Java Run another class with a JButton

Question

public class SocialNetwork extends Program 
                implements Constants {

  Canvas canvas = new Canvas();

  public void init() {

    breakoutButton = new JButton("Play Breakout Game");
    breakoutButton.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
    breakoutButton.setBackground(Color.BLACK);
    add(breakoutButton, WEST);
    breakoutButton.addActionListener(this);

   getContentPane().setBackground(Color.BLACK);

   addActionListeners();

   add(canvas);
  }
}

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {

if (e.getActionCommand().equals("Play Breakout Game") || e.getSource() ==   breakoutButton) {

    canvas.displayMessage("game started"); //displayMessage method displays the parameter string on the canvas.
    Breakout bo = new Breakout();
    bo.setVisible(true);
}

}

This is the main code which creates the button which is supposed to launch the breakout game. The code for breakout is :

public class Breakout extends GraphicsProgram {

    public void run() {

      setBackground(Color.BLACK);

      setUpBricks();

      points = new GLabel("Points: " + pointsCounter);
      add(points, getWidth()/2 - points.getWidth()/2, getHeight() - points.getAscent());
      points.setColor(Color.WHITE);

      for(int i=0; i < NTURNS; i++) {
        addMouseListeners();
        setUpGame(); 
        playGame();
        if (brickCounter == 0) {
          GLabel winner = new GLabel("You Win! You got " + pointsCounter + " points.");
          winner.setFont("Times New Roman-25");
          winner.setColor(Color.WHITE);
          add(winner, getWidth()/2 - winner.getWidth()/2, getHeight()/2 - winner.getAscent()/2);
          break;
        } 
      } 
      if (ball.getY() > getHeight()) { 
        GLabel message = new GLabel("Game Over! You got " + pointsCounter + " points.");
        message.setFont("Times New Roman-25");
        message.setColor(Color.WHITE);
        add(message, getWidth()/2 - message.getWidth()/2, getHeight()/2 - message.getAscent()/2);
       }
   }

The problem is that when I click on the button, it registers the click, opens a JFrame, but does not run the program. There is just a blank JFrame. What am I doing wrong? Note: I have only posted the basic code for the breakout game part.

Answer 1

Your code creates the Breakout object and sets its visibility:

Breakout bo = new Breakout();
bo.setVisible(true);

However, you never invoke any other methods. For example you may want to invoke a run method or a main method. You have to call those methods somehow in order to execute the code.

Another option would be to add a listener to the Breakout class so that it executes your code when the window opens, something like this:

addWindowListener(new java.awt.event.WindowAdapter() {
        public void windowOpened(java.awt.event.WindowEvent evt) {
            //call a method that runs the program here!
        }
    });