<p>I am trying to create a Key Listener in java however when I try </p>

<pre><code>KeyListener listener = new KeyListener();
</code></pre>

<p>Netbeans is telling me that KeyListener is abstract;cannot be instantiated. I know that I am missing some other piece of this key listener, but since this is my first time using a key listener i am unsure of what else i need. Why is it telling me this?</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

<p>Tomek</p>

```
KeyListener
```
is an interface - it has to be implemented by something. So you could do:
```
```
KeyListener listener = new SomeKeyListenerImplementation();
```
```
but you can't instantiate it directly. You
could
use an anonymous inner class:
```
```
KeyListener listener = new KeyListener()
{
    public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) { /* ... */ }

    public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e) { /* ... */ }

    public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e) { /* ... */ }
};
```
```
It depends on what you want to do, basically.