ActionEvent.ACTION_FIRST has the following syntax.
public static final int ACTION_FIRST
In the following code shows how to use ActionEvent.ACTION_FIRST field.
import java.awt.BorderLayout; import java.awt.Color; import java.awt.event.ActionEvent; import java.awt.event.ActionListener; import java.awt.event.KeyAdapter; import java.awt.event.KeyEvent; import java.awt.event.KeyListener; import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter; import java.awt.event.MouseEvent; import java.awt.event.MouseListener; import java.util.EventListener; /* www . j a v a 2s.c o m*/ import javax.swing.JComponent; import javax.swing.JFrame; import javax.swing.JTextField; import javax.swing.event.EventListenerList; public class Main { public static void main(String args[]) { JFrame frame = new JFrame("Type tab to and then type"); frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); KeyTextComponent keyTextComponent = new KeyTextComponent(); final JTextField textField = new JTextField(); ActionListener actionListener = new ActionListener() { public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent actionEvent) { String keyText = actionEvent.getActionCommand(); textField.setText(keyText); } }; keyTextComponent.addActionListener(actionListener); frame.add(keyTextComponent, BorderLayout.CENTER); frame.add(textField, BorderLayout.SOUTH); frame.setSize(300, 200); frame.setVisible(true); } } class KeyTextComponent extends JComponent { private EventListenerList actionListenerList = new EventListenerList(); public KeyTextComponent() { setBackground(Color.CYAN); KeyListener internalKeyListener = new KeyAdapter() { public void keyPressed(KeyEvent keyEvent) { if (actionListenerList != null) { int keyCode = keyEvent.getKeyCode(); String keyText = KeyEvent.getKeyText(keyCode); ActionEvent actionEvent = new ActionEvent(this, ActionEvent.ACTION_FIRST, keyText); fireActionPerformed(actionEvent); } } }; MouseListener internalMouseListener = new MouseAdapter() { public void mousePressed(MouseEvent mouseEvent) { requestFocusInWindow(); } }; addKeyListener(internalKeyListener); addMouseListener(internalMouseListener); } public void addActionListener(ActionListener actionListener) { actionListenerList.add(ActionListener.class, actionListener); } public void removeActionListener(ActionListener actionListener) { actionListenerList.remove(ActionListener.class, actionListener); } protected void fireActionPerformed(ActionEvent actionEvent) { EventListener listenerList[] = actionListenerList .getListeners(ActionListener.class); for (int i = 0, n = listenerList.length; i < n; i++) { ((ActionListener) listenerList[i]).actionPerformed(actionEvent); } } public boolean isFocusable() { return true; } }