I am a little confused about how extending JPanel to make a canvas style object works in Swing, what would I do if I wanted to create a new image or text after I've made the new object? Since I assume that's when the paintComponent is called.
In addition to the excellent advice from ControlAltDel (see step 3 of the tutorial for information on how to programatically repaint) and Andrew Thompson, this could be useful as a very simple example to help you get started:
public class Main {
public static void main(final String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
final JFrame frame = new JFrame("Swing canvas");
frame.setBounds(100, 100, 640, 480);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
final CanvasPanel canvasPanel = new CanvasPanel();
frame.getContentPane().add(canvasPanel);
frame.setVisible(true);
final List<String> words = Arrays.asList("one", "ein", "une", "uno", "jeden", "een");
for (final String word : words) {
canvasPanel.addWord(word);
// Dirty way to simulate some heavy translation work...
Thread.sleep(246);
}
}
}
class CanvasPanel extends JPanel {
private final List<String> words = new ArrayList<>();
public void addWord(final String word) {
words.add(word);
repaint();
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(final Graphics graphics) {
super.paintComponent(graphics);
for (int wordIndex = 0; wordIndex < words.size(); wordIndex++)
graphics.drawString(words.get(wordIndex), 42, 64 + 28 * wordIndex);
}
}
In this example, the canvas panel calls the repaint method on itself, but it can also be called from the outside. Good luck with your project!
Related
I am trying to make a JComponent application which uses two JFrames, one frame with alterable sliders and textfields for the graphical display of a firework on the second. When the "fire" button is pressed, a rendering of the firework should appear. However, I have found through placing strategic print statements, that my paintComponent() method does not run even though the conditional statement wrapping the code is satisfied. I have also double checked all of my other methods to ensure that correct values are generated at the correct times. After looking through all of the JComponent literature and questions I could find, I'm afraid I cannot get it to work - this problem is most likely derived from my lack of familiarity with the library. That being said, any advice no matter how rudimentary, will be much appreciated. Abridged code is below:
*The swing timer may also be the issue for I am not sure if I have used it correctly
[fireworksCanvas.java]
public class fireworkCanvas extends JComponent implements ActionListener{
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
private ArrayList<Ellipse2D> nodes = new ArrayList<Ellipse2D>();
private ArrayList<Line2D> cNodes = new ArrayList<Line2D>();
private ArrayList<QuadCurve2D> bCurves = new ArrayList<QuadCurve2D>();
private int[] arcX;
private int[] arcY;
private Color userColor;
private Random rand = new Random();
private int shellX, shellY, fType, theta, velocity;
private Timer timer;
private int time;
private double g = -9.8; //gravity in m/s
public boolean explosivesSet;
public fireworkCanvas() {
time = rand.nextInt(3000) + 2000;
timer = new Timer(time, this); // 5 seconds
timer.start();
fType = 0;
}
#Override
public void paintComponent(Graphics g){
if (explosivesSet) {
System.out.println("fType" + fType);
super.paintComponent(g);
Graphics2D g2D = (Graphics2D) g;
g.setColor(Color.BLACK);
g.drawPolyline(arcX, arcY, arcX.length);
for (Ellipse2D e : nodes) {
System.out.println("painting nodes"); // NEVER PRINTS
g.setColor(userColor);
g.fillOval(shellX + (int) e.getX(), shellY + (int) e.getY(), (int) e.getWidth(), (int) e.getHeight());
}
for (Line2D l: cNodes) {
System.out.println("painting cNodes"); // NEVER PRINTS
g.setColor(determineColor("l"));
g.drawLine(shellX + (int) l.getX1(), shellY + (int) l.getY1(), shellX + (int) l.getX2(), shellY + (int) l.getY2());
}
for (QuadCurve2D c: bCurves) {
System.out.println("painting curves"); // NEVER PRINTS
g.setColor(determineColor("c"));
g2D.draw(c);
}
}
}
public Color determineColor(String type) {
// returns color
}
public void setExplosives() {
if (fType != 5 && fType != 0) {
nodes.clear(); // clears three array lists with FW components
cNodes.clear(); // these are the components to paint for the
bCurves.clear(); // firework explosion graphic
setArc(); // stores path of shell for a polyLine to be drawn
// builds and generates components for FW based on type chosen (fType)
setExplosivesSet(true);
repaint();
}
}
public void setArc() {
// builds int[] for shellX, shellY
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
// nothing is here??
