Enabling and Disabling Buttons

It is often useful to “disable” a button when it is not appropriate for the user to initiate the action to be taken upon a button click, or when the option represented by a check or radio button is not available. In fact, users expect this behavior. It is disconcerting for the user to click an enabled button, only to have no action take place. To prevent discomforting your users, you must enable and disable buttons depending upon program conditions.

How do I do that?

A button is disabled by:

b1.setEnabled(false);

Conversely, a button is enabled by:

b1.setEnabled(false);

Figure 6-8 shows the effect of disabling an SWT.PUSH-style button:

Disabled push button

Figure 6-8. Disabled push button

The techniques discussed in this chapter are useful when creating and working with Button widgets, which form a central part of many user interfaces.

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