Develop Reference

How to save a specific part of a JPanel?

I am working on a chess game and I would like to let the player choose the board's colors. Therefore I will use this method:
static void createBoard(Graphics g) {
Color bright = new Color(255, 225, 181); //player chooses color
Color dark = new Color(188, 141, 105); //player chooses color
boolean darkTile = false;
for (int y = spaceY; y < (spaceY + BOARDHEIGHT); y += TILESIZE) {
for (int x = spaceX; x < (spaceX + BOARDWIDTH); x += TILESIZE) {
if (darkTile) {
g.setColor(dark);
} else {
g.setColor(bright);
}
g.fillRect(x, y, TILESIZE, TILESIZE);
darkTile = !darkTile;
}
darkTile = !darkTile;
}
BufferedImage overlay;
try {
overlay = ImageIO.read(new File("overlay.png"));
JLabel label = new JLabel(new ImageIcon(overlay));
g.drawImage(overlay, spaceX, spaceY, BOARDWIDTH, BOARDHEIGHT, null);
} catch (IOException e) {}
}
This I would like to save as a BufferedImage, so I don't have to run this method all the time.
So how can I save just this part of my JPanel, without the stuff outside of the chess board? (there will be more painted)

This I would like to save as a BufferedImage,
Don't know that your need to save the BufferedImage to a file. You can just create a BufferedImage to be used by the application when the application starts. You can then recreate the BufferedImage if any of the user colors change.
You can paint directly to a BufferedImage:
BufferedImage image = new BufferedImage(boardSize, boardSize, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);
Graphics2D g2d = image.createGraphics();
// draw the squares onto board
g2d.dispose();
Now your createBoard() method should probably return the BufferedImage so it can be used by your application.

You put in certain efforts to put up your question, so lets honor that with some thoughts to get you going.
First of all: you have an empty catch block {}. That is bad practice. This simply eats up any error messages you get. That is not helpful. Either allow that exception to bubble up and stop your application; or at least print its contents - so that you understand what happens.
And given your comment: you never now if there will be errors. Especially when doing IO, all sorts of things can go wrong. Please believe me: empty catch blocks are bad practice; and you should not train yourself to accept them.
Second thought: don't go for that yet. As convenient as it might sound; but saving a background picture doesn't add much value at this point.
You don't need to worry about this code; it is executed once when your application comes up.
So, the real answer here: focus on the features you want to implement; and don't get distracted with pre-mature optimizations.

How to draw a sprite within the FitViewport view. libgdx

The basic question here is: how to ALWAYS keep your sprites within the Fitviewport? How to keep a reference to the view in order to have the proper coordinates as to where to draw?
I'm trying to spawn enemies into the gameplay screen. But this is handled by a FitViewport, and enemies and even the player can move outside the FitViewport on certain screen resolutions. So far the problem seems to be in the Y axis.
The FitViewport is made like this:
gameCamera = new OrthographicCamera();
gameCamera.setToOrtho(false);
gameViewport = new FitViewport(MyGame.WORLD_WIDTH,MyGame.WORLD_HEIGHT,gameCamera);
gameViewport.setScreenBounds(0,0,MyGame.WORLD_WIDTH,MyGame.WORLD_HEIGHT);
Then the camera position gets updated like this at the resize() method:
gameViewport.update(width,height); //not used when using the virtual viewport in the render method.
gameCamera.position.set(player.position.x + 200,player.position.y, 0);
Then the update() method calls the Player's own update() method which includes these lines:
//POSITION UPDATE
if (this.position.x<0) this.position.x=0;
if (this.position.x>Gdx.graphics.getWidth() - width) this.position.x= Gdx.graphics.getWidth() - width;
if (this.position.y<0) this.position.y = 0;
if (this.position.y>PlayScreen.gameViewport.getScreenHeight() - height) this.position.y = PlayScreen.gameViewport.getScreenHeight()- height;
Notice for the X axis I'm still using Gdx.graphics dimensions because I'm yet to make it work with PlayScreen.gameViewport.getScreenHeight() (gameViewport has been set to static for this purpose).
Also on enemy spawn (the problem related here is that they spawn outside of the screen Y in terms of what I see) I have this code inside the update() method of the Screen implementing all these viewports:
//Alien Spawn
if (System.currentTimeMillis() - lastZSpawn >= SpawnTimer){
count++;
lastZSpawn= System.currentTimeMillis();
for (int i=0;i<count;i++){
int x = Gdx.graphics.getWidth();
int y = random.nextInt((int)gameViewport.getScreenHeight() - Alien.height);
if (entities.size()<6){
entities.add(new Alien(new Vector2(x,y),1, alienImages,(float)((0))));
}
}
}
Also using gameViewport.getScreenHeight() here cause Gdx.graphics wasnt giving the correct result (it gave me the same issue really).
The render() method is correctly implemented in terms of the batch and applying the viewport:
MyGame.batch.setProjectionMatrix(gameCamera.combined);
gameViewport.apply();
MyGame.batch.begin();
for (int i = entities.size()-1; i>=0;i--){
entities.get(i).render();
}

