An example of Adapter Classes

Here's a mouse adapter that beeps when the mouse is clicked

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


public class MouseBeeper extends MouseAdapter  {

  public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
    Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().beep();
  }

}

Without extending the MouseAdapter class, I would have had to write the same class like this

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


public class MouseBeeper implements MouseListener  {

  public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
    Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().beep();
  }

  public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {}
  public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent e) {}
  public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent e) {}
  public void mouseExited(MouseEvent e) {}

}

Adapter classes are a minor convenience. You do not need to use the adapter classes if you don't want to.

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Last Modified August 7, 1997
Copyright 1997 Elliotte Rusty Harold
elharo@sunsite.unc.edu