question: private static Component findByName ( Container root , String componentName ) { if ( verbose ) { log ( "findByName(" + root + ", " + componentName + ")" ) ; } int count = root . getComponentCount ( ) ; for ( int iter = 0 ; iter < count ; iter ++ ) { Component c = root . getComponentAt ( iter ) ; String n = c . getName ( ) ; if ( n != null && n . equals ( componentName ) ) { return c ; } if ( c instanceof Container ) { c = findByName ( ( Container ) c , componentName ) ; if ( c != null ) { return c ; } } } return null ; }
target:  Finds a component with the given name, works even with UI's that weren't created with the GUI builder