You should never change the position of your player or enemies when resizing, that's why a viewport is for, remove all the code that do that first, to make your viewport work as you expected you need to create a new instance of camera passing the new viewport width and height when you resize, i prefer to make my camera static so i can acess its atribbutes from everywhere i want, you should do something like this:
public static OrthographicCamera update(int width,int height){
instance = new OrthographicCamera(width, height);
instance.setToOrtho(false);
return instance;
}

The answer to my problem is posted by myself in another question of mine which was also driven by a confusion in the implementation of FitViewports and using WorldWidth and WorldHeight properties as coordinates of reference when drawing objects into the game, and also correctly setting the camera position taking these values into consideration aswell.
The answer is here even though its text and not code and its mainly what i already wrote in this very post. FitViewport doesnt scale properly Libgdx

Inputting a Key during a Loop in Java applet for animation purposes

I'm learning how to make an Applet using Java in the form of a game. In the game, I have a character sprite drawn at the center and moves when the player presses w a s d.
It goes like this:
public game extends applet implements KeyListener {
int x, y;
URL url;
Image image;
public void init() {
x = getSize().width/2;
y = getSize().height/2;
url = new URL(getCodeBase());
image = getImage(url, "player.gif"); //take note that this is a still image
addKeyListener(this);
}
public void paint(Graphics g) {
g.drawImage(image, x, y, 32, 32, this); //the size of the image is 32x32
}
public void KeyPressed(arg0) {
char c = arg0.getKeyChar();
switch(c) {
case 'w':
y -= 10;
break;
/*And so on. You guys know how it works.*/
}
repaint();
}
My problem is, the character sprite seems dull when the user doesn't press anything. What I want to do is to make the Image an array of images and put a simple image animation by looping the array in paint like so:
public void paint(Graphics g) {
for(int i = 0; ; i++) {
g.drawImage(image[i], x, y, 32, 32, this);
if(i == image.size() - 1) { i = 0;}
}
}
However, if I do this, I won't be able to get anymore KeyEvents that would activate when the user wants to move. My question is this: How will I make it so that my character does an animation when the program is "idle" (i.e. the user isn't pressing anything) while still maintaining the capability to take in KeyEvents (e.g. moving when the player types in w, a, s, or d, and then continuing the idle animation after repainting)?
Thanks in advance.
PS. I'm still quite a beginner in Java so sorry if my code is not very nice. Any advice is welcome.

You need to make your application multithreaded so that the painting runs in a separate thread.
Otherwise you will have the painting blocked while waiting for the next key.
This is not a trivial change to your code though.

