title: Java swing getting input from a JTextField
body: <p>I see something like this asked around a lot, but it hasn't answered my problem. I am fairly new at Java. I am trying to get some input from a <code>JTextField</code> and return it as a <code>String</code> so I can use it for comparison in a different class. This is what I see as an answer, I'd like to be able to use <code>str</code> in any other part of the class. </p>
  
  <pre class="lang-java prettyprint-override"><code>import java.awt.BorderLayout;
  import java.awt.Color;
  import java.awt.Container;
  import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
  import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
  import javax.swing.JButton;
  import javax.swing.JFrame;
  import javax.swing.JTextArea;
  
  public class ClassFrame extends JFrame {
  
      private static final long serialVersionUID = 2451829341034438685L;
  
      public static JButton inputButton = new JButton("Send");
      public static JTextArea editTextArea = new JTextArea("Type Here!");
      public static JTextArea uneditTextArea = new JTextArea();
  
      public ClassFrame(String title) {
          //SET LAYOUT MANAGER (How it arranges components)
          setLayout(new BorderLayout());
          //////CREATE SWING COMPONENTS////////////
          //OUTPUT TEXT AREA
          uneditTextArea.setEditable(false);
  
          //INPUT TEXT AREA
          editTextArea.setBackground(Color.BLUE);
          editTextArea.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
  
          //SET CONTENT PANE
          Container c = getContentPane();
  
          //ADD COMPONENTS TO CONTENT PANE        
          c.add(uneditTextArea, BorderLayout.CENTER);
          c.add(editTextArea, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
          c.add(inputButton, BorderLayout.WEST);
  
          ClassFrame.inputButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
  
              @Override
              public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                  String str = editTextArea.getText();
                  editTextArea.setText(" ");
                  System.out.println(str);                
              }
          });
      }
  }
  </code></pre>