Develop Reference

Transparent JTextField .setOpaque(false) doesn't work

JTextField textbox1;
textbox1 = new JTextField();
textbox1.setBounds((549+x),(61+y),295,17);
textbox1.setOpaque(false);
Main.panel.add(textbox1);
I need a Textbox on top of an image to show the image underneath but still be able to be typed in. I've tried using the textbox1.setOpaque(false) method but it didn't change anything and didn't throw and error. Sorry if i didn't format the code properly I tried but I just don't use this site very often.

set only the background of the text box to transparent
setBackground(new Color(0,0,0,0));
Use
setOpaque(false);
Only when your text field has child components inside the textfield you want to make visible but not the textfield itself to avoid artifacts
The following example has a text field over a red circle.
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class JunkStop{
public static void main(String[] args){
JFrame frame = new JFrame("wakka");
JPanel layout = new JPanel(null);
JPanel background = new JPanel(){
public void paintComponent(Graphics g){
super.paintComponent(g);
g.setColor(Color.RED);
g.fillOval(100, 100, 200, 200);
}
};
background.setOpaque(false);
JTextField field = new JTextField("testing");
field.setBackground( new Color(0, 0, 0, 0) );
layout.add(field);
layout.add(background);
field.setSize(new Dimension(200, 20));
field.setBounds(100, 150, 200, 20);
background.setBounds(0, 0, 400, 400);
frame.setContentPane(layout);
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.setSize(400, 400);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
}

Java Swing Pixels Being Inaccurate

I am designing a Java app with Swing, and I have trouble designing the GUI without a layout.
My purpose is to design a GUI with one JPanel and four JButtons. I've done the math to set buttons and panel on the right place and coded like the following:
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class MainFrame extends JFrame {
public MainFrame() {
this.setTitle("Example Frame");
this.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
this.setLayout(null);
JPanel randomPanel = new JPanel();
randomPanel.setOpaque(true);
randomPanel.setBackground(Color.RED);
randomPanel.setBounds(10, 10, 430, 530);
JButton addButton = new JButton("Add");
addButton.setBounds(10, 550, 100, 40);
addButton.setBackground(Color.GRAY);
JButton deleteButton = new JButton("Delete");
deleteButton.setBounds(120, 550, 100, 40);
deleteButton.setBackground(Color.GRAY);
JButton refreshButton = new JButton("Refresh");
refreshButton.setBounds(230, 550, 100, 40);
refreshButton.setBackground(Color.GRAY);
JButton devButton = new JButton("Developer");
devButton.setBounds(340, 550, 100, 40);
devButton.setBackground(Color.GRAY);
this.add(randomPanel);
this.add(addButton);
this.add(deleteButton);
this.add(refreshButton);
this.add(devButton);
this.setSize(900, 600);
this.setResizable(false);
this.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
new MainFrame();
}
}
Following to the code, the components are expected to be placed as following:
However, the actual form was displayed as following:
The components exceed the form, which does not match with the expected look.
What is the problem of this and what should be done for an accurate placement of components?

