I'm in beginning programming and I don't fully understand applets yet. However, (with some help from internet tutorials) I was able to create an applet that plays a game of guess with the user. The applet compiles fine, but when it runs, this error message appears: "Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "" at java.lang.NumberFormatException.forInputString(NumberFormatException.java:48) at java.lang.Integer.parseInt(Integer.java:470) at java.lang.Integer.parseInt(Integer.java:499) at Guess.createUserInterface(Guess.java:101) at Guess.<init>(Guess.java:31) at Guess.main(Guess.java:129)" I've tried moving the "userguess = Integer.parseInt( t1.getText() );" on line 101 to multiple places, but I still get the same error. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? The Code: // Creates the game GUI. import javax.swing.*; import java.awt.*; import java.awt.event.*; public class Guess extends JFrame{ private JLabel userinputJLabel; private JLabel lowerboundsJLabel; private JLabel upperboundsJLabel; private JLabel computertalkJLabel; private JButton guessJButton; private JPanel guessJPanel; static int computernum; int userguess; static void declare() { computernum = (int) (100 * Math.random()) + 1; //random number picked (1-100) } // no-argument constructor public Guess() { createUserInterface(); } // create and position GUI components private void createUserInterface() { // get content pane and set its layout Container contentPane = getContentPane(); contentPane.setLayout( null ); contentPane.setBackground( Color.white ); // set up userinputJLabel userinputJLabel = new JLabel(); userinputJLabel.setText( "Enter Guess Here -->" ); userinputJLabel.setBounds( 0, 65, 120, 50 ); userinputJLabel.setHorizontalAlignment( JLabel.CENTER ); userinputJLabel.setBackground( Color.white ); userinputJLabel.setOpaque( true ); contentPane.add( userinputJLabel ); // set up lowerboundsJLabel lowerboundsJLabel = new JLabel(); lowerboundsJLabel.setText( "Lower Bounds Of Guess = 1" ); lowerboundsJLabel.setBounds( 0, 0, 170, 50 ); lowerboundsJLabel.setHorizontalAlignment( JLabel.CENTER ); lowerboundsJLabel.setBackground( Color.white ); lowerboundsJLabel.setOpaque( true ); contentPane.add( lowerboundsJLabel ); // set up upperboundsJLabel upperboundsJLabel = new JLabel(); upperboundsJLabel.setText( "Upper Bounds Of Guess = 100" ); upperboundsJLabel.setBounds( 250, 0, 170, 50 ); upperboundsJLabel.setHorizontalAlignment( JLabel.CENTER ); upperboundsJLabel.setBackground( Color.white ); upperboundsJLabel.setOpaque( true ); contentPane.add( upperboundsJLabel ); // set up computertalkJLabel computertalkJLabel = new JLabel(); computertalkJLabel.setText( "Computer Says:" ); computertalkJLabel.setBounds( 0, 130, 100, 50 ); //format (x, y, width, height) computertalkJLabel.setHorizontalAlignment( JLabel.CENTER ); computertalkJLabel.setBackground( Color.white ); computertalkJLabel.setOpaque( true ); contentPane.add( computertalkJLabel ); //Set up guess jbutton guessJButton = new JButton(); guessJButton.setText( "Enter" ); guessJButton.setBounds( 250, 78, 100, 30 ); contentPane.add( guessJButton ); guessJButton.addActionListener( new ActionListener() // anonymous inner class { // event handler called when Guess button is pressed public void actionPerformed( ActionEvent event ) { guessActionPerformed( event ); } } // end anonymous inner class ); // end call to addActionListener // set properties of application's window setTitle( "Guess Game" ); // set title bar text setSize( 500, 500 ); // set window size setVisible( true ); // display window //create text field TextField t1 = new TextField(); // Blank text field for user input t1.setBounds( 135, 78, 100, 30 ); contentPane.add( t1 ); userguess = Integer.parseInt( t1.getText() ); //create section for computertalk Label computertalkLabel = new Label(""); computertalkLabel.setBounds( 115, 130, 300, 50); contentPane.add( computertalkLabel ); } // Display computer reactions to user guess private void guessActionPerformed( ActionEvent event ) { if (userguess > computernum) //if statements (computer's reactions to user guess) computertalkJLabel.setText( "Computer Says: Too High" ); else if (userguess < computernum) computertalkJLabel.setText( "Computer Says: Too Low" ); else if (userguess == computernum) computertalkJLabel.setText( "Computer Says:You Win!" ); else computertalkJLabel.setText( "Computer Says: Error" ); } // end method oneJButtonActionPerformed // end method createUserInterface // main method public static void main( String args[] ) { Guess application = new Guess(); application.setDefaultCloseOperation (JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); } // end method main } // end class Phone