Develop Reference

Which Swing layout should i use for moving JButtons

I have a Board 14x14 which has JButtons and every Jbutton has a different color. When you click one of those buttons, it checks the neighbors with the same color and removes them. When it removes them, theres a blank space between the board so the above buttons, should move down to fill the blank space. I tried with GridLayout but I don't know how to move the above buttons.

This actually is a case where you can hardly use a layout manager at all.
A LayoutManager is supposed to compute the layout of all components at once. It is triggered by certain events (e.g. when the parent component is resized). Then it computes the layout and arranges the child components accordingly.
In your case, the situation is quite different. There is no layout manager that can sensibly represent the "intermediate" state that appears while the upper buttons are falling down. While the components are animated, they cannot be part of a proper layout.
The animation itself may also be a bit tricky, but can fortunately be solved generically. But you still have to keep track of the information about where each component (i.e. each button) is currently located in the grid. When one button is removed, you have to compute the buttons that are affected by that (namely, the ones directly above it). These have to be animated. After the animation, you have to assign the new grid coordinates to these buttons.
The following is a MCVE that shows one basic approach. It simply removes the button that was clicked, but it should be easy to generalize it to remove other buttons, based on other conditions.
import java.awt.Point;
import java.awt.Rectangle;
import java.awt.event.ComponentAdapter;
import java.awt.event.ComponentEvent;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class FallingButtons
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> createAndShowGui());
}
private static void createAndShowGui()
{
JFrame f = new JFrame();
f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
int rows = 8;
int cols = 8;
GridPanel gridPanel = new GridPanel(rows, cols);
for (int r=0; r<rows; r++)
{
for (int c=0; c<cols; c++)
{
JButton button = new JButton(r+","+c);
gridPanel.addComponentInGrid(r, c, button);
button.addActionListener(e ->
{
Point coordinates = gridPanel.getCoordinatesInGrid(button);
if (coordinates != null)
{
gridPanel.removeComponentInGrid(
coordinates.x, coordinates.y);
}
});
}
}
f.getContentPane().add(gridPanel);
f.setSize(500, 500);
f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
f.setVisible(true);
}
}
class GridPanel extends JPanel
{
private final int rows;
private final int cols;
private final JComponent components[][];
GridPanel(int rows, int cols)
{
super(null);
this.rows = rows;
this.cols = cols;
this.components = new JComponent[rows][cols];
addComponentListener(new ComponentAdapter()
{
#Override
public void componentResized(ComponentEvent e)
{
layoutGrid();
}
});
}
private void layoutGrid()
{
int cellWidth = getWidth() / cols;
int cellHeight = getHeight() / rows;
for (int r=0; r<rows; r++)
{
for (int c=0; c<cols; c++)
{
JComponent component = components[r][c];
if (component != null)
{
component.setBounds(
c * cellWidth, r * cellHeight, cellWidth, cellHeight);
}
}
}
}
Point getCoordinatesInGrid(JComponent component)
{
for (int r=0; r<rows; r++)
{
for (int c=0; c<cols; c++)
{
if (components[r][c] == component)
{
return new Point(r, c);
}
}
}
return null;
}
void addComponentInGrid(int row, int col, JComponent component)
{
add(component);
components[row][col] = component;
layoutGrid();
}
JComponent getComponentInGrid(int row, int col)
{
return components[row][col];
}
void removeComponentInGrid(int row, int col)
{
remove(components[row][col]);
components[row][col] = null;
List<Runnable> animations = new ArrayList<Runnable>();
for (int r=row-1; r>=0; r--)
{
JComponent component = components[r][col];
if (component != null)
{
Runnable animation =
createAnimation(component, r, col, r + 1, col);
animations.add(animation);
}
}
for (Runnable animation : animations)
{
Thread t = new Thread(animation);
t.setDaemon(true);
t.start();
}
repaint();
}
private Runnable createAnimation(JComponent component,
int sourceRow, int sourceCol, int targetRow, int targetCol)
{
int cellWidth = getWidth() / cols;
int cellHeight = getHeight() / rows;
Rectangle sourceBounds = new Rectangle(
sourceCol * cellWidth, sourceRow * cellHeight,
cellWidth, cellHeight);
Rectangle targetBounds = new Rectangle(
targetCol * cellWidth, targetRow * cellHeight,
cellWidth, cellHeight);
Runnable movement = createAnimation(
component, sourceBounds, targetBounds);
return () ->
{
components[sourceRow][sourceCol] = null;
movement.run();
components[targetRow][targetCol] = component;
repaint();
};
}
private static Runnable createAnimation(JComponent component,
Rectangle sourceBounds, Rectangle targetBounds)
{
int delayMs = 10;
int steps = 20;
Runnable r = () ->
{
int x0 = sourceBounds.x;
int y0 = sourceBounds.y;
int w0 = sourceBounds.width;
int h0 = sourceBounds.height;
int x1 = targetBounds.x;
int y1 = targetBounds.y;
int w1 = targetBounds.width;
int h1 = targetBounds.height;
int dx = x1 - x0;
int dy = y1 - y0;
int dw = w1 - w0;
int dh = h1 - h0;
for (int i=0; i<steps; i++)
{
double alpha = (double)i / (steps - 1);
int x = (int)(x0 + dx * alpha);
int y = (int)(y0 + dy * alpha);
int w = (int)(w0 + dw * alpha);
int h = (int)(h0 + dh * alpha);
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() ->
{
component.setBounds(x, y, w, h);
});
try
{
Thread.sleep(delayMs);
}
catch (InterruptedException e)
{
Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
return;
}
}
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() ->
{
component.setBounds(x1, y1, w1, h1);
});
};
return r;
}
}

