Low-Level Events and Semantic Events

Events can be divided into two groups: low-level events and semantic events. Low-level events represent window-system occurrences or low-level input. Everything else is a semantic event.

Mouse and key events -- both of which result directly from user input -- are low-level events. Other low-level events include component, container, focus, and window events.

Examples of semantic events include action events, item events, and list selection events. The trigger for a semantic event can differ by component. For example, a button customarily fires an action event when the user clicks it, but a text field fires an action event when the user presses Return.