Trying to write to file from text area and write to text area from file

I can successfully write from text area to file, but am having trouble writing from file to text area. The problem seems to lie in Window.setJTextArea(). I have tried using different types of I/O options but am at an impasse. I'm out of my depth here, please offer guidance. There's more body text in class Window but it wasnt passing this site's review stage so I deleted it.

class Window {
file = new File("/Users/samuelballard/eclipse-workspace/cse_1322/ZModule_6/src/lab12/WriteFile.java");
try {
file.createNewFile();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public File getFile() {
return file;
}
public void setEmpty() {
textArea = new JTextArea("Empty");
}
public void setJTextArea() {
textArea = new JTextArea("");
try {
reader = new FileReader("/Users/samuelballard/eclipse-workspace/cse_1322/ZModule_6/src/lab12/WriteFile.java");
textArea.read(reader, "File");
reader.close();
} catch(IOException i) {
i.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void saveJTextArea() {
try {
writer = new FileWriter("/Users/samuelballard/eclipse-workspace/cse_1322/ZModule_6/src/lab12/WriteFile.java");
textArea.write(writer);
writer.close();
} catch (IOException i) {
i.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
final class EventHandler extends Window {
EventHandler() {
put();
get();
}
public void put() {
put.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
// save text area to file
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
saveJTextArea();
}
});
}
public void get() {
get.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
// Display Contents of file
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
setJTextArea();
}
});
}
}

> but am having trouble writing from file to text area. The problem seems to lie in Window.setJTextArea().

Your approach is correct. You should use the read(…) method of the JTextArea.

However, the problem is that you create a new JTextArea and you never add the text area to the frame. So the text is just sitting in memory but is not displayed on the frame.

textArea = new JTextArea("");

Just delete the above statement:

//textArea = new JTextArea("");

The read(…) method will clear the text in the text area before loading the file.

See: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5880169/loading-a-text-file-into-a-textarea/5887380#5887380 for a simple working example.