Small Window Over Components - java

I already look at java library and dont know what to use to do this..
I already tryed JInternalFrame but thats not what I really want.. because it needs to be added to a JDesktopPanel right??
And in my program I have a JFrame with content pane using BorderLayout..
Then on borderlayout center I have a JTextArea, on borderlayout east I have a list.. and on borderlayout south I have a JPanel..
What I want is, when I do a certain action, it will pop up a "mini window" where I need to choose something.. u see?
and if I create JDesktopLane it will overlap what I have on the container..
the window will be made by my like a color chooser pallete , like a grid with colors.. and a label on top saying some text..
I just dont know how to make a "window" over the other components, and users can still drag over the frame, and interact with all the other components.. the jtextarea and such..
I guess you understood, thanks alot in advance!!
If u dont understand something please tell me, I really want to do this :)
Just dont know what to use..
Thanks again ;)

Have you tried JDialog?

It's because Jdialog are not component to be add in a JFrame, it's an independant thing running on it's own
if you use JDialog, the construct parameter parent indicate wich frame the JDialog is related to.

The typical class for this task is JWindow, a borderless top-level window that can be freely positioned. You could use SwingUtilities.getPointFromComponent to get the screen coordinates for a realized coordinate.
Top-level windows (JFrame, JDialog, JWindow) are not added to containers. They can get other windows as parent.
I dont want to use another JFrame.. that is kinda bad for code, its a small window with a simple function..
Structure your code so you can read it, others can read it, and you can debug it easily (the latter is a result from the first). A low class count is useless and -most of the time- contraproductive.
Why should another JFrame (or other window) be bad?
If you absolutely want to avoid opening top level windows (e.g. to avoid applet warning icons or to implement a special kind of user interface) you could use a JLayeredPane to add additional JPanels above your existing GUI elements.

Related

Change size of JFrame according to user selected image

I'm about to write a program using Java and i want it to have the next behavior:
Start with a small screen, just one button (i'm going for the JMenuBar) for the user to select a image file (a country or state map)
Once selected the image file, i'll need to resize the frame to the size of the selected image, and put the image as background.
when the user clicks somewhere inside the frame (click on a state or city) the program will have to create a visual object there, a circle, square or any form in that coordinates.
will need also a listener in those objects to know when they are clicked.
Summary: User has to select an image and trace a graph on it.
I am not asking for the code to do this. I would like to have some ideas about which components use to achieve this since i have been reading and there are plenty of ways to set the background image and stuff. But, considering the requirements, can you recommend me which components to use? I am a bit short of time since i've been given only about a week to code this, otherwise i would try all the alternatives by myself.
Some answer like:
"use a label to set the background and then resize the frame by this way: (some stuff) and then you can create a class extending from JLabel to create the circles with the listeners...." that would be enough help
I hope I was clear, any idea is welcome
Many thanks!
If you're going to stick with Swing I would use a JFileChooser to select the image. Once you got the image you can easily resize the JFrame by using the frame.setSize(image.getWidth(), image.getHeight());
To listen for mouse clicks inside your JFrame you need to use a MouseListener, make sure to add it to the frame, I always forget doing that.
Not sure whether you've succeeded drawing images/shapes at all. If not, you need to use a JPanel, check this topic if you need extra help.
If you are going to use a "JFrame " then you should definitely use Swing JFrames JPanels, and JLabels (as well as any other JComponents you need.) to accomplish this. Use only one JFrame. Use JPanel as the content pane/background for your JFrame and add everything else to it. But I would also suggest learning and using JavaFX because its the newest and I think it would be the easiest to use to do something like this. But if you only have a week and you know some swing use what you know. If you need more information post some code. Or ask a more direct question.

How to create dynamic wizard?

