Differences between Jbutton and Jpanel and JFrame ? - java

i make simple game , and it consist of 2 files , first file is "Alibaba.java" which is extended from JFrame , i used it to display general contents of the game !,
and the second file is "intro.java" which is extended from JPanel , i used it to show intro of the game which include (title & background & person) ,
my problem occured when i tried to add a simple button in the intro ! , i did a function to create the button , but the problem is when i run the game , the button which i added it don't appear !! , but when i tried add it from the first file which extended from JFrame , its appeared ! ,
so what is the problem in my code ? is JPanel don't accept JButtons ! or i must create the buttons from the JFrame file ?!
so i need to know how to add Jbutton inside Jpanel instead of add Jbutton in JFrame Direct !!,
this is my samples of my codes which contain the problem :
1st file (Alibaba.java)
package alibaba;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.GraphicsDevice;
import java.awt.GraphicsEnvironment;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
public class Alibaba extends JFrame {
public Alibaba(){
super("Alibaba");
Intro intro = new Intro();
this.add(intro);
GraphicsEnvironment environment = GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment();
GraphicsDevice device = environment.getDefaultScreenDevice();
device.setFullScreenWindow(this);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Alibaba alibaba = new Alibaba();
}
}
2nd file(Intro.java) :
package alibaba;
import javax.swing.JButton;
public class Intro extends javax.swing.JPanel implements Runnable{
Thread _intro_run;
public Intro() {
_intro_run = new Thread(this);
_intro_run.start();
}
#Override
public void run() {
// Here i tried to add a button to the Intro !!!
this.add(this.createbutton("Exit"));
}
public JButton createbutton(String text){
JButton _button = new JButton(text);
return _button;
}
}
So please tell me what is the problem and how to solve it , sorry but iam new to java , new to programming games world ! ,, thank you :)

You have to add the JButton inside the main thread, cross thread Component manipulation is bad.
For example:
public Intro() {
JButton exitButton = new JButton("Exit");
this.add(exitButton);
}
Alternatively, use SwingUtilities.invokeLater(Runnable). For example, in your run method:
#Override
public void run() {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
add(createbutton("Exit"));
}
}
}
Based on discussion it seems that you are overriding the paint or paintComponent methods. You need to call super in them, like:
void paint(Graphics g) {
super.paint(g);
// do other stuff to g
}

In addition, it is a bad sign that you have a JPanel that implements Runnable. In Java, all UI work (here you are using Swing components) is done from the Event Dispatching Thread - having an actual Swing component (your Intro class is a JPanel) Runnable flies in the face of that.

Suggestions:
Anytime you add a new component to a container, you have to tell the layout managers to layout the new and existing components. This is done by calling revalidate() on the JPanel receiving the button. You also should call repaint() on the JPanel after this.
You shouldn't do any of this in a background thread.
Most important read the Swing tutorials as they will tell you all of this and more.

Related

JButton ActionListener not responding

I couldn't find the answer anywhere else online, so I came here. I apologize in advance if the mistake in my code is very obvious; I'm still quite new to java swing. Here's what's going on: I have created a JButton named toggleElevators, and I want it to change text when clicked. I have already created an ActionListener and added it to toggleElevators. All I want right now is for the JButton to change text when clicked from Click me to Clicked.
First, here's a picture of what the JFrame looks like when executed:
NOTE: There is a third class, but it is purely for drawing the picture on the left. It has nothing to do with the GridLayout or the JButton.
Run class (created frame and adds toggleElevators JButton:
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
public class Run extends Input{
Input i = new Input();
public static void main(String[] args) {
new Run();
}
public Run() {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Elevators");
frame.setLayout(new GridLayout(0, 3));
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(new Elevators(Color.MAGENTA, true));
frame.add(new Elevators(Color.ORANGE, false));
frame.setSize(800,600);
frame.setResizable(false);
frame.getContentPane().add(toggleElevators); //adds toggleElevators button to JFrame
i.addButtonListeners(); //calls method defined in Input class, which adds the ActionListener to the toggleElevators button
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
}
Input class (creates toggleElevators JButton and its ActionListener):
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
public class Input {
JButton toggleElevators = new JButton("Click me.");
public void addButtonListeners() {
toggleElevators.addActionListener(new toggleElevatorsListener());
}
class toggleElevatorsListener implements ActionListener {
public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent event) {
toggleElevators.setText("Clicked.");
System.out.println("ActionListener called."); //I know the ActionListener is not being called because this line is not being printed out in the console
}
}
}
Your Run class extends Input, but also HAS an Input named i. You're adding this.toggleElevators to the frame, but you're adding a listener to i.toggleElevators.
Remove the i field from your class. I would also forget completely about defining and extending an Input class. It doesn't serve any purpose, and seems to confuse more than help you.
You create a new Input in your Run class, while the Run class also extends Input.
When you call i.addButtonListeners(); the action listeners are added on the toggleElevators from i and not on the toggleElevators you inherited from the Input class.
Try addButtonListeners().
Your Run class extends Input. Therefore it has its own toggleElevators which is the one it sets in the frame. However, i has is own toggleElevators where it sets the event listeners. So they are not set on the one in the frame but on one that never gets used.
You can simply delete the i object. As Run extends Input, it can call the method directly, and then the listener will be added to its own toggleElevators.