// should I use the action performed in some way?
}
[GUI.java]
public class GUI extends JFrame implements ActionListener, ChangeListener, ItemListener, MouseListener{
private static JFrame canvasFrame = new JFrame("Canvas");
private fireworkCanvas canvas = new fireworkCanvas();
private Choice fireworkChooser = new Choice();
private JSlider launchAngle = new JSlider();
private JSlider velocity = new JSlider();
private JSlider r = new JSlider();
private JSlider g = new JSlider();
private JSlider b = new JSlider();
private JPanel panel = new JPanel();
private JButton button = new JButton("Fire!");
private JLabel launchLabel = new JLabel("Launch Angle ");
private JLabel velocityLabel = new JLabel("Velocity ");
private JLabel rLabel = new JLabel("Red ");
private JLabel gLabel = new JLabel("Green ");
private JLabel bLabel = new JLabel("Blue ");
public static int fHeight = 500;
public static int fWidth = 500;
public GUI() {
this.add(panel);
panel.add(button);
panel.add(fireworkChooser);
panel.add(launchAngle);
panel.add(launchLabel);
panel.add(velocity);
panel.add(velocityLabel);
panel.add(r);
panel.add(rLabel);
panel.add(g);
panel.add(gLabel);
panel.add(b);
panel.add(bLabel);
addActionListener(this);
BoxLayout bl = new BoxLayout(getContentPane(), BoxLayout.Y_AXIS);
setLayout(bl);
fireworkChooser.addItemListener(this);
launchAngle.addChangeListener(this);
velocity.addChangeListener(this);
r.addChangeListener(this);
g.addChangeListener(this);
b.addChangeListener(this);
button.addActionListener(this);
fireworkChooser.add("Firework 1");
fireworkChooser.add("Firework 2");
fireworkChooser.add("Firework 3");
fireworkChooser.add("Firework 4");
fireworkChooser.add("Super Firework");
launchAngle.setMinimum(1);
launchAngle.setMaximum(90);
velocity.setMinimum(1);
velocity.setMaximum(50);
r.setMinimum(0);
r.setMaximum(255);
g.setMinimum(0);
g.setMaximum(255);
b.setMinimum(0);
b.setMaximum(255);
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return new Dimension(600, 200);
}
#Override
public void stateChanged(ChangeEvent e) {
// sets FW variables
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if (e.getSource() == button) {
canvas.setfType(fireworkChooser.getSelectedIndex()+1);
canvas.setExplosives();
canvas.repaint();
canvas.setExplosivesSet(false);
System.out.println("button fired");
}
}
public static void createAndShowGUI() {
GUI gui = new GUI();
gui.pack();
gui.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
gui.setVisible(true);
gui.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
fireworkCanvas canvas = new fireworkCanvas();
canvasFrame.pack();
canvasFrame.add(canvas);
canvasFrame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
canvasFrame.setVisible(true);
canvasFrame.setSize(fWidth, fHeight);
canvasFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
}
First of all:
public fireworkCanvas()
Class names should start with an upper case character. All the other classes in your code follow this rule. Learn by example.
private Choice fireworkChooser = new Choice();
Choice is an AWT component don't mix AWT components in a Swing application. Use a JComboBox.
that my paintComponent() method does not run
fireworkCanvas canvas = new fireworkCanvas();
canvasFrame.pack();
canvasFrame.add(canvas);
You add the canvas to the frame AFTER you pack() the frame, so the size of the canvas is (0, 0) and there is nothing to paint.
The canvas should be added to the frame BEFORE the pack() and you should implement getPreferredSize() in your FireworkCanvas class so the pack() method can work properly.
Read the section from the Swing tutorial on Custom Painting for the basics and working examples to get you started.
I'm trying to work with the Java paint
utility and it's been a bit of a hassle.
I'm trying to do something which I assume is quite basic.