You could try using a 2-dimensional array of JButtons
JButton[][] buttons = new JButton[14][14];
for (int i=0; i < buttons.length; i++) {
for (int j=0; j < buttons[i].length; j++) {
buttons[i][j] = new JButton("Button [" + i + "][" + j + "]");
}
}
// Then do whatever,remove,change color,check next element in array
// and compare colors etc
buttons[2][3].setText("changed text");

If you want the above buttons to take more space to fill the empty space when you remove a component well, this is not possible using GridLayout, but you can add some empty components like JLabels to fill the space.
You can add a component in a container at a specific index for this purpose, by using Container's add (Component comp, int index) method.
This code snippet will replace a button at a specified index (45, just for example) with a blank component in a panel which has a GridLayout set:
JPanel boardPanel = new JPanel (new GridLayout (14, 14));
// ... add your buttons ...
// This code could be invoked inside an ActionListener ...
boardPanel.remove (45);
boardPanel.add (new JLabel (""), 45);
boardPanel.revalidate ();
boardPanel.repaint ();
This way, the rest of the components will not move, and you will just see a blank space replacing your button.
You can achieve more: if you add the empty label at index = 0, all the buttons will move to the right (remember that the number of components should not change, else the components will resize and you could obtain bad behaviour), and so on, you can "move" a single component by simply removing it and adding it at a different index.
Another way to go would be to store a 2-dimensional array of objects representing your model logic (you can store color and all the stuff you need), and painting them on your own by overriding paintComponent method.
For an example of a custom painting approach, take a look at this MadProgrammer's answer, where he shows how to highlight a specific cell in a grid (in this case he uses a List to store objects, but a 2d array will work as well).

Drawing a two colored checker board with nested for loops where each square being their own object (Java)

I am attempting to draw a checkerboard pattern in java using nested for loops, but I am having trouble doing it with two different colors. I know this question has been asked before, but it hasn't been asked with two different colors on the board that are not just using a background color. I plan on using the individual squares as an array to hold checker positions, so I do need each individual square made. Would it be better to drop the ice of a nested for loop to create each square, or should i stick with that shortcut? And if I were to stick with it, how would the nested loop be formatted (one for each color)?

When creating checker tiles, I would pass in an int for the x coordinate, and y coordinate such as:
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Graphics;
public class CheckerTile {
public static final int WIDTH = 100; //width of each tile
public static final int HEIGHT = 100; //height of each tile, most likely same as width so its a square
public static int currentId = 0; //variable to reference unique id for each tile
private int id; //current id of tile
private int x; //x coordinate
private int y; //y coordinate
private int width; //width of tile
private int height; //height of tile
//Default constructor to take x and y coordinate
public CheckerTile( int x, int y ) {
this.id = currentId++;
this.x = x;
this.y = y;
width = WIDTH;
height = HEIGHT;
}
public int getId()
{
return id;
}
//draws the tile on the panel.
public void draw(Graphics g)
{
//if the checkerTile's id is divisible by 2, draw it red, otherwise draw it black.
g.setColor( id % 2 == 0 ? Color.RED : Color.black);
g.fillRect(x, y, width, height);
}
}
That way we have a way to draw the tile on the board. Now, when creating each object, we increment a currentId variable so that we can color each one individually using the modulus operator later.
I am assuming you are using Swing so I decided to add a draw(Graphics g) method so when repainting in java it would use that Graphics object. If you are using a different library, then you will have to do some research in to how to draw it on the board.
Now in your JPanel, it would look something like this:
//Creates the JPanel, which needs to be added to JFrame object in main
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class CheckerBoard extends JPanel {
CheckerTile[][] checkerTiles; //2-dimension array of checkerTiles
public CheckerBoard() {
super();
this.setSize(800,800);
checkerTiles = new CheckerTile[9][9];
//This creates the checkerTiles.
for(int i = 0; i < 9; i++)
{
for( int j = 0; j < 9; j++)
{
checkerTiles[i][j] = new CheckerTile( j * CheckerTile.WIDTH, i * CheckerTile.HEIGHT );
}
}
this.setVisible(true);
//Repaint right away to show results.
repaint();
}
//We need to override this to paint the tiles on the board.
#Override
public void paintComponent(Graphics g)
{
for(int i = 0; i < checkerTiles.length; i++)
{
for(int j = 0; j < checkerTiles[i].length; j++)
{
//call the draw method on each tile.
checkerTiles[i][j].draw(g);
}
}
}
//A demo of adding the panel to a frame and showing the tiles.
public static void main(String[] args)
{
//Create the JFrame and add the CheckerBoard we made to it.
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.setSize(800,800);
frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
frame.add(new CheckerBoard(), BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}

Why wont squares show up after repaint()?

