Here is an answer I saw that was very useful:

import java.io.*;

public class StackTrace {
private static void stackTrace()
{
StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();

PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(sw);

new Throwable().printStackTrace(pw);

System.out.println(sw.toString());

}

public static void main(String[] args) {

stackTrace();

}

} // StackTrace

Output -

java.lang.Throwable
at StackTrace.stackTrace(StackTrace.java:18)
at StackTrace.main(StackTrace.java:23)


instead of System.out.println you could use the setText method of JTextArea.