How do I get a source object from actionPerformed to be able to work with the getText() method and output the text from a JButton to a String file?

Question

My program is supposed to output the the text of the selected JButton to the console. The problem I am running into is that I don't understand how to get the source object to recognize the getText() method so that I can do the above.

Here is the Error Code:

Error: cannot find symbol
  symbol:   method getText()
  location: variable source of type java.lang.Object

Here is the Program Code:

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;


public class PanelExample extends JFrame implements ActionListener{

  JButton b1;
  JButton b2;
  JButton b3;
  JButton b4;
  JButton b5;
  JButton b6;
  String response;

   public void makePanels() {
        Container c = getContentPane();
        b1 = new JButton("Item 1");
        b2 = new JButton("Item 2");
        b3 = new JButton("Item 3");
        b4 = new JButton("Item 4");
        b5 = new JButton("Item 5");
        b6 = new JButton("Item 6");

        JPanel p1 = new JPanel();
        p1.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
        p1.add(new JButton("Ok"));
        p1.add(new JButton("Cancel"));
        p1.add(new JLabel(response));

        JPanel p2 = new JPanel();
        p2.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
        p2.add(new JLabel("Make a Selection"));

        JPanel p3 = new JPanel();
        p3.setLayout(new BoxLayout(p3, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
        p3.add(b1);
        p3.add(b2);
        p3.add(b3);

        JPanel p4 = new JPanel();
        p4.setLayout(new BoxLayout(p4, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
        p4.add(b4);
        p4.add(b5);
        p4.add(b6);

        c.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        c.add(p1, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        c.add(p2, BorderLayout.NORTH);
        c.add(p3, BorderLayout.WEST);
        c.add(p4,BorderLayout.EAST);  
        b1.addActionListener(this);
        b2.addActionListener(this);
        b3.addActionListener(this);
        b4.addActionListener(this);
        b5.addActionListener(this);
        b6.addActionListener(this);

        pack();
        setVisible(true);
    }

   public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event){
     Object source = event.getSource();
     String text = source.getText();
     System.out.println(text);
   }


    public static void main(String[] args) {
        PanelExample frame = new PanelExample();
        frame.makePanels();
        frame.setSize(200, 250);
    }

}

Throughout all the posts I have searched I have not found one that will help me with my specific problem. Thanks for the Help.

Answer 1

Create an object of JButton in action performed method and cast event.getSource to JButton. e.g. JButton button = (JButton) event.getSource();

String str = button.getText();
System.out.println(str);