I posted this question a bit earlier and was told to make it SSCCE so here goes (if I can make any improvements feel free to let me know):
I'm wondering why when my button "confirm" is clicked the old squares disappear and the redrawn squares do not appear on my GUI (made with swing). The Squares class draws 200 spaced out squares with an ID (0, 1, 2, or 3 as String) inside obtained from a different class (for the purpose of this question, let's assume it is always 0 and not include that class). For clarification: Squares draws everything perfectly the first time (also retrieves the correct IDs), but I want it to redraw everything once the button is clicked with new IDs.
Code for Squares:
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.geom.*;
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class Squares extends JPanel{
private ArrayList<Rectangle> squares = new ArrayList<Rectangle>();
private String stringID = "0";
public void addSquare(int x, int y, int width, int height, int ID) {
Rectangle rect = new Rectangle(x, y, width, height);
squares.add(rect);
stringID = Integer.toString(ID);
if(ID == 0){
stringID = "";
}
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D) g;
FontMetrics fm = g2.getFontMetrics();
int fontAscent = fm.getAscent();
g2.setClip(new Rectangle(0,0,Integer.MAX_VALUE,Integer.MAX_VALUE));
for (Rectangle rect : squares) {
g2.drawString(stringID, rect.x + 7, rect.y + 2 + fontAscent);
g2.draw(rect);
}
}
}
Code for GUI:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class GUIReserver extends JFrame implements Runnable{
private int myID;
private JButton confirm = new JButton("Check Availability and Confirm Reservation");
private JFrame GUI = new JFrame();
private Squares square;
public GUIReserver(int i) {
this.myID = i;
}
#Override
public void run() {
int rows = 50;
int seatsInRow = 4;
confirm.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
GUI.getContentPane().remove(square);
square = new Squares();
int spaceNum = 0;
int rowNum = 0;
int offsetX = 200;
int offsetY = 0;
for(int i = 0; i < rows * seatsInRow; i++){
square.addSquare(rowNum * 31 + offsetX,spaceNum * 21 + 50 + offsetY,20,20, 0); //normally the 4th parameter here would retrieve the ID from the main class
rowNum++;
if(rowNum == 10){
rowNum = 0;
spaceNum++;
}
if(spaceNum == 2){
spaceNum = 3;
rowNum = 0;
}
if(spaceNum == 5){
spaceNum = 0;
offsetY += 140;
}
}
GUI.getContentPane().add(square); //this does not show up at all (could be that it wasn't drawn, could be that it is out of view etc...)
GUI.repaint(); //the line in question
}
});
GUI.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
GUI.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
GUI.setLocation(0,0);
GUI.setExtendedState(JFrame.MAXIMIZED_BOTH);
square = new Squares();
int spaceNum = 0;
int rowNum = 0;
int offsetX = 200;
int offsetY = 0;
for(int i = 0; i < rows * seatsInRow; i++){
square.addSquare(rowNum * 31 + offsetX,spaceNum * 21 + 50 + offsetY,20,20, 0); //normally the 4th parameter here would retrieve the ID from the main class
rowNum++;
if(rowNum == 10){
rowNum = 0;
spaceNum++;
}
if(spaceNum == 2){
spaceNum = 3;
rowNum = 0;
}
if(spaceNum == 5){
spaceNum = 0;
offsetY += 140;
}
}
GUI.getContentPane().add(square); //this shows up the way I wish
GUI.add(confirm);
GUI.pack();
GUI.setVisible(true);
}
}
Code for main:
public class AircraftSeatReservation {
static AircraftSeatReservation me = new AircraftSeatReservation();
private final int rows = 50;
private final int seatsInRow = 4;
private int seatsAvailable = rows * seatsInRow;
private Thread t3;
public static void main(String[] args) {
GUIReserver GR1 = new GUIReserver(3);
me.t3 = new Thread(GR1);
me.t3.start();
}
}