I created my GUI in a GUI class' constructor. How would I access its Frames, Panels etc. from another class?

First of all, this is a more specific question than it seems to be. To start off: I am currently doing a small application with a rather small GUI, so I decided to make a GUI class, and initialize my whole GUI in this constructor.
This would look like this:
public class GUI extends JFrame{
public GUI{
//Initialize GUI here, including its Frames, Panels, Buttons etc.
}
}
How can I now access the GUIs frame etc. from an external class? If I would create an object of the GUI class, I would simply duplicate my GUI window. I did not come across any other ideas than making the frame, panel and so on static.
I'm somewhat lost right now. Also I'm pretty sure that I am not thinking the right way into this case, but I need someone to point me to the right direction. If someone could help me out, I would be very thankful.
First of all, using static is the worst solution possible, even if your GUI class is a singleton (buf if it is, at least it will work fine).
Why don't you simply create getters and/or setters ? And finally, it is usually not normal that external classes need to access the components of another graphic class. You should wonder if your design is the most fitted for your needs.
Here's a simple GUI to change the background color of a JPanel with a JButton. Generally, this is how you construct a Swing GUI.
package com.ggl.testing;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.BoxLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class ChangeDemo implements Runnable {
private boolean isYellow;
private JFrame frame;
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new ChangeDemo());
}
#Override
public void run() {
frame = new JFrame("Change Background Demo");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
mainPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(mainPanel, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
JPanel namePanel = new JPanel();
JLabel nameLabel = new JLabel(
"Click the button to change the background color");
nameLabel.setAlignmentX(JLabel.CENTER_ALIGNMENT);
namePanel.add(nameLabel);
mainPanel.add(namePanel);
final JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel();
buttonPanel.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
buttonPanel.setBackground(Color.YELLOW);
isYellow = true;
JButton changeButton = new JButton("Change Color");
changeButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
isYellow = !isYellow;
if (isYellow) buttonPanel.setBackground(Color.YELLOW);
else buttonPanel.setBackground(Color.RED);
}
});
buttonPanel.add(changeButton);
mainPanel.add(buttonPanel);
frame.add(mainPanel);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}
You don't access the Swing components of the GUI from other classes. You create other classes to hold the values of the GUI.
Generally, you use the model / view / controller pattern to construct a Swing GUI. That way, you can focus on one part of the GUI at a time.
Take a look at my article, Java Swing File Browser, to see how the MVC pattern works with a typical Swing GUI.
You don't need to make it static or to create a new JFrame object every time.
Have a look at this simple code :
class UseJFrame {
public static void main(String...args) {
Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
JFrame frame = new GUI();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
System.out.println("Press E to exit");
String ip;
while(true) {
System.out.println("Show GUI (Y/N/E)? : ");
ip = sc.nextLine();
if(ip.equalsIgnoreCase("y") {
frame.setVisible(true);
} else if(ip.equalsIgnoreCase("n") {
frame.setVisible(false);
} else { // E or any other input
frame.dispose();
}
}
}
}
Note : Don't make GUI visible through constructor or it will show window at the very starting of creation of JFrame object.
If you want to use the same JFrame object at other places too then pool architecture would be better approach.

Unable to set size and location of button in java

I was just writing an application and i was not able to set location and size of button to desired values. whenever i open code the button comes at same location and with same size
Here is my code
public class main_class {
public static void main(String args[]){
Main_page mp = new Main_page();
mp.start();
}
}
Second file is:
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class Main_page extends JPanel {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
public void start(){
JPanel panel1 = new JPanel();
panel1.setBackground(Color.pink);
JButton Button1 = new JButton("Programmer");
Button1.setSize(10, 100);
Button1.setLocation(200,500);
panel1.add(Button1);
JFrame frame1 = new JFrame("Main Window");
frame1.setSize(700,500);
frame1.setContentPane(panel1);
frame1.setResizable(false);
frame1.setVisible(true);
}
}
what is the problem.
What is the problem?
I'm so glad you asked that question. It's not just a matter of getting a Swing application to work. You must get the Swing application to work correctly so that you can add more functionality to your Swing application without your Swing application breaking.
I added a call to SwingUtilities invokeLater in the main method. This call ensures that the Swing components are defined and used on the Event Dispatch thread (EDT).
I changed the name of your class to MainPage to conform to Java standards for naming classes.
I implemented Runnable to make the invokeLater method parameter easier to define.
I removed the extends of JPanel. You use Swing components. The only reason to extend a Swing component is when you want to override one of the component methods. The only reason you extend any Java class is when you want to override one of the class methods.
I changed the name of your MainPage method to run.
I set a layout (FlowLayout) for your JPanel. You must always use a layout manager for your Swing components.
I made button1 lowercase. Java field names are lowercase, so you can easily differentiate them from class names.
I added a call to the JFrame setDefaultCloseOperation to your run method. Without this call, your Swing application will not stop executing when you close the window. After a while, you'll have dozens of copies of your Swing application running, with no easy way to stop them.
I added a call to the JFrame pack to let the JFrame expand or contract to fit the components, rather than be a fixed size.
Here's the revised code. I put the main method in the MainPage class to make it easier to paste the code.
package com.ggl.testing;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class MainPage implements Runnable {
#Override
public void run() {
JPanel panel1 = new JPanel();
panel1.setBackground(Color.pink);
panel1.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
JButton button1 = new JButton("Programmer");
panel1.add(button1);
JFrame frame1 = new JFrame("Main Window");
frame1.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame1.add(panel1);
frame1.pack();
frame1.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new MainPage());
}
}
if you want to set the size and location manually then you can use panel1.setLayout(null); as people have said in the comments this isn't recommended.

