDialog method to make a custom box. If the options parameter //is null the YES, NO, CANCEL buttons are used. Also notice that even though //the message type is INFORMATION_MESSAGE the usual icon is overriden by the one //provided. JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(this, "This is the dialog message" , "This is the dialog title", JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION, JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE ,optionIcon, null, null); //String array to be used for the buttons String[] buttonOptions = new String[] {"Happy Button", "Sad Button", "Confused Button"}; //If the options parameter is not null the YES, NO, CANCEL buttons are not used //The buttons are made with the object array - in this case a String array. JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(this, "This is the dialog message" , "This is the dialog title", JOptionPane.YES_NO_CANCEL_OPTION, JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE  ,optionIcon, buttonOptions, buttonOptions[0]); } }