Perhaps you would give yourself a new class, say InterestingCharacter, which can cycle through any of N states (corresponding to your N images). You clearly can't let any paint method run infinitely, but if your InterestingCharacter could render itself in its current state you might be onto something with that. Maybe it will be enough that this InterestingCharacter knows what state it is in and then some other object manages the rendering. Would it be helpful if the InterestingCharacter could tell you that its state has changed and so needs to be rendered again? If so, you could implement the Observer pattern such that the character is observed and your game an observer.
I think the trick will be to break the problem down into a few classes that have appropriate responsibilities--ideally a class should have one responsibility and each of its methods should do one thing.
Just some ideas to help you move forward. Experiment with it and see how it goes. Hope it helps!

Animate a propeller in java

I am trying to animate a propeller in java and have come to this code:
int x = 0;
int y = 230;
int h = 40;
int i = 0;
int center = 250;
void setup() {
size(500, 400);
}
void draw () {
if (i == 0) {
if(y>200) {
ellipse(x, y, 20, h);
y--;
h+=2;
x+=1;
} else { i = i + 1; }
}
if (i == 1) {
if(y<=230) {
ellipse(x, y, 20, h);
y++;
h-=2;
x+=1;
} else { i = i + 1; }
}
if (i == 2) {
if(h<70) {
ellipse(x, y, 20, h);
y++;
h+=1;
x+=1;
} else { i = i + 1; }
}
if (i == 3) {
if(h>=40) {
ellipse(x, y, 20, h);
y--;
h-=1;
x+=1;
} else { i = 0; }
}
}
Is there a way of making this shorter, because I want to have 4 propellers and dont want to have so much code for this part.

You're going about this the wrong way. Very wrong, in fact. And the reason might be that you think you're doing this in "Java...in the program 'processing'"
The reason this sort of thinking is wrong is because it is equivalent to someone working with C++ saying, "I am creating classes in C using the program 'C++'". Processing is based on Java but it is a different programming language. If you're uncomfortable stretching the idea of Processing to that of a "programming language" then at least think of it as a framework...a framework that provides you with its own implementation of various tools that are put together to help with the creation of art using computers.
Now your thinking seems to have affected you in your particular case a lot. Just like Jose Gonzalez above suggested, you haven't even thought about rotate(), which is a function built into Processing. Tim B's suggestion about Objects is spot on as well but if you want to do things in Processing, try to do them the Processing way.
Here's a very quick sketch that I did for you to understand what I mean:
Prop myProp1;
Prop myProp2;
Prop myProp3;
Prop myProp4;
float angle;
void setup() {
size(500, 500);
background(255);
angle = 0;
fill(0);
ellipseMode(CENTER);
myProp1 = new Prop(50,50);
myProp2 = new Prop(75,75);
myProp3 = new Prop(100,100);
myProp4 = new Prop(125,125);
}
void draw() {
background(255);
angle = ((angle + 0.1) % 360);
myProp1.buildAndRotate(angle, width*3/4, height/4);
myProp2.buildAndRotate(angle, width/4, height/4);
myProp3.buildAndRotate(angle, width*3/4, height*3/4);
myProp4.buildAndRotate(angle, width/4, height*3/4);
}
class Prop {
int propX;
int propY;
int propW;
int propH;
Prop() {
propX = 0;
propY = 0;
propW = 50;
propH = 50;
}
Prop(int w, int h) {
propX = 0;
propY = 0;
propW = w;
propH = h;
}
void buildAndRotate(float angle, float moveToX, float moveToY) {
pushMatrix();
translate(moveToX, moveToY);
rotate(angle);
ellipse(propX, propY, propW, propH);
ellipse(propX+propW/2, propY+propH/2, propW, propH);
ellipse(propX-propW/2, propY+propH/2, propW, propH);
ellipse(propX+propW/2, propY-propH/2, propW, propH);
ellipse(propX-propW/2, propY-propH/2, propW, propH);
popMatrix();
}
}
Now, this is by no means meant to be the way to do things in Processing but it uses various tools provided by the programming language to do exactly what you want to do. Also, the Object Prop can be built in various different ways and my implementation is not supposed to be top-notch at all.
So what is going on? Well, run the sketch and you will see four propellers rotating on their own axes. I just put four of them there, you can delete them or add more as you please.
What the hell is a Prop made of? It is made of five ellipses. The concept, and this may be different than yours, is based on the idea of a ceiling fan (or other fans for that matter or even a prop engine). These fans have a circular thing in the middle to which all the blades are attached. The center circle rotates and that results in all the blades around it rotating with it. What you get in the end is a rotating fan.
How is this thing rotating? Similar to the fan analogy above, there is an ellipse in the middle that rotates around its center. There are four ellipses "attached" to it that rotate around this center ellipses. This gives the illusion of a prop rotating. What you have to understand is that in Processing rotate() rotates things around the origin. This is the reason the center ellipse starts at (0,0). Then later in buildAndRotate() it is translated using translate(). Using translate() does not move the object, it instead moves the origin resulting in the object moving with it, and then when you execute rotate() it rotates the object around its center. Since all the other ellipses are built around this center ellipse, they all rotate around it too (in actual implementation, they're just rotating around the origin, you can see that by removing the center ellipse). pushMatrix() and popMatrix() are used so all the translate() and rotate() commands don't affect everything else in the sketch and keep all movements and rotations applied to each object to that very object.
What else is going on? The rest is pretty simple (this is all very simple once you get the hang of it). Background is being cleared constantly which is a common animation technique to give the illusion of movement. You can delete the statement for background() from draw() but I wouldn't recommend it because it will leave a big black round circle after a while and you won't be able to see the props. The angle is being changed constantly in the draw() method which is why you see the props rotating. You can speed up or slow down the rotation by changing that + 0.1 value being added to angle if you want.
What else do I do? Read the reference (not the Java reference, Processing has its own reference) by using Google or following links such as: http://www.processing.org/reference/rotate_.html, http://www.processing.org/reference/pushMatrix_.html, http://www.processing.org/reference/popMatrix_.html, http://www.processing.org/reference/translate_.html, and many more.
Hope this helps and leave questions in the comment if you need clarification on something.