Java running main method of other class, when JButton is pressed

I am trying to develop a JFrame which has two buttons that would let me to call the main method of other classes. The first try was to put it directly into the actionPerformed of each button, this will cause the JFrame of the other class to open but showing only the title of it and not showing any contents of the JPanel additionally freezing the program (can't even press close button, have to go into task manager or eclipse to kill it). The second try was adding a method call in actionPerformed, and adding the method will this time call the main method of other class however the same result (freeze of program).
For testing purposes I have placed the call to main method of other class, straight in this class main method which has proven to me that the frame of other class has successfully appeared, including all its JPanel contents, functionality etc.
I know I could make some kind of infinite loop in my main method to wait until a boolean is set to true, but then I though there must be some less-expensive way to get it working. So here I am asking this question to you guys.
Here is the code of the 2nd try;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class Chat {
public static void main (String[] args) {
JFrame window = new JFrame("Chat Selection");
//Set the default operation when user closes the window (frame)
window.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
//Set the size of the window
window.setSize(600, 400);
//Do not allow resizing of the window
window.setResizable(false);
//Set the position of the window to be in middle of the screen when program is started
window.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
//Call the setUpWindow method for setting up all the components needed in the window
window = setUpWindow(window);
//Set the window to be visible
window.setVisible(true);
}
private static JFrame setUpWindow(JFrame window) {
//Create an instance of the JPanel object
JPanel panel = new JPanel();
//Set the panel's layout manager to null
panel.setLayout(null);
//Set the bounds of the window
panel.setBounds(0, 0, 600, 400);
JButton client = new JButton("Run Client");
JButton server = new JButton("Run Server");
JLabel author = new JLabel("By xxx");
client.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
//run client main
runClient();
}
});
server.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
//run server main
}
});
panel.add(client);
client.setBounds(10,20,250,200);
panel.add(server);
server.setBounds(270,20,250,200);
panel.add(author);
author.setBounds(230, 350, 200, 25);
window.add(panel);
return window;
}
private static void runClient() {
String[] args1={"10"};
ClientMain.main(args1);
}
}
Only one main method is allowed per application. Honestly I am not sure what you are trying to do or think is supposed to happen when you call main on other classes. When you call main on other classes all you are doing is calling a method that happens to be called main and passing args to it. Your freezing is probably because you are not using Swing correctly:
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/concurrency/initial.html
The problem you're having is that Java Swing is single threaded. When you're running the main function of the other class, however you do it, the GUI won't be able to keep running until it returns. Try spawning off a new thread that calls the second main method.
private static void runClient() {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
String[] args1={"10"};
ClientMain.main(args1);
}
});
}
EDIT: Updated, as per #Radiodef's suggestion. Missed at the top when you said this second class had to display things on the GUI. Definitely want to go with the invokeLater then.

Java JFrame gui - Why won't the buttons show up?

I've just started learning Swing/JFrame, basically making a GUI.
I've been doing Java for a month now, just using the console, making a sin/true or false games and it is pretty easy for me now.
I decided to take a further step, and I must say it's totally a pain, different logic.
That's what I've done so far:
Main.java:
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.io.*;
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
final Gui gui = new Gui();
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
gui.createMyGui();
}
});
}
}
gui.java
class Gui {
protected JFrame j = new JFrame("My First window");
protected JPanel p = new JPanel();
protected Container c;
public Gui() {
j.setSize(500, 400);
p.setSize(j.getSize());
this.c = j.getContentPane();
}
public void createMyGui() {
setButtons();
setGuiBackground();
j.setVisible(true);
p.setVisible(true);
this.c.add(p);
}
private void setGuiBackground() {
this.c.setBackground(Color.green);
}
private void setButtons() {
p.add(new JButton("Hey"));
}
}
Problem
I can't really get the button to show up, people are telling me to use setBounds but I am not really sure on how to start as I can't even place a button there. I've tried searching about my problem, but no luck actually.
Basically what happens is a 500x400 green GUI opens, and that's it.
Why won't the button show?
people are telling me to use setBounds
Dont! Layout managers are the correct way to go.
Your problem is you add your buttons to the "p" panel, but you never add it (p panel) to the contentPane

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