Java, A Beginner's Guide, 5th Edition, 5th Edition

Events

In the delegation model, an event is an object that describes a state change in a source. Among other reasons, an event can be generated as a consequence of a person interacting with the elements in a graphical user interface, such as pressing a button, entering a character via the keyboard, selecting an item in a list, and clicking the mouse.

Event Sources

An event source is an object that generates an event. A source must register listeners in order for the listener to receive notifications about a specific type of event. Each type of event has its own registration method. Here is the general form:

public void addType Listener (Type Listener el)

Here, Type is the name of the event, and el is a reference to the event listener. For example, ...