Clearing contents of TextField using setText does not work in AWT

Question

I am having problems clearing contents of TextField in AWT using setText() method. Apparently, setText("") does not clear the contents of the TextField on pressing the 'Reset' button. Here's my program:

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;

public class form extends Frame
{

    Label lbl = new Label("Name:");
    TextField tf = new TextField();
    Button btn = new Button("Reset");

    public form()
    {
        tf.setColumns(20);

        addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter()
        {
            public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e)
            {
                System.exit(0);
            }
        });


        btn.addActionListener(new ActionListener() 
        {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) 
            {
               tf.setText("");  //Problem occurs here. This does not clear the contents of the text field on pressing the 'Reset' button.

            }
        });


        add(lbl);
        add(tf);
        add(btn);

        setLayout(new FlowLayout());
        setSize(400,100);
        setVisible(true);
        setTitle("Form");

    }


    public static void main(String[] args) 
    {
        new form();
    }

}

Can someone please tell me where I went wrong or suggest an alternative? Thanks.

Works for me as excepted. Type something click on reset and the field is empty. — pL4Gu33, Aug 18 '14 at 17:54
I see the problem as well. What version of Java are you using? I seem to remember seeing this as a known bug, let me see if I can find that... — Kevin Workman, Aug 18 '14 at 18:06
I use both Java 7 update 65 and Java 8 update 11 and the problem seems to persist in both — Soumasish, Aug 18 '14 at 18:11
Why use AWT components rather than Swing? See [this answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/6255978/418556) for many good reasons to abandon AWT. — Andrew Thompson, Aug 19 '14 at 13:18
@AndrewThompson , thanks for the link. I was supposed to use AWT only for creating a form application as my requirement and hence the components. — Soumasish, Aug 19 '14 at 17:37

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 18 '14 at 18:13

I see the problem as well using Java 8u11. I seem to remember this being filed as a known bug, but I can't seem to find it now.

A solution that works for me is to add an intermediate step:

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
   tf.setText(" ");  
   tf.setText("");
}

I'm not sure why this is necessary, I think it's a bug with the setText() function specifically ignoring empty Strings. If somebody finds the filed bug there would be more information there.

Thanks. This quickfix works. If you find any information on this bug, please post the link here. — Soumasish, Aug 18 '14 at 18:16

Aditya Baravkar · Answer 2 · 2018-10-14T05:46:50.540

-1

Add space in setText(" ") in function and see if it works. But there after there will be one space.

edited Oct 14 '18 at 05:46

answered Oct 14 '18 at 05:42

Aditya Baravkar

1
1

2

How is this different from the accepted answer posted 4 years ago? Especially "see if it works"? OP already confirmed it works. – Max Vollmer Oct 14 '18 at 05:46

Clearing contents of TextField using setText does not work in AWT

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