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Swing layering - transparent component ignores underlying AWT element

First, to get it out of the way, I absolutely NEED to use heavyweight AWT component with a swing application. I need features from both of them.
The task is simple - render a heavyweight AWT Canvas (or any other element), render OpenGL scene directly onto it, then display Swing buttons above it for the UI.
My problem is that it works half-way.
I don't seem to have problems with Z-ordering. I am using jLayeredPanes for it, and I can move Canvas between layers and it actually works, popping on top or below other elements.
The problems are with transparency.
The thing is, Swing elements have Opaque parameter, and when it's set to false (non-opaque) - it should basically be transparent and you should see the next element below it. In my case, however, the AWT Canvas gets ignored, and you instead only see the next underlying SWING element.
Here are a couple of screenshots. They are taken from a standalone test project of mine. The canvas is stretched to the size of the frame, and in the upper left there is a JLayeredPane dummy element that is a simplified version of the menu.
On the first screenshot, the JLayeredPane's Opaque setting is set to true, and you can see that it's background property is set to Blue color.
On the second screenshot, everything is exactly the same but Opaque is set to false. Instead of displaying whatever is on the Canvas - what gets drawn in empty grey jFrame background.
Lastly, on the third screenshot I have put Canvas into a jPanel instead of leaving it on its own. As you can see, the Panel's orange color is seen through the transparent jLayeredPane, but the Canvas is yet again hidden.
Here's the code for the Frame layout. I would not post my rendering/context code right now
frame = new JFrame("AWT test");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
frame.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(width, height));
canvas = new Canvas();
canvas.setSize(width,height);
//this part exists only in the third example
JPanel p = new JPanel();
p.setSize(width,height);
p.setBackground(Color.orange);
p.add(canvas);
// third example end
JLayeredPane pane = new JLayeredPane();
JLayeredPane paneMenu = new JLayeredPane();
JButton button = new JButton();
button.setSize(20,20);
paneMenu.setSize(200,200);
paneMenu.add(button, new Integer(1));
paneMenu.setBackground(Color.BLUE);
paneMenu.setOpaque(false); //True for the first example
pane.add(p, new Integer(1)); // canvas for the first two examples
pane.add(paneMenu, new Integer(2));
pane.setOpaque(false);
frame.add(pane);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.transferFocus();
Could anyone please explain me what is going on and how to do what I need to do.
I will repeat again - I have to use heavyweight component as render target. I am aware of solutions like JOGL's GLPanel which is a lightweight Swing-compatible component. But I tried that method and the performance is really slow, because instead of directly rendering onto it as a context target - it reads FrameBuffer from memory, flips it, and then paints it as BufferedImage. This path is not fitting for the limited resources of an embedded system that I'll be running on.
c0der said: Please post minimal reproducible example
Errrrm.... Didn't I?
Here, you can have it in complete java class form if you want, but I literally changed some variables for constants.
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class Main
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
JFrame frame = new JFrame("AWT test");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
frame.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 500));
Canvas canvas = new Canvas();
canvas.setSize(500,500);
canvas.setBackground(Color.RED);
//this part exists only in the third example
JPanel p = new JPanel();
p.setSize(500,500);
p.setBackground(Color.orange);
p.add(canvas);
// third example end
JLayeredPane pane = new JLayeredPane();
JLayeredPane paneMenu = new JLayeredPane();
JButton button = new JButton();
button.setSize(20,20);
paneMenu.setSize(200,200);
paneMenu.add(button, new Integer(1));
paneMenu.setBackground(Color.BLUE);
paneMenu.setOpaque(false); //True for the first example
pane.add(p, new Integer(1)); // canvas for the first two examples
pane.add(paneMenu, new Integer(2));
pane.setOpaque(false);
frame.add(pane);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.transferFocus();
}
}
A little update:
I initially suspected that because Swing elements delegate all their drawing to the underlying heavyweight element (In my case JFrame), then what happens is that the frame generates a single frameBuffer for itself and then displays on top of Canvas. Canvas itself is not handled in this generation and thus the frame "covers" over the canvas.
That doesn't seem to be the case. I tried making the JFrame undecorated, all panels non-opaque, and display the picture. The result - canvas is still "cut", and through the hole you can see the underlying IDE menu.
This makes me think that somewhere during Drawing, the Canvas itself detects that it is obscured by another element, and that it doesn't need to draw that area. So it "optimizes" itself and doesn't update these pixels.
Maybe I'm wrong. But here's another screenshot. This is the same example as before, but I took out 3d rendering and simply trying to display Canvas with background set to Red.

