Comboboxes (Pull Down Menus)

Basic Code Pieces:

Declare 
JComboBox people;
Set the options to go in the combobox 
String [] peopleStrings = {"Pascal", "Fermat", "Euler",    
    "Turing", "Mandlebrot", "Wiles"};
Construct the combobox, pass it the array of options you made earlier. 
JComboBox people = new JComboBox (peopleStrings);
Pick which option you want to be the default 
people.setSelectedIndex (3);
Set the action listener and add to the applet 
people.setActionCommand ("people");
       people.addActionListener (this);
       add (people);
In ActionPerformer:
use e.getSource to find the source, use getSelectedItem() to figure out what the user choose		 
if (e.getActionCommand ().equals ("people"))
       { //To draw the name that is in the peoples combo box
       JComboBox cb = (JComboBox) e.getSource ();
       people_s = (String) cb.getSelectedItem ();
       showStatus(people_s);
       }

The Full Code:

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.applet.Applet;
public class combobox extends Applet implements ActionListener
{
   //Declare the widgets 
   JComboBox people; 
   String people_s;
 public void init ()
 {
   //Create the options for the box
   people_s = "Turing"; //the default option
   //the other options
   String [] peopleStrings = {"Pascal", "Fermat", "Euler",    "Turing", "Mandlebrot", "Wiles"};
   
   //Create the combo box for people
   JComboBox people = new JComboBox (peopleStrings);
   people.setSelectedIndex (3);
   people.setActionCommand ("people");
   people.addActionListener (this);
   add (people); 
 }
 public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent e)
 {
   
   if (e.getActionCommand ().equals ("people"))
   { //To draw the name that is in the peoples combo box
     JComboBox cb = (JComboBox) e.getSource ();
     people_s = (String) cb.getSelectedItem ();
     showStatus(people_s);
   }
   
 }
}