You need to think in terms of objects and iteration rather than writing out everything explicitly. You are correct that the code you have above contains a lot of un-needed duplication, which is a bad thing.
For a more complex case you would define each part of the propeller as an object. Have an array of parts within the Propeller object. Each time to do the draw you run through the list of objects and render each one out.
In this case it can be even simpler, just use a for loop.
At the top of your program define:
private static final int NUM_BLADES = 4;
Then you want a loop that looks something like this:
for (int i=0;i<360;i+=360/NUM_BLADES) {
// Draw elipse at current rotation position + the angle for this blade
}
Now you can change the number of blades just by changing the static define as well.

LibGdx How to repeat background?

Few days ago I figured out how to do some scrolling in LibGdx. Now I'm triying to do something related. I want to repeat the background. My scrolling follows a ship (Is an s[ace ship game). In the background there is a space photo loaded as a Texture. When the ship reach the end of the backgorund, It keeps going and there's no background anymore. I have read about wrap but I don't really understand How It works. I did that:
px=new Pixmap(Gdx.files.internal("fondo.jpg"));
background=new Texture(px);
background.setWrap(TextureWrap.Repeat, TextureWrap.Repeat);
And then, in my render method
spriteBatch.begin();
spriteBatch.draw(background,0,0,500,50);
drawShip();
spriteBatch.end();
Of course It doesn't work, It only draws the background once. I don't know how make this wrap method work. Any help?
SOLUTION
I figured It out. It's not a nice code but It works.
First I declare two Textures with the same image
bck1=new Texture(Gdx.files.internal("fondo.jpg"));
bck2=new Texture(Gdx.files.internal("fondo.jpg"));
Also I declare two variables like this to specify the X value of the position of each bck
int posXBck1=0,posXBck2=0;
Then I use that in Render()
public void calculoPosicionFondos(){
posXBck2=posXBck1+ANCHODEFONDO;
if(cam.position.x>=posXBck2+cam.viewportWidth/2){
posXBck1=posXBck2;
}
}
Where:
ANCHODEFONDO is the width of my background
Cam is an OtrhoCam.
So I said that if the cam is in bck2 (wich means that you can't see bck1 anymore) It change positions, giving bck1 de position of bck2 and, in the next render loop, recalculating bck2
Then just paint both bck in your render mode.