Once again, going to reply to my own question.
It turned out that I need to do
setComponentMixingCutoutShape(paneMenu, new Rectangle());
for the menu pane that lies underneath the button. That essentially tells java not to cut out the element from the heavyweight underlying component.

I can't to get Label and Buttons components in created window

I tryed to learn about GUI and tryed to create the window with two buttons and jne Label on the screen. But I don't understand why I can't see these elements simultaneously. When I comment out lines for buttons I can see the Label element.
Here is my code:
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class MyWin {
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame w = new JFrame("My Window");
w.setSize(1000,800);
w.setVisible(true);
JButton b = new JButton("My button");
b.setVisible(true);
b.setSize(150, 100);
b.setLocation(500, 20);
JButton b2 = new JButton("Second button");
b2.setVisible(true);
b2.setSize(150,100);
b2.setLocation(500, 600);
JLabel l = new JLabel("My label");
l.setVisible(true);
w.getContentPane().add(b);
w.getContentPane().add(b2);
w.getContentPane().add(l);
}
}

The default layout for the JFrame is BorderLayout and when you add your JLabel through single parameter add method you add it with a BorderLayour.CENTER constraint as a default, this causes to fill all the available space. So you might want to use layout manager suitable for your needs, then the components won't overlay themselves.
Visual Guide to Layour Managers

First of all, JFrame uses BorderLayout as a default layout and just adding the components (w.getContentPane().add(b)) sets them in BorderLayout.CENTER; where they occupy the whole JFrame to fill the empty space. Thus, is recommended to add components in a JPanel. So, you should create first a JPanel, add the components to the JPanel and finally add it to the JFrame.
The setSize(...); statement is not applied due to the default layout (FlowLayout) in JPanels and also is discouraged. (Because it won't work properly in different computers with different screen resolutions)
If you want to change the size of the components you should change the default layout and use instead a customLayout, borderLayout, gridLayout...
If you want to understand deeply how layouts work and all the available layouts in Java check this

Putting a JLabel on top of a JLabel in Java

I would like to know how to put a JLabel on top of another JLabel at a specific position, in a class that extends JPanel in Java. People have asked for help with this before but the solutions that I found do not satisfy me. I am using GridLayout, here is some of my code:
//imports
public class Game extends JPanel implements MouseListener {
Icon background = new ImageIcon(getClass().getResource("/background.jpg"));
Icon foreground = new ImageIcon(getClass().getResource("/foreground.jpg"));
JLabel backgr = new JLabel(background);
JLabel foregr = new JLabel(foreground);
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Game");
public Game() {
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
backgr.addMouseListener(this);
frame.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
frame.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200,200));
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.addMouseListener(this);
backgr.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
frame.add(backgr);
backgr.add(foreground);
}
}
(I have a lot of other methods in this class, such as some mouse stuff, but I don't include them here since they are not relevant to this problem.)
Currently the code almost works as I want, the foreground picture is displayed on top of the background, right in the middle of it. But I would like the foreground picture to be displayed at specific coordinates on the background picture. I thought that if I wanted to display the foreground at coordinates (50, 50), I could say backgr.add(foreground, 50,50), this compiles but returns an error when I run the program. Any tips of what to do? It would be really appreciated.
Edit: I discovered that by saying backgr.setLayout(null), backgr.add(foregr) and then foregr.setLocation(50,50), we can do what I was looking for. But since not using a layout manager is discouraged, I am looking for better solutions, so that I can use the coordinates on the backgr Icon.