One major problem: Your Squares JPanels preferred size is only 20 by 20, and will likely actually be that size since it seems to be added to a FlowLayout-using container. Next you seem to be drawing at locations that are well beyond the bounds of this component, and so the drawings likely will never be seen. Consider allowing your Squares objects to be larger, and make sure to only draw within the bounds of this component.
Note also there is code that doesn't make sense, including:
private int myID;
private JTextField row, column, instru draft saved // ???
package question2;ction1, instruction2, seatLabel, rowLabel; // ???
I'm guessing that it's
private int myID;
private JTextField row, column, instruction1, instruction2, seatLabel, rowLabel;
And this won't compile for us:
int rows = AircraftSeatReservation.getRows();
int seatsInRow = AircraftSeatReservation.getSeatsInRow(); // and shouldn't this take an int row parameter?
since we don't have your AircraftSeatReservation class (hopefully you don't really have static methods in that class).
And we can't compile or run your current code. We don't want to see your whole program, but rather you should condense your code into the smallest bit that still compiles, has no extra code that's not relevant to your problem, but still demonstrates your problem. So as Andrew Thompson recommends, for better help, please create and post your Minimal, Complete, and Verifiable example or Short, Self Contained, Correct Example.
I would try to OOP-ify your problem as much as possible, to allow you to divide and conquer. This could involve:
Creating a SeatClass enum, one with possibly two elements, FIRST and COACH.
Creating a non-GUI Seat class, one with several fields including possibly: int row, char seat ( such as A, B, C, D, E, F), a SeatClass field to see if it is a first class seat or coach, and a boolean reserved field that is only true if the seat is reserved.
This class would also have a getId() method that returns a String concatenation of the row number and the seat char.
Creating a non-GUI Airplane class, one that holds two arrays of Seats, one for SeatClass.FIRST or first-class seats, and one for SeatClass.COACH.
It would also have a row count field and a seat count (column count) field.
After creating all these, then work on your GUI classes.
I'd create a GUI class for Seats, perhaps GuiSeat, have it contain a Seat object, perhaps have it extend JPanel, allow it to display its own id String that it gets from its contained Seat object, have it override getBackground(...) so that it's color will depend on whether the seat is reserved or not.
etc.....

AffineTransform.rotate() - how do I xlate, rotate, and scale at the same time?

