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# Java Example: Dialog: Take me to your leader

This is similar to the previous program, but it also gets input from the user.

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    // Description: This program gets a string from a dialog box, prints message.
    // File  : examples/introductory/dialog/ToLeader.java
    // Author: Fred Swartz - 2006-December-03 - Placed in public domain.

    import javax.swing.*;

    public class ToLeader {

        public static void main(String[] args) {
            String name;               // A local variable to hold the name.

            name = JOptionPane.showInputDialog(null, "What's your name, Earthling");

            JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Take me to your leader, " + name);
        }
    }

Line 11 - Declaring a local variable.
  This tells the compiler to reserve some memory to hold a String. It's going to hold a name, so we called the variable (a place in the computer's memory) "name". The syntax for a simple declaration is to write the type of thing that a variable will hold (String in this case), followed by the variable name (name in this case).
Line 13 - Asking the user for a String.

  | `JOptionPane`'s `showInputDialog` method displays a message in a dialog box that also accepts user input. It returns a string that can be stored into a variable. This is an assignment statement. The part to the right of the "=" must produce a value, and this value is then stored in the variable on the left (name).

Line 15 - Putting two strings together (concatenation)

  Concantenation, indicated by the plus sign (+), puts two strings together to build a bigger string, which is then passed as a parameter. The plus sign (+) is also used for addition of numbers. |

## Console version

See Java Example: Console: Take me to your leader for how this program would be written using console output.