How can I store the input from a text box in a string?

JTextField player1Text = new JTextField();
player1Text.setSize(400, 400);
inputWindow.add(player1Text);
System.out.println(player1Text.getText());

This will print zero, even though I enter some text in the textbox that appears in the window. However,

    JTextField player1Text = new JTextField("input");
    player1Text.setSize(400, 400);
    inputWindow.add(player1Text);
    System.out.println(player1Text.getText());

This will print 5 because thats the length of "input". What can I do to get the actual input text?