I'm drawing a square Graphic to a JPanel and then trying
to move it using repaint
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
public class testGui {
static gui gc_gui;
static int gv_x;
static int gv_y;
public static void main(String[] args) {
gc_gui = new gui();
gv_x = 50;
gv_y = 50;
gc_gui.cv_frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static class gui {
JFrame cv_frame;
content cv_content;
public gui() {
cv_frame = new JFrame();
cv_frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
cv_frame.setTitle("Test GUI");
cv_frame.setSize(600, 400);
cv_frame.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
cv_content = new content();
cv_content.setBackground(Color.Black);
cv_content.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 300));
cv_frame.add(cv_content);
gv_x = 0;
gv_y = 0;
cv_content.update();
}
}
public static class content extends JPanel {
public void paint(Graphics graphic) {
super.paint(graphic);
draw(graphic);
}
public void update() {
super.repaint();
}
public void draw(Graphics graphic) {
Graphics2D graphic2D = (Graphics2D) graphic;
graphic2D.setPaint(Color.Red);
graphic2D.fillRect(gv_x, gv_y, 100, 100);
}
}
}
I don't know why the call to the update function isn't doing
anything though.
It draws the square at 50x and 50y, the sets it to 0x and 0y
immediately and then when I call repaint I expected it to
be moved to it's new coordinates although it's still at
50x and 50y.
Why is this?
Your solution is to use KeyBindings.
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/misc/keybinding.html
and also.
You need to create a Swing Timer, Thread, or Loop , that manages the frames to be painted. and such
Here is a link for Swing Timers as they are pretty easy to implement:
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/misc/timer.html
A lot of programs I see also have this ( AKA. working with threads.):
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
Edited with CMilbys suggestion, However i'm getting an error when adding "replayData to the frame.
Here is the replayData class + paint method
public class ReplayData extends JPanel {
/**
*
*/
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
private ArrayList<Point> points;
// Create new list of points when ready then call Redraw()
public void ReplaceData() {
points = new ArrayList<Point>();
}
public void addPoint(Point point) {
points.add(point);
}
#Override
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
for (Point p : points)
g.fillRect(p.x, p.y, 2, 2);
}
public void draw() {
repaint();
}
}
And here is where I try to call it to print all of the records that have been retrieved from the csv
JButton button_KMeans = new JButton("View K-Means");
button_KMeans.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0) {
kMeans.initialize();
kMeans.kMeanCluster();
//for (Point p : kMeans.getPoints() )
// Will this be very slow? Data sets are going to be large
Point temp = new Point();
for (int i = 0; i < kMeans.TOTAL_DATA; i++)
{
temp.x = (int)TrackerData.getRecordNumber(i).getEyeX();
temp.y = (int)TrackerData.getRecordNumber(i).getEyeY();
replayData.addPoint(temp); // Add points to JPanel
}
replayData.draw();
// How could I make it so this data shows over like 5 seconds, or over 30 etc?
}
});
I'm getting errors when adding the instance of ReplayData to the frame
at javax.swing.JFrame.addImpl(Unknown Source)
at java.awt.Container.add(Unknown Source)
private ReplayData replayData;
private void initialize() {
frame = new JFrame();
frame.setBounds(100, 100, 1920, 1080);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.getContentPane().setLayout(null);
frame.add(replayData); // if I comment this line the program starts fine
In your paintComponent method you should call super.paintComponent. That was correct so uncomment that.
Secondly, your ReplayData class extends JPanel. Because of this you need to use JFrame's add method and add an instance of the class to the JFrame. This will only allow you to have 1 point though. So I recommend you re-structure your class to have an array of points and not two integer variables which it what it appears to be. So for example
class ReplayDate extends JPanel {
private List<Point> points;
public ReplaceData() {
points = new ArrayList<Point>();
}
public void addPoint(Point point) {
points.add(point);
}
#Override
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
for (Point p : points)
g.fillRect(point.x, point.y, 2, 2);
}
public void draw() {
repaint();
}
}
// In your Main class
private ReplayData replayData;
private void initialize() {
frame = new JFrame();
frame.setBounds(100, 100, 1920, 1080);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.getContentPane().setLayout(null);
frame.add(replayData); // Add replay data to jframe
JButton button_KMeans = new JButton("View K-Means");
button_KMeans.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0) {
kMeans.initialize();
kMeans.kMeanCluster();
for (Point p : kMeans.getPoints()
replayData.addPoint(p); // Add points to JPanel
replayData.draw();
}
}
This will allow you to add any number of points and draw them all. I hope this answered your question. If you are still confused just leave a comment and I will try to explain a little more.