I have the following code which does (the first part of) what I want drawing a chessboard with some pieces on it.
Image pieceImage = getImage(currentPiece);
int pieceHeight = pieceImage.getHeight(null);
double scale = (double)side/(double)pieceHeight;
AffineTransform transform = new AffineTransform();
transform.setToTranslation(xPos, yPos);
transform.scale(scale, scale);
realGraphics.drawImage(pieceImage, transform, this);
that is, it gets a chess piece's image and the image's height, it translates the drawing of that image to the square the piece is on and scales the image to the size of the square.
Llet's say I want to rotate the black pieces 180 degrees. Somewhere I expect to have something like:
transform.rotate(Math.toRadians(180) /* ?, ? */);
But I can't figure out what to put in as X and Y. If I put nothing, the image is nicely rotated around the 0,0 point of its chessboard square, putting the piece upside down in the square to the northeast of where it is supposed to be. I've guessed at various other combinations of x,y, with no luck yet.
I am already using translation to put the piece in the right square, the rotation transform wants another x,y around which to rotate things, but I don't know how to tell the transform to rotate the piece around one x,y and write the image to a different x,y. Can someone help me with the rotation parameters, or point me to something that explains how these things work? I've found examples of things that don't explain how they work, and so far I haven't figured out how to alter them to my situation...
Major edit: addition of working code. Sorry, I don't know how to post images, please substitute your own.
When I run the following I get a 2x2 chess board with a rook at the top left and a knight at the bottom right.
If I go into SmallChessboardComponent and take the comment delims off the first rotation transform statement, I get the rook in its original place upside down and the knight does not appear. If I instead take the comment delims off the second transform statement, neither piece appears at all.
I am looking for a way to turn the pieces upside down on the square on which they would appear anyway. I want to draw each piece onto the board; I don't want code that flips the board.
main program:
package main;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import directredraw.SmallChessboardComponent;
public class SmallChessboardMain
{
private static void dbg (String message) { System.out.println(message); }
public static void main(String[] args)
{
//Create the top-level container and add contents to it.
final JFrame frame = new JFrame("Small Chessboard");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
// create the chessboard itself and set it in the component
SmallChessboard chessboard = new SmallChessboard();
// create the GUI component that will contain the chessboard
SmallChessboardComponent chessboardComponent = new SmallChessboardComponent();
chessboardComponent.setBoard (chessboard);
frame.getContentPane().add(chessboardComponent, BorderLayout.CENTER);
// pack and display all this
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}
chessboard class:
package main;
public class SmallChessboard
{
Piece [][] squares = new Piece[2][2];
public SmallChessboard()
{
squares[0][0] = new Piece(Piece.WHITECOLOR, Piece.ROOK);
squares[1][1] = new Piece(Piece.WHITECOLOR, Piece.KNIGHT);
}
/**
* get the piece at the given rank and file; null if
* no piece exists there.
*/
public Piece getPiece(int rank, int file)
{
if (0 > rank || rank > 2 || 0 > file || file > 2) { return null; }
else { return squares[rank][file]; }
}
}
chessboard component class:
package directredraw;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.Image;
import java.awt.Rectangle;
import java.awt.geom.AffineTransform;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import main.Piece;
import main.PieceImages;
import main.SmallChessboard;
public class SmallChessboardComponent extends JPanel
{
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
Color whiteSquareColor = Color.yellow;
Color blackSquareColor = Color.blue;
private static void dbg (String msg) { System.out.println(msg); }
private SmallChessboard chessboard = null;
// currently playing with rotating images; this affine transform
// should help
AffineTransform rotationTransform = null;
private final int DEFAULT_PREFERRED_SIDE = 400;
int wholeSide = DEFAULT_PREFERRED_SIDE;
int side = DEFAULT_PREFERRED_SIDE / 8;
public void setBoard (SmallChessboard givenBoard)
{ chessboard = givenBoard;
}
/**
* set either or both colors for this chessboard; if either of
* the arguments are null, they do not change the existing color
* setting.
*/
public void setColors (Color darkSquare, Color lightSquare)
{
if (darkSquare != null) { blackSquareColor = darkSquare; }
if (lightSquare != null) { whiteSquareColor = lightSquare; }
}
/**
* return the preferred size for this component.s
*/
public Dimension getPreferredSize()
{ return new Dimension(wholeSide, wholeSide);
}
/*
* return the image object for the given piece
*/
private Image getImage(Piece piece)
{ return PieceImages.getPieceImage(this, piece);
}
public void paintComponent (Graphics graphics)
{
Graphics2D realGraphics = (Graphics2D) graphics;
// the image container might have been stretched.
// calculate the largest square held by the current container,
// and then 1/2 of that size for an individual square.
int wholeWidth = this.getWidth();
int wholeHeight = this.getHeight();
wholeSide = (wholeWidth / 2) * 2;
if (wholeHeight < wholeWidth) { wholeSide = (wholeHeight / 2) * 2; }
side = wholeSide / 2;
Rectangle clip = realGraphics.getClipBounds();
boolean firstColumnWhite = false;
// for each file on the board:
// set whether top square is white
// set background color according to white/black square
//
for (int fileIndex=0; fileIndex<8; fileIndex++)
{ boolean currentColorWhite = firstColumnWhite;
firstColumnWhite = !firstColumnWhite;
// draw the board and all the pieces
int rankIndex = 2;
for (rankIndex=2; rankIndex>=0; rankIndex--)
{
currentColorWhite = !currentColorWhite;
// x and y position of the top left corner of the square we're drawing,
// and rect becomes the dimensions and position of the square itself.
int xPos = fileIndex * side;
int yPos = rankIndex * side;
Rectangle rect = new Rectangle(xPos, yPos, side, side);
// if this square intersects the clipping rectangle we're drawing,
// then we'll draw the square and the piece on the square.
if (rect.intersects(clip))
{
// this puts down the correct color of square
if (currentColorWhite) { realGraphics.setColor(whiteSquareColor); }
else { realGraphics.setColor(blackSquareColor); }
realGraphics.fillRect(xPos, yPos, side, side);
// if there is a piece on this square and it isn't selected at the
// moment, then draw it.
Piece currentPiece = chessboard.getPiece(rankIndex, fileIndex);
if (currentPiece != null)
{
Image pieceImage = getImage(currentPiece);
int pieceHeight = pieceImage.getHeight(null);
double scalePiece = (double)side/(double)pieceHeight;
AffineTransform transform = new AffineTransform();
// transform.setToRotation(Math.toRadians(180));
transform.setToRotation(Math.toRadians(180), side/2, side/2);
transform.scale(scalePiece, scalePiece);
transform.translate(xPos/scalePiece, yPos/scalePiece);
// if (currentPiece.isBlack())
// {
// transform.translate(xPos + (side+2), yPos + (side+2));
// transform.rotate(Math.toRadians(180) /*, ,*/ );
// }
// else
// {
// transform.translate(xPos, yPos);
// }
realGraphics.drawImage(pieceImage, transform, this);
}
}
}
}
}
}
Piece.java
package main;
public class Piece
{
// piece types; the sum of the piece type and the
// color gives a number unique to both type and color,
// which is used for things like image indices.
public static final int PAWN = 0;
public static final int KNIGHT = 1;
public static final int BISHOP = 2;
public static final int ROOK = 3;
public static final int QUEEN = 4;
public static final int KING = 5;
// one of these is the color of the current piece
public static final int NOCOLOR = -1;
// the sum of the piece type and the
// color gives a number unique to both type and color,
// which is used for things like image indices.
public static final int BLACKCOLOR = 0;
public static final int WHITECOLOR = 6;
int color = NOCOLOR;
int imageIndex;
public Piece(int color, int pieceType)
{
// dbg -- all pieces are white rooks for now...
this.color = color;
imageIndex = color + pieceType;
}
/**
* return the integer associated with this piece's color;
*/
int getPieceColor()
{ return color;
}
/**
* return true if the piece is black
*/
public boolean isBlack()
{
return (color == BLACKCOLOR);
}
/**
* set the color associated with this piece; constants
* found in this class.
*/
public void setPieceColor(int givenColor)
{ color = givenColor;
}
/**
* return the integer designated for the image used for this piece.
*/
int getImageIndex()
{ return imageIndex;
}
}
and PieceImages.java
package main;
import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.Image;
import java.awt.MediaTracker;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.net.URL;
public class PieceImages
{ static Image images[] = null;
private static void dbg (String msg) { System.out.println(msg); }
public static Image getPieceImage (Component target, Piece piece)
{
if (images == null)
try
{
MediaTracker tracker = new MediaTracker(target);
images = new Image[12];
images[Piece.BLACKCOLOR + Piece.PAWN] = getImage(tracker, "bPawn.gif");
images[Piece.BLACKCOLOR + Piece.KNIGHT] = getImage(tracker, "bKnight.gif");
images[Piece.BLACKCOLOR + Piece.BISHOP] = getImage(tracker, "bBishop.gif");
images[Piece.BLACKCOLOR + Piece.ROOK] = getImage(tracker, "bRook.gif");
images[Piece.BLACKCOLOR + Piece.QUEEN] = getImage(tracker, "bQueen.gif");
images[Piece.BLACKCOLOR + Piece.KING] = getImage(tracker, "bKing.gif");
images[Piece.WHITECOLOR + Piece.PAWN] = getImage(tracker, "wPawn.gif");
images[Piece.WHITECOLOR + Piece.KNIGHT] = getImage(tracker, "wKnight.gif");
images[Piece.WHITECOLOR + Piece.BISHOP] = getImage(tracker, "wBishop.gif");
images[Piece.WHITECOLOR + Piece.ROOK] = getImage(tracker, "wRook.gif");
images[Piece.WHITECOLOR + Piece.QUEEN] = getImage(tracker, "wQueen.gif");
images[Piece.WHITECOLOR + Piece.KING] = getImage(tracker, "wKing.gif");
if (!tracker.waitForAll(10000))
{ System.out.println("ERROR: not all piece main.images loaded");
}
dbg("piece images loaded");
}
catch (Exception xcp)
{ System.out.println("Error loading images");
xcp.printStackTrace();
}
return images[piece.getImageIndex()];
}
private static Image getImage(MediaTracker tracker, String file)
{
URL url = PieceImages.class.getResource("images/" + file);
Image image = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getImage(url);
tracker.addImage(image, 1);
return image;
}
}