I am making project with GUI. The thing is, that I have a button and what I need to do is that after clicking this button I need to change Frame layout. For example, like when you are installing some program and you click "next" button, the Frame layout changes and you can see some different content. Basicly, dynamic wizard.
I have tried use another Frame, but it opens in another window and that is not what I want. I want to open it in the same window.
Another thing I have tried is set visibility of these components I don't want to be displayed to false, but I find it unprofessional and it is overlook in making a desing, when I have components over themselfs.
So do you guys have any idea? Thank you.
Most of the times for a wizard like GUI, you should have JFrame and a set of JPanels. In each step you can pass the shared data as constructor arguments to each panel, and when you are making one of them invisible and make another one visible, you can get some date from the previous step panel and pass it to the next step panel(if needed).
It is very common that your panels extend the JPanel and have some argument in their constructor(s). You use these data for initializing your panel and managing the state of the overall progress.
There is no a total plan for all situations. So you should decide what to do which is best fit for your case.
Try not to have multiple JFrames.
Hope this would be helpful.

Constant dialog-like functionality on a particular portion of a screen in a Java Swing application - is JDialog functionality the way to go?

To expand upon the headline :
I have a screen (my main window, an encapsulated JFrame) that's going to be created most likely with a GridBagLayout, because I need a grid whose cells are to be differently-sized rectangles. In one of these rectangles will be a malleable dialog-like functionality, with different options depending on the context of the application.
My question is, are custom JDialogs the way to go here? Or do I simply want a reusable JPanel that has the particular buttons I want displayed or disabled depending on the context? I hope this is clear; thanks. -B.
Go with the JPanel solution.
JDialog is a heavy-weight, top-level container, meaning it's window is managed by the system and cannot be embedded as a child of another component.

How to make the desktop pane that Netbeans has

So when I start up Netbeans, they create a little panel on the desktop for showing the progress of loading. I'm pretty sure Microsoft Office 2010 uses this too. I was curious how to make one of those in java?
I looked through the API and saw JDesktopPane. But I don't think that's what I'm looking for unless you can take that and put in on the actual desktop, but I'm unsure. Thanks in advance!
you can actually do it using JPanel.. you don't need to do anything else..no need of desktop pane
all you need to do is design a JPanel and put a progress bar inside it that will link to a process and show how much it has been completed.
JPanel doesn't have normal frame functionality like minimize, Close etc and will act exactly as you are trying to make up.
Update : Just tried doing what you wanted.
You need to start working on JFrame. and set its decoration to false.
in Netbeans, you can just go to Frame properties and set Undecorated to true
or inside code you can just write setUndecorated(true);
then you have to design your frame, put a progress bar inside it, link it to a function, set its onTop value to true (which means it will always be on top) and set its position to center of screen. done!! you are ready with your window!!

How can I reuse my JFrame to show several GUIs one after the other, instead of creating a new JFrame for each?

I have developed my Java code in Netbeans, and now I want to develop the GUI for my application.
The application communicates with a server, so it's going to have a login frame for sure. After that there will be a main frame. From the main frame the user can choose where to go and as you can understand there will be a lot of frames.
I have already developed a version of the application where there are a lot of frames and using the "setVisible()", but I want something better looking. I want a stable frame and inside it, changing the panels or something similar.
How would I do this?
You might use JInternalFrames if you like them, or simply use a main panel with a CardLayout, and display the appropriate card depending on the clicked menu item, or the selected JTree node (as it's done in Windows Explorer and similar applications).
Use the Swing tutorial to get you started.
You can, at any time, make any Container object a JFrame's ContentPane. You can also add and remove Containers from any other Container. If you want a user to be able to jump to any of a dozen panels at any time, CardLayout, as suggested in another answer, is easily the best route. If, however, you intend to lead the user along a somewhat controlled path, you can start with a login JPanel. When that's done, you can create the next panel (a JPanel or something else), add it, and dispose of the first one. And so on until the user exits.
If the transition from one panel to another affects nothing else in the program besides the two panels and the parent Container (JFrame or descendant), this is probably the way to go. If a bunch of other places in the program need to know about the change, you'll want a more centralized mechanism, maybe using CardLayout.

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