Articles : JavaBoutique's Introduction to Java :
Components :

Text Entry Components

The JDK also provides the TextField and TextArea components which allow you to get user input. They are derived from TextComponent, so if you are looking for a method that should obviously be there, you should check TextComponent right away.

import java.awt.*;

public class TextEntryExample
  {
  public static void main(String[] args)
    {
    Frame baseFrame = new Frame();
    baseFrame.setLayout(new GridLayout(2,1));
    baseFrame.reshape(10,10,200,200);
    baseFrame.setTitle("Label Example");

    TextField myTextField = new TextField();
    myTextField.setText("Here is some " +
             "default and selected text");
    myTextField.setSelectionStart(0);
    myTextField.setSelectionEnd(4);
    myTextField.setEditable(false);

    TextArea myTextArea = new TextArea
        ("The Text Area widget \n" +
         "allows multiple line text entry." +
         "it is also worth \n noting that it " +
         "will dynamically create scroll " +
         "bars \n if the text goes beyond the " +
         "boundaries of the widget");

    baseFrame.add(myTextField);
    baseFrame.add(myTextArea);

    baseFrame.show();
    }
  }

When compiled and executed, the code above produces the following interface:

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Selena Sol contributes to the JavaBoutique's Introduction to Java. Selena currently works for Barclays Capital in London, one of the leading global investment banks in Europe and has worked as a software developer for the National Center for Human Genome research, Microline Software, Neuron Data, and Electric Eye in Singapore. Selena is perhaps best-known for creating the Public Domain Web Script Archive (Extropia) and writing several books on Web Programming (Perl, CGI, Java).
Email: selena@extropia.com