2 replies to this topic

[buddybob]

Hi all,

Here is a solution which can help you redirect standard output stream (System.out) and standard error stream (System.err) outputs to a javax.swing.JTextArea control. These can be helpful if you want to develop applications which execute external programs and capture their output within your program (Similar to JCreator   )

CODE

/*
*
* @(#) TextAreaOutputStream.java
*
*/

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;

/**
* An output stream that writes its output to a javax.swing.JTextArea
* control.
*
* @author  Ranganath Kini
* @see      javax.swing.JTextArea
*/
public class TextAreaOutputStream extends OutputStream {
    private JTextArea textControl;
    
    /**
     * Creates a new instance of TextAreaOutputStream which writes
     * to the specified instance of javax.swing.JTextArea control.
     *
     * @param control   A reference to the javax.swing.JTextArea
     *                  control to which the output must be redirected
     *                  to.
     */
    public TextAreaOutputStream( JTextArea control ) {
        textControl = control;
    }
    
    /**
     * Writes the specified byte as a character to the
     * javax.swing.JTextArea.
     *
     * @param   b   The byte to be written as character to the
     *              JTextArea.
     */
    public void write( int b ) throws IOException {
        // append the data as characters to the JTextArea control
        textControl.append( String.valueOf( ( char )b ) );
    }  
}

The TextAreaOutputStream extends the java.io.OutputStream class and overrides its write( int ) method overload, this class uses a reference to a javax.swing.JTextArea control instance and then appends output to it whenever its write( int b ) method is called.

To use the TextAreaOutputStream class, u shud use:

CODE

// Create an instance of javax.swing.JTextArea control
JTextArea txtConsole = new JTextArea();

// Now create a new TextAreaOutputStream to write to our JTextArea control and wrap a
// PrintStream around it to support the println/printf methods.
PrintStream out = new PrintStream( new TextAreaOutputStream( txtConsole ) );

// redirect standard output stream to the TextAreaOutputStream
System.setOut( out );

// redirect standard error stream to the TextAreaOutputStream
System.setErr( out );

// now test the mechanism
System.out.println( "Hello World" );

Here is a screenshot of a sample program I have used this technique in:



Your comments are invited.

Try it out. Hope it helps!  

[jeef]

haha, nice :)

[jdeegan]

Hi,

Would it be okay with you if I use this (attributed with your name and this URL) in some code that is open source and produced by a non-profit organization?

Thanks,

Jen