Difference between requestFocusInWindow() and grabFocus() in Swing

Question

I would like to know the difference between requestFocusInWindow() and grabFocus() methods. Both of them work fine for grabbing the focus for me in this program. Therefore, i couldn't understand the difference.

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
class Focus extends JFrame
{
JButton jb;

    public Focus()
    {
        createAndShowGUI();
    }

    private void createAndShowGUI()
    {
        setTitle("grabFocus() vs requestFocusInWindow()");
        setLayout(new FlowLayout());
        setSize(400,400);
        setVisible(true);
        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        jb=new JButton("Open Dialog");
        jb.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
            {
                showDialog();
            }
        });

        add(jb);
    }

    private void showDialog()
    {
        JDialog jd=new JDialog();
        jd.setLayout(new GridLayout(2,2));
        jd.setVisible(true);


        JLabel l1=new JLabel("Label 1");
        JLabel l2=new JLabel("Label 2");

        JTextField jt1=new JTextField(20);
        JTextField jt2=new JTextField(20);

        jd.add(l1);
        jd.add(jt1);
        jd.add(l2);
        jd.add(jt2);

        // Both of them are doing the thing
        //jt2.grabFocus();
        jt2.requestFocus();

        jd.pack();
    }

    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable(){
            public void run()
            {
                new Focus();
            }
        });
    }
}

Answer 1

The answer is simple, grabFocus() grabs the focus, no matter whether the top-level ancestor is the focused window. If the window is not active, then it is made active to let the component get the focus.

Whereas, requestFocusInWindow() gets the focus for the component on which it is called only when its top-level ancestor is the focused window.

In your example, JDialog is the top level ancestor, it gets focus automatically when the JButton is clicked. So requestFocusInWindow() and grabFocus() does not make a difference.

I have re-written the program to better understand the difference using a pragmatic approach.

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
class Focus extends JFrame
{
JButton jb;
JTextField jt;

    public Focus()
    {
        createAndShowGUI();
    }

    private void createAndShowGUI()
    {
        setTitle("grabFocus() vs requestFocusInWindow()");
        setLayout(new FlowLayout());
        setSize(400,400);
        setVisible(true);
        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        jb=new JButton("Open Dialog");
        jb.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
            {
                showDialog();
            }
        });

        add(jb);

        jt=new JTextField(20);

        add(jt);
    }

    private void showDialog()
    {
        JDialog jd=new JDialog();
        jd.setLayout(new GridLayout(2,2));
        jd.setVisible(true);


        JLabel l1=new JLabel("Label 1");
        JLabel l2=new JLabel("Label 2");

        JTextField jt1=new JTextField(20);
        JTextField jt2=new JTextField(20);

        jd.add(l1);
        jd.add(jt1);
        jd.add(l2);
        jd.add(jt2);

        jt.requestFocusInWindow();
        //jt.grabFocus();

        jd.pack();
    }

    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable(){
            public void run()
            {
                new Focus();
            }
        });
    }
}

Here, requestFocusInWindow() is called on jt and it doesn't work (i.e. jt doesn't get the focus) because the JDialog is made active when the JButton is clicked and JTextField in the JDialog gets the focus.

Next, grabFocus() works. When the JButton is clicked, JDialog is displayed, but will not be active. Because upon call to the grabFocus(), immediately the JFrame becomes the active top-level ancestor and jt is forced to get the focus.