There are two main problems...
setLayout(null)
setSize
What you've not taken into account is the fact that the amount of space available to the content of the window, is the size of the window MINUS the frame decorations.
Pixel perfect layouts are an illusion in modern UI development and are best avoided.
You could have a look at:
What's wrong with the Null Layout in Java?
Why is it frowned upon to use a null layout in Swing?
Why null layout and absolute positions are bad practice in Java Swing?
for more details.
A better solution is to make use one or more available layout managers. The example below simply makes use of BorderLayout and GridLayout with the help of EmptyBorder to provide some padding
See Laying Out Components Within a Container for more details
Benefits
Adaptable layout:
The example uses pack to "pack" the window around the content, automatically, without you having to adapt your code to the currently running OS (or frame decorations provided by different look and feels)
The user can change the size of the window and the content will resize automatically - bonus to the user.
The layout will adapt to the user's system settings, so if they are using a font larger then you've designed for, it won't completely blow up in your face
Want to add more buttons? No worries, knock yourself out, just add more buttons, the layout will adapt automatically, no need to "pixel push" ever component on the screen
Runnable example...
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.UnsupportedLookAndFeelException;
import javax.swing.border.EmptyBorder;
public class Test {
public static void main(String[] args) {
new Test();
}
public Test() {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} catch (ClassNotFoundException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException | UnsupportedLookAndFeelException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Testing");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(new TestPane());
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
public class TestPane extends JPanel {
public TestPane() {
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
setBorder(new EmptyBorder(10, 10, 10, 10));
add(new SizablePane(430, 530));
JPanel buttonPane = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1, 3, 20, 0));
buttonPane.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(10, 0, 0, 0));
buttonPane.add(new JButton("Add"));
buttonPane.add(new JButton("Delete"));
buttonPane.add(new JButton("Refresh"));
buttonPane.add(new JButton("Developer"));
add(buttonPane, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
}
}
public class SizablePane extends JPanel {
private Dimension size;
public SizablePane(int width, int height) {
size = new Dimension(width, height);
setBackground(Color.RED);
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return size;
}
}
}
Need to add more buttons? Easy...
JPanel buttonPane = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1, 0, 20, 0));
buttonPane.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(10, 0, 0, 0));
buttonPane.add(new JButton("Add"));
buttonPane.add(new JButton("Delete"));
buttonPane.add(new JButton("Refresh"));
buttonPane.add(new JButton("Developer"));
buttonPane.add(new JButton("Some"));
buttonPane.add(new JButton("More"));
buttonPane.add(new JButton("Buttons"));

I'm quite late, I don't think this will be helpful to OP anymore... But to anyone else in the same situation.
As others mentioned, when you setSize on a JFrame, that includes the title bar and borders. There's a way to get the size values for those, but... If you want to lay things out manually in your content pane, why not prepare a content pane first, then add it to the JFrame?
class MainPanel extends JPanel {
public MainPanel() {
setLayout(null);
setPreferredSize(new Dimension(900, 600));
// JFrame will have some layouting going on,
// it won't listen to setSize
JPanel randomPanel = new JPanel();
randomPanel.setOpaque(true);
randomPanel.setBackground(Color.RED);
randomPanel.setBounds(10, 10, 430, 530);
JButton addButton = new JButton("Add");
addButton.setBounds(10, 550, 100, 40);
addButton.setBackground(Color.GRAY);
JButton deleteButton = new JButton("Delete");
deleteButton.setBounds(120, 550, 100, 40);
deleteButton.setBackground(Color.GRAY);
JButton refreshButton = new JButton("Refresh");
refreshButton.setBounds(230, 550, 100, 40);
refreshButton.setBackground(Color.GRAY);
JButton devButton = new JButton("Developer");
devButton.setBounds(340, 550, 100, 40);
devButton.setBackground(Color.GRAY);
this.add(randomPanel);
this.add(addButton);
this.add(deleteButton);
this.add(refreshButton);
this.add(devButton);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame mainFrame = new JFrame();
mainFrame.setTitle("Example Frame");
mainFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
mainFrame.setContentPane(new MainPanel());
mainFrame.pack();
mainFrame.setResizable(false);
mainFrame.setVisible(true);
}
}
If you mess with JFrame directly you're sort of bypassing the component system. Whereas this way, you're doing components just fine! Now, you have a JFrame fit to a single child panel, which has some things laid out manually.
This is how I normally do things, in such a situation.
P.S. "Don't lay things out manually, just use layout managers" is not something you can apply everywhere. You may need custom components sometimes, especially for something like a video game, where you have a game screen that you're custom rendering. Inside the game screen, you would be doing manual layout. They can coexist just fine, as long as you know which is which.

You need to override the getInsets() method of the underlying JFrame.
#Override
public Insets getInsets() {
return new Insets(0, 0, 0, 0);
}
Take a look at this question for more information.