EDIT: To help with a few more problems...
First: When setting the size of a JFrame, yours seems to work since you said nothing about it, however, I've never actually used that method. For future reference it can also be done like this.
jframe.getContentPane().setPreferredSize(new Dimension(width, height));
As for when you add a ReplayData instance to your JFrame, I'm not sure about that one... I copied your code into a compiler and it worked fine for me. Post more code or send me your project and I can take a deeper look.
Lastly, you're worried about speed. How large are your datasets? This also depends on your computer. My computer has a 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5. Since 1 hertz is '1/second', assuming I did this math right, and in an ideal world it could do 2.4 billion operations per second. This obviously isn't the actual case but my point is even with datasets of ~10,000, you will probably notice a small delay, but it will only be seconds.
I am having some difficulties using swing workers, timers, and I am actually a little confused.
As far as my understanding goes, I have to put on a timer to set-up recurring tasks that have to be called by the EDT.
I'm trying to make a program that shows graphically a sorting alghoritm (like this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPRA0W1kECg )
I just don't understand why the GUI won't refresh. I am quite sure the repaint method is being called since I put a sysout showing me the ordered values and it seems to work , but the GUI just... doesn't change.
Here's my code:
public class MainWindow {
private JFrame frame;
JPanel panel;
public final static int JFRAME_WIDTH = 800;
public final static int JFRAME_HEIGHT = 600;
public final static int NELEM = 40;
ArrayList<Double> numbers;
ArrayList<myRectangle> drawables = new ArrayList<myRectangle>();
Lock lock = new ReentrantLock();
Condition waitme = lock.newCondition();
public static void main(String[] args) {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
MainWindow window = new MainWindow();
window.frame.setVisible(true);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
}
public MainWindow() {
initialize();
}
private void initialize() {
frame = new JFrame();
frame.setBounds(100, 100, JFRAME_WIDTH + 20, JFRAME_HEIGHT + 40);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
panel = new myPanel();
frame.getContentPane().add(panel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
Timer timer = new Timer(500, new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0) {
lock.lock();
try{
//Updating the gui
panel.repaint();
panel.revalidate();
//Giving the OK to the sorting alghoritm to proceed.
waitme.signal();
}catch(Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
}finally{
lock.unlock();
}
}
});
timer.start();
SwingWorker<Integer, String> sw = new SwingWorker<Integer, String>(){
#Override
protected Integer doInBackground() throws Exception {
mapAndCreate();
bubbleSort();
return null;
}
};
sw.execute();
}
private void bubbleSort() throws InterruptedException{
for(int i=0; i < NELEM; i++){
for(int j=1; j < (NELEM-i); j++){
if(drawables.get(j-1).wid > drawables.get(j).wid){
//swap the elements!
myRectangle temp = drawables.get(j-1);
drawables.set(j-1, drawables.get(j));
drawables.set(j, temp);
lock.lock();
try{
//Wait for the GUI to update.
waitme.await();
}catch(Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
}finally{
lock.unlock();
}
}
}
}
}
/***
* Function that maps values from 0 to 1 into the rectangle width.
*/
private void mapAndCreate() {
double max = 0;
numbers = new ArrayList<Double>(NELEM);
//Finding maximum.
for(int i = 0; i < NELEM; i++){
Double currElem = Math.random();
if(currElem > max) max = currElem;
numbers.add(currElem);
}
//Mapping process
int offset = 0;
for(int j = 0; j < NELEM; j++){
Integer mapped = (int) (( JFRAME_WIDTH * numbers.get(j) ) / max);
myRectangle rect = new myRectangle(offset , mapped);
drawables.add(rect);
offset += JFRAME_HEIGHT / NELEM;
}
}
private class myRectangle{
int myy , wid , colorR,colorG,colorB;
public myRectangle(int y , int wid){
this.myy = y;
this.wid = wid;
Random r = new Random();
colorR = r.nextInt(255);
colorG = r.nextInt(255);
colorB = r.nextInt(255);
}
}
private class myPanel extends JPanel{
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
for(myRectangle rectan : drawables){
Graphics2D graphics2D = (Graphics2D)g;
System.out.println(rectan.wid);
Rectangle2D.Double rect = new Rectangle2D.Double(0,rectan.myy,rectan.wid,JFRAME_HEIGHT / NELEM);
graphics2D.setColor(new Color(rectan.colorR,rectan.colorG,rectan.colorB));
graphics2D.fill(rect);
}
System.out.println("====================================================================================================");
}
}
}
Most OSs (or rather the UI frameworks which they use) don't support concurrent access. Simply put, you can't render two strings of text at the same time.
