Develop Reference

How can I add a HUD using native Java to a 2.5D game

I have a 2.5D isometric game that I would like to add a interactive HUD to. I tried using JButtons with Icons but could not draw both the button and my game at once. I'm looking for a cost-efficient (computer resources-wise) technique in which I can draw my own images/buttons to the screen on top of my game.

Most likely will require you to create your own.
First you will need a method of capturing the click event (You may be able to use Swing's existing one depending on your engine). You could for example register a single click event on the screen itself and then implement a method of "capturing" that event through to the component which was clicked on.
Next you will want to create button class which handles its state (MouseOver,Pressed,Unpressed), size and position.
Finally style or how you want your buttons to look. one possible method would be a 9-Patch, which is essentially 9 tiny images that are repeated in such a way to form a stretchable button.
9 Patch Resource - It's for android but the concept still applies
You can also take a look to see how other engines do it such as LibGDX.
Hope This Helps

Program with split screen, how can I change the content [Java]

I had just a few class of java on college, but I want to do a thing that I don't know how.
Is basically a window with a SplitPane, on Left side I have a menu made with toggle buttons, and on the Right side I need to change the content based on each button.
Theres any way to design the ViewA and ViewB on separated JFrame Form and load then inside my Right Side when I click on menu items?
Another idea is, put the ViewA and ViewB put a JTabbedPane on the Right Side, and hide the Tabs. So there's any way to hide the tabs?
I have none experience developing in java, any problem about this concept (difficult, loading time, memory, maintenance), If you guy know a better way to to this, I just don't want a lot of windows popping up.

A really simply way would be to simply have a set of jPanels in the right side, with only one ever set to Visible.
Basically, for each toggle on the left side, you will have an Event Listener that does this:
private void toggle1ActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {
jPanel1.setVisible(false);
jPanel2.setVisible(false);
jPanel3.setVisible(true);
}
Simply changing the true value depending on the individual toggle.
In Netbeans, if using the GUI editor, you can simply double click the toggle button to generate the listener and appropriate method, then fill in the code for it.

Make a JDialog stick or snap to another one when moving it close to it

I'm trying to reproduce a feature I've seen on several apps:
I have a GUI app with several JDialogs.
I'd like to easily organize them tightly on screen:
when I move one JDialog, and one of its borders gets "close" (within 5 pixels for example) to another JDialog, I'd like it to automatically snap and stick right along it.
any idea how to achieve that ?

Add a ComponentListener to the dialog and listen for the comopnentMoved() event.
You can use the Window.getWindows() method to get all the Windows. Then you loop through the Windows and get the bounds of each window. Whenever you are near a window you manually set the size of the window you are moving.
Of course you will also need to handle the situation when you want to move the window away from another window so maybe you need to start a Timer with every componentMoved event and only manually position the window after events have stopped being generated.

Rectangular Java Swing Radio buttons?

I'd like to create a set of buttons in a Java Swing application like you get in a typical tool palette in a paint program. That is, a set of small square buttons, each containing an icon, only one of which is pressed down, and when you press another button, the first is deselected. I've thought of a number of solutions and none of them seem very easy/elegant.
This sounds like a job for JRadioButton, but if you add an Icon to that, you still get the small circle, which is fairly space inefficient. I guess an option would be finding an alternative Look and Feel or painting code for JRadioButton.
Another alternative might be to add JButton to a ButtonGroup, maybe setting a JToggleButton.ToggleButtonModel as the model, but that doesn't have the desired effect, as the painting code for a standard JButton does not keep it depressed when selected. Possibly the JButton code could be modified to do this. Like making it painting "selected" the same way as "pressed".
A third alternative would be to use normal JButton's, and add a common mouse listener that keeps them pressed or not, and communicates the changes between the buttons.
Can anyone advise on the best way to achieve the aim please? A simple method I've missed would be best, but advice on which of these three alternatives would be best and pointers on how to get started would be useful too.

What about a plain JToggleButton in a ButtonGroup? It is not abstract, you can instantiate one with an Icon, and it stays depressed while selected.

See the SwingSet2 demo:
http://java.sun.com/products/plugin/1.4/demos/jfc/SwingSet2/SwingSet2.html
Click the second icon on the toolbar (the one twith the check box and radio button) then tab "Radio buttons". Then click on "Paint Border" on the right panel, under "Display Options".
Source code of the demo is under your JDK install dir, so for example on my PC it's under \jdk1.6.0_01\demo\jfc\SwingSet2\src

JFrame in a Java desktop application

I am developing a desktop Java application with GUI implemented through Swing. I have made a JFrame and have added three buttons on it - Add, Edit, Delete.
Now I want that whenever a user clicks on any of the button, the content specific to that button appears besides those three buttons.
So how to implement this? Should I need to add a JPanel besides those three buttons and then add the content specific to the button to that JPanel?
So far, I have taken a JFrame and have added 3 buttons on it. That's it.
For the Add button, I want to add some buttons and textfields to add information to the database.
For the Delete button, I want to add some buttons to find records in the database based on the information entered through the user in the textfield that appears when the user clicks on the Delete button.
Similar type of content for Edit button.

So how to implement this. Should I need to add a JPanel besides those three buttons and then add the content specific to the button to that JPane
That would be fine. When you push the button, you can call JPanel.removeAll() to remove all the controls currently in the control, and then just do the layout again, specific to whatever button you pushed.
If you have custom swing controls, just add your custom control the JPanel using a BorderLayout and putting in the center.
Another option would be to use a CardLayout, and flipping between the cards when a user presses one of the buttons. If the layouts for the buttons never change, that would probably be a better way to do it. Obviously if the content changes between button presses, you'll need to redo the layout each time.

Either of Chad's or Alex's answers would be fine. You will probably need to call a combination of revalidate() and repaint() on the panel that you've changed, as in the past I've noticed Swing doesn't always like panels being swapped out.
Also, have you considered using a JTabbedPane instead of manually coding the interaction with the add/edit/delete buttons?

I haven't done a lot of Java programming, but I think using 2-3 different JPanel, and make visible the one you need depending on the button that was clicked would do the trick.
I'm not sure if this is the right approach though.

I was using a JFrame to add all buttons and make a new JFrame for a new window and hide a previous one.
gven way are better. I will do that now.