Okay, this is a little slight of hand. The example code will only work for 90 degree increments (it was only designed this way), to do smaller increments you to use some trig to calculate the image width and height (there's a answer somewhere for that to ;))
public class ImagePane extends JPanel {
private BufferedImage masterImage;
private BufferedImage renderedImage;
public ImagePane(BufferedImage image) {
masterImage = image;
applyRotation(0);
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return new Dimension(renderedImage.getWidth(), renderedImage.getHeight());
}
#Override
public Dimension getMinimumSize() {
return getPreferredSize();
}
protected int getVirtualAngle(int angle) {
float fRotations = (float) angle / 360f;
int rotations = (int) (fRotations - (fRotations / 1000));
int virtual = angle - (rotations * 360);
if (virtual < 0) {
virtual = 360 + virtual;
}
return virtual;
}
public void applyRotation(int angle) {
// This will only work for angles of 90 degrees...
// Normalize the angle to make sure it's only between 0-360 degrees
int virtualAngle = getVirtualAngle(angle);
Dimension size = new Dimension(masterImage.getWidth(), masterImage.getHeight());
int masterWidth = masterImage.getWidth();
int masterHeight = masterImage.getHeight();
double x = 0; //masterWidth / 2.0;
double y = 0; //masterHeight / 2.0;
switch (virtualAngle) {
case 0:
break;
case 180:
break;
case 90:
case 270:
size = new Dimension(masterImage.getHeight(), masterImage.getWidth());
x = (masterHeight - masterWidth) / 2.0;
y = (masterWidth - masterHeight) / 2.0;
break;
}
renderedImage = new BufferedImage(size.width, size.height, masterImage.getTransparency());
Graphics2D g2d = renderedImage.createGraphics();
AffineTransform at = AffineTransform.getTranslateInstance(x, y);
at.rotate(Math.toRadians(virtualAngle), masterWidth / 2.0, masterHeight / 2.0);
g2d.drawImage(masterImage, at, null);
g2d.dispose();
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g;
int width = getWidth() - 1;
int height = getHeight() - 1;
int x = (width - renderedImage.getWidth()) / 2;
int y = (height - renderedImage.getHeight()) / 2;
g2d.drawImage(renderedImage, x, y, this);
}
}
Now, you could simply "flip" the image vertically, if that works better for you
public class FlipPane extends JPanel {
private BufferedImage masterImage;
private BufferedImage renderedImage;
public FlipPane(BufferedImage image) {
masterImage = image;
flipMaster();
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return new Dimension(renderedImage.getWidth(), renderedImage.getHeight());
}
#Override
public Dimension getMinimumSize() {
return getPreferredSize();
}
protected void flipMaster() {
renderedImage = new BufferedImage(masterImage.getWidth(), masterImage.getHeight(), masterImage.getTransparency());
Graphics2D g2d = renderedImage.createGraphics();
g2d.setTransform(AffineTransform.getScaleInstance(1, -1));
g2d.drawImage(masterImage, 0, -masterImage.getHeight(), this);
g2d.dispose();
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g;
int width = getWidth() - 1;
int height = getHeight() - 1;
int x = (width - renderedImage.getWidth()) / 2;
int y = (height - renderedImage.getHeight()) / 2;
g2d.drawImage(renderedImage, x, y, this);
}
}
This basically results in:
Original | 180 degree rotation | Vertical inversion...
Now, if you change the flipMaster method to read:
g2d.setTransform(AffineTransform.getScaleInstance(-1, -1));
g2d.drawImage(masterImage, -masterImage.getWidth(), -masterImage.getHeight(), this);
You'll get the same effect as the 180 rotation ;)