Like Teitus said, do not load your texture multiple times, ever! Anyway, you where on the right track with the wrapper:
texture.setWrap(TextureWrap.Repeat, TextureWrap.Repeat);
Now you can just use the draw method with the source location. The source location is the area you choose to draw on the texture.
batch.draw(texture, x, y, srcX, srcY, srcWidth, srcHeight)
To scroll your texture from right to left all you have to do is increase srcX incrementally. So create a int that increments in the update/render method.
int sourceX = 0;
//render() method
//Increment the variable where to draw from on the image.
sourceX += 10;
//Simply draw it using that variable in the srcX.
batch.draw(YourTexture, 0, 0, sourceX, 0, screenWidth, screenHeight);
Because you are wrapping the texture it will wrap/loop and scroll indefinitely. There might be a issue with the sourceX int if the game runs for a very long time because a int can only hold 2147483647. It takes a while but you can fix it by subtracting the image width each time the number goes over the total image width.

Don't to this, please:
bck1=new Texture(Gdx.files.internal("fondo.jpg"));
bck2=new Texture(Gdx.files.internal("fondo.jpg"));
That will load your big background texture twice. That's a complete waste. If you want to keep your solution at least do:
bck1=new Texture(Gdx.files.internal("fondo.jpg"));
bck2=bkg1;
Regarding the texture Wrapping. If your texture is 500px wide, and you draw a 500px sprite, you won't see any repetition. If you want it repeated 2 times, draw it 1000px wide with 0-2 texture coordinates.
I'm not sure how spriteBatch handles the call you posted, you could try that one, or may be use the overload that uses a texture region and set your region manually.

I see this is a pretty old question, but I think there is an easier way to accomplish background scrolling. Just use the Sprite class. Here is a snippet I use for layered background images that scroll from right to left.
public class LevelLayer
{
public float speedScalar = 1;
private List<Sprite> backgroundSprites = new ArrayList<Sprite>();
public LevelLayer()
{
}
public void addSpriteLayer(Texture texture, float startingPointX, float y, int repeats)
{
for (int k = 0; k < repeats; k++)
{
Sprite s = new Sprite(texture);
s.setX(startingPointX + (k*texture.getWidth()));
s.setY(y);
backgroundSprites.add(s);
}
}
public void render(SpriteBatch spriteBatch, float speed)
{
for (Sprite s : backgroundSprites)
{
float delta = s.getX() - (speed * speedScalar);
s.setX(delta);
s.draw(spriteBatch);
}
}
}
Then you can use the same texture or series of textures like so:
someLayer.addSpriteLayer(sideWalkTexture1, 0, 0, 15);
someLayer.addSpriteLayer(sideWalkTexture2, 15 * sideWalkTexture1.getWidth(), 0, 7);
I change background repeating sections randomly in code and make new ones or reset existing sets when they go off screen. All the layers go to a pool and get pulled randomly when a new one is needed.

SOLUTION
I figured It out. It's not a nice code but It works.
First I declare two Textures with the same image
bck1=new Texture(Gdx.files.internal("fondo.jpg"));
bck2=new Texture(Gdx.files.internal("fondo.jpg"));
Also I declare two variables like this to specify the X value of the position of each bck
int posXBck1=0,posXBck2=0;
Then I use that in Render()
public void calculoPosicionFondos(){
posXBck2=posXBck1+ANCHODEFONDO;
if(cam.position.x>=posXBck2+cam.viewportWidth/2){
posXBck1=posXBck2;
}
}
Where:
ANCHODEFONDO is the width of my background
Cam is an OtrhoCam.
So I said that if the cam is in bck2 (wich means that you can't see bck1 anymore) It change positions, giving bck1 de position of bck2 and, in the next render loop, recalculating bck2
Then just draw both bck in your render()