That's why Swing runs all rendering operations in the UI thread. Calling rendering functions (like paint()) outside of the UI thread can cause all kinds of problems. So when you do it, Swing will just remember "I should repaint" and return (instead of doing any actual work). That way, Swing protects you but most people would prefer to get an error with a useful message.
A timer always also means that there is a thread somewhere which executes when the timer runs out. This is not the UI thread of Swing. So any paing operations there must be wrapped with EventQueue.invokeLater() or similar.
Another common bug is to hog the UI thread (so no rendering happens because you do complex calculations there). That's what the SwingWorker is for. Again, in most methods of the SwingWorker, calling methods which would render something is forbidden (-> use invokeLater()).
So my guess is that the UI thread waits for the lock and the lock simply isn't unlocked early or often enough. See this demo how to do a simple animation in Swing.
public class TimerBasedAnimation extends JPanel implements ActionListener {
public void paint(Graphics g) {
// setup
// do some first-run init stuff
// calculate the next frame
// render frame
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
repaint();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("TimerBasedAnimation");
frame.add(new TimerBasedAnimation());
...
}
}
As you can see in the code doesn't lock. Instead, you just send "render now" events from actionPerformed to Swing. Some time later, Swing will call paint(). There is no telling (and no way to make sure or force Swing) when this will happen.
So good animation code will take the current time, calculate the animation state at that time and then render it. So it doesn't blindly step through N phases in M seconds. Instead, it adjusts for every frame to create the illusion that the animation is smooth when it really isn't.
Related:
Java: Safe Animations with Swing
How to Use Swing Timers
I am working to develop a GUI in which I paint some 2D shapes repeatedly on different locations. Currently I am having a method createGUI() that creates the basic layout and the panels and then I call the constructor for the content_panel to create 2D shapes in the content_panel.
But, I want to use another method to create the shapes in the main JPanel. Is there a way in Java, so that I can have two method calls in main. First method createGUI() creates the GUI including JFrames and JPanel. While the second method createShapes() creates shapes in the one specific JPanel - content_panel. I would like to call this createShapes() method repeatedly and pass different arguments to see shapes at different locations.
Please let me know if you need some more info or the question is unclear. Thanks
Code:
import java.awt.*;
import java.util.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Board{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
createGUI();
drawShapes();
}
//This method creates the basic GUI
private static void createGUI()
{
//Creating the JFrame main window
JFrame mainFrame = new JFrame();
mainFrame.setSize(800, 500);
mainFrame.setTitle("Particle Filter");
mainFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
mainFrame.setLocation(100, 100);
mainFrame.getContentPane().setLayout(new BoxLayout(mainFrame.getContentPane(), BoxLayout.X_AXIS));
//creates two panels content and sidebar. Sidebar has null layout
JPanel content = new JPanel();
content.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(700,500));
content.setBackground(Color.LIGHT_GRAY);
mainFrame.getContentPane().add(content);
JPanel sidebar = new JPanel();
sidebar.setBackground(Color.LIGHT_GRAY);
sidebar.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100,500));
mainFrame.getContentPane().add(sidebar);
sidebar.setLayout(null);
//creates three buttons in sidebar
JButton start_button = new JButton("START");
start_button.setBounds(10, 75, 77, 23);
sidebar.add(start_button);
JButton stop_button = new JButton("STOP");
stop_button.setBounds(10, 109, 77, 23);
sidebar.add(stop_button);
JButton reset_button = new JButton("RESET");
reset_button.setBounds(10, 381, 77, 23);
sidebar.add(reset_button);
//calls the content_Walls class and sends the number of ovals to be generated
int n=1000; // n denotes the number of ovals
content.add( new Content_Walls(n));
mainFrame.setVisible(true);
}
private static void drawShapes()
{
}
}
class Content_Walls extends JPanel
{
ArrayList<Integer> list;
Content_Walls(int n)
{
setPreferredSize(new Dimension(680,450));
setBackground(Color.WHITE);
list = new ArrayList<Integer>(Collections.nCopies(n, 0));
}
public void paintComponent(Graphics g)
{
int x=0,y=0;
super.paintComponent(g);
createObstacles(g,150,225,100,40);
createObstacles(g,500,300,40,100);
for(int i=0;i<list.size();i++)
{
x=randomInteger(11,670); // bounds of x between which the particles should be generated
y=randomInteger(11,440); // bounds of y between which the particles should be generated
int radius = 4;
x=x-(radius/2);
y=y-(radius/2);
g.fillOval(x, y, radius, radius);
}
private void createObstacles(Graphics g, int x, int y, int width, int height)
{
g.setColor(Color.BLACK);
g.fillRect(x, y, width, height);
}
private static int randomInteger(int min, int max)
{
Random rand = new Random();
int randomNum = rand.nextInt((max - min) + 1) + min;
return randomNum;
}
}
There are all sorts of problems with your code.