People have asked for help with this before but the solutions that I found do not satisfy with me since they require me to set the frame layout to null, but I am using GridBagLayout
The frame is using a GridBagLayout.
You are adding the foreground JLabel, so the background JLabel. The background label can use any layout (including null) that you wish.
the foreground picture is displayed on top of the background, right in the middle of it.
That is because you are using a BorderLayout and are adding the foreground to the CENTER, which is the default when you don't specify a constraint.

basic questions in swing components in Java?

my question is could be very basic in terms of understanding this simple code. I wrote this code myself grabbing bits of code from here and there to understand. I would like to actually follow this code line by line as to what each line means?
I have added my understanding as comments above the line of code, it could be wrong or some of them marked as **** means I just dont know what it means. If you could help me out here, it will be great.
Thanks
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.text.ParseException;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
public class TestingSwingComponents {
public TestingSwingComponents() {
//Create a frame which is the window that pops up
JFrame myframe = new JFrame();
//*****
myframe.getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());
//set the frame size to be 600 X 600 size
myframe.setSize(600, 600);
// create Pane1
JPanel myPanel = new JPanel();
//set the Layout component of Panel, as how you would like it to be
//here it is 2 rows and 15 columns
myPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(2, 15));
//create a button with text in it
JButton letterButton = new JButton("click Me");
//add the created button component to the panel
myPanel.add(letterButton);
//******
myframe.getContentPane().add(myPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
// create another panel
JPanel panelFormat = new JPanel();
//create a textfield
JTextField txtfield = new JTextField();
//create a label for the textfield
JLabel label = new JLabel("Guesss");
//set the layout type for this panel
panelFormat.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
//add label to panel
panelFormat.add(label);
//add textfield to panel
panelFormat.add(txtfield);
//I dont know the difference between the below two
//BorderLayout.CENTER still does not center the panel in the frame, I dont know why
myframe.getContentPane().add(panelFormat, BorderLayout.CENTER);
myframe.add(panelFormat);
// default settings
myframe.setTitle("Get buttons");
myframe.setVisible(true);
myframe.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
myframe.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws ParseException {
new TestingSwingComponents();
}
}

myframe.getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());
To answer this, you need to understand the structure of a Swing window. A JFrame (in fact any Swing window) is made up a series of components which generate the view of the window.
(Picture from How to use Root Panes)
A JRootPane makes up the base of view, on-top of which is a JLayeredPane and what is know as the "glass pane". The JLayeredPane is responsible for managing the JMenuBar and the "content pane".
The content pane is where you components reside on the window.
So, what this line is saying is, "get the frame's content pane and set it's layout to use a BorderLayout"
The layouts API is an entire question on it's own and it would be use to you to have a read through Laying out components within a container for a more indeepth description, but basically, layout managers remove the need for you to care (a greate deal) about differences in rendering techniques employeed by different systems...
//******
myframe.getContentPane().add(myPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
This comes back to the layout manager. Because you can have any number of layout managers, Swing allows you to pass a "constraint" to the layout manager when you add the component, giving the layout manager some idea of how you might like this component to be added.
If you take a closer look at BorderLayout you will see that it has five positions in which components can be added.
The line is basically saying, "please add myPanel to the SOUTH position within the frame/content pane"
Update from comments
If you have a look at this snippet...
panelFormat.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
//add label to panel
panelFormat.add(label);
//add textfield to panel
panelFormat.add(txtfield);
It sets the layout manager for panelFormat to BorderLayout. BorderLayout can only have a single component in any of it's five available positions. When you use add(Component) without passing it a layout constraint, BorderLayout use CENTER as the default position, this means you are trying to add two components to the CENTER position, this is not possible, so BorderLayout simply uses the last component that was added.
why not borderlayout fix the size of textfield instead of stretching
it all window
Because this is how BorderLayout works and no, GridLayout would probably do something simular.
You could try FlowLayout or GridBagLayout
Updated from comments
You seriously need to take the time to read through the linked (and other suggested) tutorials...but basically, you can use a GridBagLayout just like any other layout, you create an instance of it and apply it to the container...
// create another panel
JPanel panelFormat = new JPanel();
//create a textfield
JTextField txtfield = new JTextField(10);
//create a label for the textfield
JLabel label = new JLabel("Guesss");
//set the layout type for this panel
panelFormat.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
//add label to panel
panelFormat.add(label);
//add textfield to panel
panelFormat.add(txtfield);
//I dont know the difference between the below two
//BorderLayout.CENTER still does not center the panel in the frame, I dont know why
myframe.getContentPane().add(panelFormat, BorderLayout.CENTER);
myframe.add(panelFormat);