Try performing the rotation before translating it into the correct position. Simply reorder the transformations so that first you scale, then you rotate (around the center point of the image), and then you translate:
transform.scale(scale, scale);
transform.rotate(Math.PI, pieceWidth / 2, pieceHeight /2);
transform.translation(xPos, yPos);
By the way, the black pieces on a chess board usually aren't rotated. :)
Update
In what way does it not work? The solution I provided also also differs from your code in that scaling is performed before translating. You can try the rotating, translating, and then scaling.
I strongly suggest that you modify your code so that you can perform the translation last. If you do this, everything will become a lot less complicated. Once you have done so, you only have to scale once to automatically take care of the rotation.
transform.scale(scale, scale); // or transform.scale(scale, -scale); to rotate
transform.translate(xPos, yPos);

Creating a Checkers Board in Java

I'm begining a little project to create a simple checkers game. However it's been a long time since I've used the java GUI tools. The goal of the code at this point is to draw the initial board (red pieces at top, black at bottom). However all I get when I run the code is a blank frame. I'm also a little uncertain if my circle drawing code will do what I want (ie create solid red or black circles inside certain squares) Here is the code. Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions
EDIT: I should probably alternate drawing blue and gray squares or else the thing will probably just be a giant blue blob, however I'll settle for a giant blue blob at this point :p
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class CheckersServer
{
public static class Board
{
private JFrame frame = new JFrame();
private JPanel backBoard = new JPanel();
Board()
{
frame.setSize(905,905);
backBoard.setSize(900,900);
frame.setTitle("Checkers");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setVisible(true);
backBoard.setVisible(true);
boardSquare bs;
String type = null;
//Filling in Red Side
for (int i = 0; i <=1; i++)
{
for(int j = 0; j < 9; j++)
{
if(j % 2 == 0)
{
type = "Red";
}
else
{
type = "Blank";
}
bs = new boardSquare(100*j,100*i,type);
backBoard.add(bs);
}
}
//Filling in empty middle
type = "Blank";
for (int i = 2; i < 7; i++)
{
for(int j = 0; j < 9; j++)
{
bs = new boardSquare(100*j,100*i,type);
backBoard.add(bs);
}
}
//Filling in Black side
for (int i = 7; i < 9; i++)
{
for(int j = 0; j < 9; j++)
{
if(j % 2 != 0)
{
type = "Black";
}
else
{
type = "Blank";
}
bs = new boardSquare(100*j,100*i,type);
backBoard.add(bs);
}
}
backBoard.repaint();
frame.add(backBoard);
frame.repaint();
}
private class boardSquare extends JComponent
{
private int x; //x position of the rectangle measured from top left corner
private int y; //y position of the rectangle measured from top left corner
private boolean isBlack = false;
private boolean isRed = false;
public boardSquare(int p, int q, String type)
{
x = p;
y = q;
if (type.equals("Black"))
{
isBlack = true;
isRed = false;
}
else if (type.equals("Red"))
{
isRed = true;
isBlack = false;
}
else if (type.equals("Blank"))
{
isBlack = false;
isRed = false;
}
}
public void paintComponent(Graphics g)
{
Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D) g;
Rectangle box = new Rectangle(x,y,100,100);
g2.draw(box);
g2.setPaint(Color.BLUE);
g2.fill(box);
if(isBlack)
{
g2.fillOval(x, y,100 ,100 );
g2.setColor(Color.black);
g2.drawOval(x, y, 100, 100);
}
else if(isRed)
{
g2.fillOval(x, y,100 ,100 );
g2.setColor(Color.red);
g2.drawOval(x, y, 100, 100);
}
}
}
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Board game = new Board();
}
}

