Model for a JButton: manage only the state of the button
import java.awt.FlowLayout; import java.awt.event.ActionEvent; import java.awt.event.ActionListener; import javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel; import javax.swing.JButton; import javax.swing.JCheckBox; import javax.swing.JFrame; import javax.swing.event.ChangeEvent; import javax.swing.event.ChangeListener; public class ButtonModel { public static void main(String[] args) { final JButton ok = new JButton("ok"); JCheckBox cb = new JCheckBox("Enabled", true); ok.setBounds(40, 30, 80, 25); ok.addChangeListener(new ChangeListener() { public void stateChanged(ChangeEvent e) { DefaultButtonModel model = (DefaultButtonModel) ok.getModel(); if (model.isEnabled()) System.out.println("Enabled: true"); else System.out.println("Enabled: false"); if (model.isArmed()) System.out.println("Armed: true"); else System.out.println("Armed: false"); if (model.isPressed()) System.out.println("Pressed: true"); else System.out.println("Pressed: false"); } }); cb.addActionListener(new ActionListener() { public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { if (ok.isEnabled()) ok.setEnabled(false); else ok.setEnabled(true); } }); JFrame f = new JFrame(); f.setLayout(new FlowLayout()); f.add(ok); f.add(cb); f.setSize(350, 250); f.setLocationRelativeTo(null); f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); f.setVisible(true); } }