PaintComponent not drawing anything

public checkersView()
{
super("Checkers");
Content content=new Content();
setContentPane(content);
this.pack();
this.repaint();
checkersBoard boardOfChecks=new checkersBoard();
add(boardOfChecks);
Dimension screensize = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize();
this.setLocation( (screensize.width - this.getWidth())/2,
(screensize.height - this.getHeight())/2 );
this.setDefaultCloseOperation( JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE );
this.setResizable(false);
this.setVisible(true);
}`public class Content extends JPanel{
Content() {
setBackground(Color.BLACK);
setLayout(null);
setPreferredSize( new Dimension(400,300) );
resignButton = new JButton("Resign");
newGameButton = new JButton("New Game");
message = new JLabel("",JLabel.CENTER);
message.setFont(new Font("Serif", Font.BOLD, 14));
message.setForeground(Color.green);
newGameButton.setBounds(210, 60, 120, 30);
resignButton.setBounds(210, 120, 120, 30);
message.setBounds(0, 200, 350, 30);
add(newGameButton);
add(resignButton);
add(message);
}
}`public class checkersBoard extends JPanel{
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {...}`
After running in my main function, this is the result:
The function PaintComponent which is supposed to draw a checkersboard is never used...
ss
edit: As it may not seem clear, all of those classes are inner classes of CheckersView

First of all, class names should start with an upper case character. Follow Java convention and be consistent.
Swing was designed to be used with layout managers. Layout manager will determine the size and location of components added to a panel.
By default Swing components have a size of (0, 0). Because you are using a null and you don't set the size properly there is nothing to paint.
So, use layout managers and you won't have this problem.
Also, read the section from the Swing tutorial on Custom Painting. The examples will show how to override the getPreferredSize() method of your panel to that your component will work properly with layout managers.

Not managing to make jTextField background transparent in netbeans [duplicate]

I'm working on a log in server & my JTextFields aren't transparent when I set Opaque to false.
My code:
//username
JTextField jUsername = new JTextField(10);
jUsername.setBounds(520, 284, 190, 25);
jUsername.setOpaque(false);
jUsername.setBorder(null);
getContentPane().add(jUsername);
//password
JTextField jPassword = new JTextField(15);
jPassword.setBounds(520, 374, 190, 25);
jPassword.setOpaque(false);
jPassword.setBorder(null);
//jPassword.setBackground(new Color(Color.TRANSLUCENT));
getContentPane().add(jPassword);
An Image what is still happening:
Anyone ever seen this before or know how to fix it? I've looked around but no one had the same problem as I do, & the fixes for theirs didn't work for mine. ( I Know I'm not using JPasswordField for password, that's temporary )

Basically, the UI delegate of the text field paints not only the text but also the field area (within the border) regardless of the opaque setting.
What you can do, is set the background color to a transparent value, something like new Color(0, 0, 0, 0) for example, which is fully transparent.
For example...
JTextField jUsername = new JTextField(10);
jUsername.setBounds(520, 284, 190, 25);
jUsername.setBackground(new Color(0, 0, 0, 0));
jUsername.setOpaque(false);
jUsername.setBorder(null);
getContentPane().add(jUsername);
//password
JTextField jPassword = new JTextField(15);
jPassword.setBounds(520, 374, 190, 25);
jPassword.setBackground(new Color(0, 0, 0, 0));
jPassword.setOpaque(false);
jPassword.setBorder(null);
//jPassword.setBackground(new Color(Color.TRANSLUCENT));
getContentPane().add(jPassword);
You can affect the transparency of a color by changing the last parameter, for example new Color(255, 255, 255, 128) would white, 50% transparent...
You may also wish to change the caret color, take a look at JTextComponent#setCaretColor for more details

no idea what you tried, for better help sooner post an SSCCE, short. runnable, compilable with setBackground instead of Image
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.text.*;
public class LabelImageText extends JPanel {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
public LabelImageText() {
JTextField jUsername = new JTextField(10);
jUsername.setText("MyText");
jUsername.setOpaque(false);
//jUsername.setBorder(null);
add(jUsername);
JTextField jPassword = new JTextField(15);
jPassword.setText("MyText");
jPassword.setOpaque(false);
//jPassword.setBorder(null);
add(jPassword);
setBackground(Color.RED);
}
private static void createAndShowUI() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("set Opaque");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(new LabelImageText());
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
createAndShowUI();
}
});
}
}

I tried with another option and it worked for me.
You can modify the property Background of the textfield. Select the option custom code in the Selection Box and paste new Color(0, 0, 0, 0)in the txtField.setBackground property.
Then just change the border property to No border. and finally uncheck the opaque checkbox.
Here a capture of my netbeans interface