You have several issues.
Java UI is layout-based, which means that when you add a component to a parent, the parent's layout determines where the child component will be placed. You don't have any code to set up the layout, and so your application is using the defaults (FlowLayout is the default, and this may work in your case, as long as your JFrame and children are the appropriate size).
The bigger problems are in your boardSquare class. By default, JPanels have a dimension of 10x10. You aren't specifying the size, and so all your squares are 10x10. You need to tell the squares how big they are. You can do this in the boardSquare constructor:
setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 100));
Finally, in your drawing code, you are doing an offset of x,y when drawing the squares and circles. This is an offset from the top-left corner of the component. Your components (after setting the size) will be 100x100 pixels. But if your x,y are greater than these values, you will be drawing outside of the bounds of the component. Instead, these values should be set to 0,0 because that is the top-left corner of the component you are drawing in.
By just setting the preferred size of the squares and setting x,y to 0, I was able to get the squares drawing in the frame, though it wasn't pretty. You will need to work on setting the correct layout before it will be laid out correctly.

Here are some hints:
Your BoardSquares have dimension 0x0. Not a good size for something you want to be visible to the user.
To help visualize what's going on, cause each BoardSquare to be 100x100 pixels in size, and give them a border. Now you can see where they are showing up in your GUI. Your GUI code still needs significant changes, but this will at least let you start seeing what you're dealing with.
public BoardSquare(int p, int q, String type)
{
this.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.CYAN, 2));
this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 100));
// ... etc ...
BoardSquare seems to be coded to draw its contents based on coordinates from the absolute topmost leftmost point in the window, but they should be coded to draw themselves from the topmost leftmost point of the BoardSquare itself. That is, components should only draw within their own boundaries, and they should use coordinates that assume 0,0 designates the top,left of the component, not of the window.
If you want to use BoardSquares (JComponents) and add them to the frame, you probably should use a different layout manager, like GridLayout. FlowLayout won't give you the kind of precise positioning you want.

import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.LineBorder;
import java.awt.*;
public class CheckersServer2
{
public static String type_BLANK = "BLANK";
public static String type_RED = "RED";
public static String type_BLACK = "BLACK";
public static int width = 100;
public static int height = 100;
public static class Board
{
private JFrame frame = new JFrame();
private JPanel backBoard = new JPanel();
Board()
{
int numRows = 8;
int numCols = 8;
frame.setSize(905,905);
backBoard.setSize(900,900);
frame.setTitle("Checkers");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setVisible(true);
backBoard.setVisible(true);
String type;
for(int r=0; r<numRows; r++){
for(int c=0; c<numCols; c++){
//
type = type_BLANK;
if(c%2==0){
if(r==0 || r==2) {
type = type_RED;
}else if(r==6){
type = type_BLACK;
}
}else{
if(r==1){
type = type_RED;
} else if(r==5 || r==7) {
type = type_BLACK;
}
}
backBoard.add(new BoardSquare(r,c,type));
}
}
backBoard.repaint();
frame.add(backBoard);
frame.repaint();
}
private class BoardSquare extends JComponent
{
/**
*
*/
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
private int x; //x position of the rectangle measured from top left corner
private int y; //y position of the rectangle measured from top left corner
private boolean isBlack = false;
private boolean isRed = false;
public BoardSquare(int p, int q, String type)
{
//this.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.CYAN, 2));
this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(width, height));
x = p;
y = q;
if (type.equals(type_BLACK))
{
isBlack = true;
isRed = false;
}
else if (type.equals(type_RED))
{
isRed = true;
isBlack = false;
}
else if (type.equals(type_BLANK))
{
isBlack = false;
isRed = false;
}
}
public void paintComponent(Graphics g)
{
Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D) g;
Rectangle box = new Rectangle(x,y,width,height);
g2.draw(box);
g2.setPaint(Color.BLUE);
g2.fill(box);
int ovalWidth = width - 15;
int ovalHeight = ovalWidth;
if(isBlack)
{
g2.setColor(Color.black);
g2.fillOval(x, y, ovalWidth, ovalHeight);
g2.drawOval(x, y, ovalWidth, ovalHeight);
}
else if(isRed)
{
g2.setColor(Color.red);
g2.fillOval(x, y, ovalWidth, ovalHeight);
g2.drawOval(x, y, ovalWidth, ovalHeight);
}
}
}
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Board game = new Board();
}
}