A Swing top-level container, including a JFrame, JDialog is composed of several components all held together including a JRootPane which holds all together, a JLayeredPane, and a contentPane the latter of which holds most of the GUI excepting the top window bar. You can read more about the details in this tutorial here: Top Level Containers:
So when you add a component to a JFrame in a default way, you're actually adding it to its contentPane. In other words, this:
myJFrame.add(myComponent);
is functionally the same as this:
myJFrame.getContentPane().add(myComponent);

For learning Swing, I used this great tutorial which goes over everything you have, and explains it pretty clearly in depth.
The tutorial also goes over the elements that you are having trouble understanding.
Here is said tutorial.

Using JSplitPane with an AWT component

I have an AWT canvas which I cannot convert to a Swing component (it comes from VTK). I wish to display a few of these canvases inside of a JSplitPane. I've read about mixing heavy and light weight components in Java and know that it's a pain in the butt, but I don't have a choice. If I wrap the AWT canvas inside of a JPanel and then put that on the split pane the split pane doesn't function at all. However, if I put the AWT canvas inside of a JPanel and then that inside of a JScrollPane and then those scroll panes on the JSplitPane the split pane does function, but the AWT canvas components don't resize properly. I'm lost about how to get the AWT canvas components to resize properly when the JSplitPane's divider is moved. I can catch the divider moving operation and operate on the AWT canvases at that time, but I don't know what to do. I've tried calling invalidate() then validate() then repaint(), but that didn't work.
Any ideas?
Here's a example of the problem
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class SwingAWTError {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Canvas leftCanvas = new Canvas();
Canvas rightCanvas = new Canvas();
leftCanvas.setBackground(Color.RED);
rightCanvas.setBackground(Color.BLUE);
JPanel leftPanel = new JPanel();
JPanel rightPanel = new JPanel();
leftPanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
rightPanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
leftPanel.add(leftCanvas, BorderLayout.CENTER);
rightPanel.add(rightCanvas, BorderLayout.CENTER);
JScrollPane leftScroll = new JScrollPane();
JScrollPane rightScroll = new JScrollPane();
leftScroll.getViewport().add(leftPanel);
rightScroll.getViewport().add(rightPanel);
JSplitPane split = new JSplitPane();
split.setLeftComponent(leftScroll);
split.setRightComponent(rightScroll);
split.setDividerLocation(400);
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());
frame.getContentPane().add(split, BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.setSize(800, 800);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}

It is a dirty way but this will solve it:
When you call pack() without resizing the window, not much happens. So, when you first resize the window and then call pack(), your components are correcly drawn. This means you can put this dirty method in your divider moved listener method:
frame.setPreferredSize(frame.getSize()); // store the current size to restore it after packing.
frame.setSize(frame.getWidth() + 1, frame.getHeight()); // resize it!!
frame.pack();
I don't know what it is exactly but it is a strange behavour in Java...
Hope this helps until you've found a better solution...

You are kind of out of luck here. There's a pretty good article on this on the sun/oracle website:
http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/articles/mixing/
Essentially it boils down to this guideline (taken from that link, under the z-ordering heading):
Do not mix lightweight (Swing) and
heavyweight (AWT) components within a
container where the lightweight
component is expected to overlap the
heavyweight one.
Edit: I kept browsing that site and came across another link, and it would appear that the situation has improved slightly: http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/GUI/mixing_components/ But I think your case is one of those listed at the bottom in the limitations section:
Limitations
A few situations are not supported:
* Non-opaque lightweight components that have translucent
pixels (0 < alpha < 255) are not
supported. If a partially translucent
lightweight component overlaps a
heavyweight component, the heavyweight
component will not show through.
* Embedded heavyweight components must belong to the process that
created the frame or applet. The
heavyweight component must have a
valid peer within the main process of
the application (or applet).
* Advanced Swing key events, such as those events maintained in an
InputMap, might not work correctly
where lightweight and heavyweight
components are being mixed. There are
no known workarounds.