JPanel not showing when added to JFrame

I am creating a GUI in java. Currently i have an empty JFrame and am trying to add a JPanel to it. The JPanel contains buttons, text etc. However none of this is being displayed. My code is as follows:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class memoDisplayUI {
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
JPanel panel = new JPanel();
JTextArea jTextBox = new JTextArea();
JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane();
/**
* Launch the application.
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
memoDisplayUI frame = new memoDisplayUI();
frame.frame.setVisible(true);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
}
/**
* Create the application.
*/
public memoDisplayUI() {
initialize();
}
/**
* Initialize the contents of the frame.
*/
private void initialize() {
frame.getContentPane().setBackground(new Color(255, 255, 255));
frame.getContentPane().setLayout(null);
frame.setBounds(100, 100, 270, 400);
frame.setUndecorated(true); //REMOVES MENU BAR
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
JLabel lblMemos = new JLabel("MEMOS");
lblMemos.setForeground(new Color(100, 149, 237));
lblMemos.setFont(new Font("Moire", Font.BOLD, 30));
lblMemos.setBounds(16, 16, 234, 37);
panel.add(lblMemos);
JButton button = new JButton("");
button.setBackground(new Color(100, 149, 237));
button.setBounds(7, 350, 40, 40);
panel.add(button);
button.setIcon(new ImageIcon("back.png"));
JButton button_1 = new JButton("");
button_1.setBackground(new Color(100, 149, 237));
button_1.setBounds(113, 350, 40, 40);
panel.add(button_1);
button_1.setIcon(new ImageIcon("Edit.png"));
JButton button_2 = new JButton("");
button_2.setBackground(new Color(100, 149, 237));
button_2.setBounds(220, 350, 40, 40);
panel.add(button_2);
button_2.setIcon(new ImageIcon("memo.png"));
JButton btnExit = new JButton("");
btnExit.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0) {
System.exit(0);
}
});
btnExit.setBorder(null);
btnExit.setIcon(new ImageIcon("Exit.jpg"));
btnExit.setBounds(216, 19, 40, 40);
panel.add(btnExit);
jTextBox = new JTextArea();
scroll.setViewportView(jTextBox); // add scroll panel
jTextBox.setTabSize(4);
jTextBox.setLineWrap(true);
jTextBox.setBackground(new Color(192, 192, 192));
jTextBox.setBounds(8, 60, 255, 286);
panel.add(jTextBox);
frame.getContentPane().add(panel);
}
}
Could someone please advise as to why this is?
Thanks very much :)
Edit
From a few tweaks to the code, it appears this is the desired layout (in a non-resizable GUI).

I think you used null to get a "place it wherever fits"? Then use a FlowLayout
frame.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
That should fix it :)

Could someone please advise as to why this is?
Using null layouts and not calling pack().
The image I edited into the question was obtained as a screenshot of the GUI after I had commented out the call to setUndecorated(true) and dragged it a little bigger. Doing so causes the JRE to validate the component structure (what pack() would do) and thereby make the components appear.
As I mentioned in a comment:
..a better question would be "How to layout this GUI?" (so long as you provide an attempt)
And that leads me to my first comment. (Now in longer form)
Java GUIs might have to work on a number of platforms, on different screen resolutions & using different PLAFs. As such they are not conducive to exact placement of components. To organize the components for a robust GUI, instead use layout managers, or combinations of them1, along with layout padding & borders for white space2.
So coming back to:
(so long as you provide an attempt)
Look over those two examples to see how they work, then attempt to combine some layouts and padding to create a frame that can then be packed to reduce to the natural size.
And a tip the the JTextArea. Suggest a size in columns x rows combined with the Font size.

1: You should never call setLayout(null).
2: Try frame.validate() to layout the components with your layout.

Replace
frame.getContentPane().setLayout(null);
with
frame.getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());
Good luck.
Edit: For future reference, to decide which LayoutManager should be used in your case, you should refer to this Visual Guide to LayoutManagers.

Just remove/comment this line from the above code at line number 46.
// frame.getContentPane().setLayout(null);
It should work fine..

Maybe you shoul replace :
frame.getContentPane().add(panel);
by
frame.setContentPane(panel);
Hope it helped