You're creating Swing components on the main thread instead of the Event Dispatch Thread. Search for help on this.
Have Board subclass JFrame and do the GUI initialization in the constructor or an instance method instead of a static method.
Make drawShapes() an instance method.
When you create the JPanel, store its reference in an instance variable (e.g., myPanel). This will be easier to do and will be a lot less messy if you fix #2.
If you do #2 and #3, just pass the reference to the drawShapes() method.
drawShapes()might not even be needed, if all the logic is in the paintComponent() method. Call myPanel.repaint() to invoke the paintComponent() method.
You should use event dispatching to let different JPanels component to act on the event.
e.g. You could attach a custom event with an event type and jpanel id; and then fire the event from the main. The panel listening to the event do something based on the logic.
Each JPanel listening to the event will intercept the event and if the jpanelid in the event matches to its own jpanel id, it will draw the shape.
I hope you get a pointer.
Here is a sample code, which I have not tested, but it shows how could you use event dispatching/listening to communicate between GUI components.
Define a ChangeEventListener interface
public interface ChangeEventListener {
public void stateChanged(ChangeEvent e);
}
And define an Event
public class ChangeEvent {
private Object source;
private int jPanelId;
public ChangeEvent(Object source, int jPanelId) {
this.source = source;
this.jPanelId= jPanelId;
}
public Object getSource() {
return source;
}
public int getJPanelId() {
return jPanelId;
}
}
Define your panel like
public class ShapePanel extends JPanel {
private int jPanelId;
private ChangeEventListener changeEventListener;
public void ShapePanel(int jPanelId){
this.jPanelId = jPanelId;
}
/*
.............
.............. Other code
.................
*/
public void addChangeEventListener(ChangeEventListener changeEventListener) {
this.changeEventListener = changeEventListener;
}
public int getJPanelId(){
return jPanelId;
}
public getChangeEventListener(){
return changeEventListener;
}
}
Your main should contain something like;
// Craete different Jpanel
JPanel squareShapePanel = new ShapePanel(1);
JPanel roundShapePanel = new ShapePanel(2);
JPanel triangleShapePanel = new ShapePanel(3);
// Attach event listener with each one like
squareShapePanel.addChangeEventListener(new ChangeEventListener() {
#Override
public void stateChanged(ChangeEvent e) {
if(e.getJPanelId() == squareShapePanel.getJPanelId()){
// Createshape method can be available inside JPanel code
// something like squareShapePanel.craeteShape();
// All in one it is a method which could do something for you on the event.
// Assuming that it is available in current class
createShape("square");
}
});
/*
Similarly attach eventlistener with each panels.
*/
// to draw the square shape, Fire change event
ChangeEvent event = new ChangeEvent(new String("Main"),1);
squareShapePanel.getChangeEventListener().stateChanged(event);
Hope this helps.
Check out Custom Painting Approaches for the two common ways to do custom painting:
Keep the Shapes you want to paint in an List and then just paint all the Shapes in the List
Use a BufferedImage and just draw the Shapes onto the BufferedImage.
Both examples contain an addRectangle(...) method that allows you to dynamically add a Rectangle to be painted.