Develop Reference

Setting Background of a JTextPane leads to visual artifacts (Java)

this is my first question on stackoverflow so pls don't be so hard with me (and my English), I'll try my best asking a good question.
The problem is about what the title suggests -> setting the background of a JTextpane (specifically setting it transparent). As the setBackground-method takes a color argument, the way i went was with an alpha value = 0. This leads to the following visual artifacts:
example picture of the visual artifacts when running the code below
I will describe it in detail now, say what i've already tried and then post a minimal example for everyone to be able to recreate the bug easily.
I have a JFrame (myFrame) holding a JPanel (Test()) in which i paint. The background of this JPanel is set to green as you can see in the code. I did this to differ between the background of the TextPane and the actual background of the panel.
We also have a JTextPane inputfield -> which takes user input (it displays what you write). This is held by a JScrollPane scrollpane.
So the Target (meaning what i try to achieve): is a User input field, which is transparent, but still displays the text the user puts in. I tried to achieve this by setting the background of the inputfield and the scrollpane to a transparent color.
I would really appreciate it, if you don't just type something like (you need to setOpague(false) for ....) if you don't know exactly what you're talking about, because i nearly tried everything i can think of and read every post i could find in the internet about the problem. I will post some of them at the end. So...
What i already tried:
The usual way i found while searching for something like "How to make TextPane transparent" was to setOpague(false) at itself as well as the scrollpane and the viewport of the scrollpane. 1. Reading about what the method actually does i don't think that is a proper solution. 2. setting Opague(false) on these three leads to everything being invisible so, that's not good. Packing the frame again after setting the background. Either nothing was fixed or the components became completely invisible.
I also tried: setBackground(null), setting the Background of just the inputfield (just every single component and every possible combination amongst the three (scrollpane, viewport, inputfield)), mixing setOpague(true)/setOpague(false)/setBackground(...) in every way i could think of. Overriding the paintComponent method of the textpane and scrollpane seemed like a good approach, but i did not come very far with it.
So here is the code:
public class Test extends JPanel {
JTextPane inputField = new JTextPane();
JScrollPane scrollpane = new JScrollPane(inputField);
#Override
public void paint(Graphics g) {
super.paint(g);
inputField.setBounds(10,10,100,100);
scrollpane.setBounds(10,10,100,100);
}
public Test(){
this.setOpaque(true);
this.setBackground(Color.GREEN);
inputField.setBounds(10,10,100,100);
scrollpane.setBounds(10,10,100,100);
inputField.setBackground(new Color(0,0,0,0));
scrollpane.setBackground(new Color(0,0,0,0));
scrollpane.getViewport().setBackground(new Color(0,0,0,0));
this.add(scrollpane);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame myFrame = new JFrame();
myFrame.add(new Test());
myFrame.pack();
myFrame.setSize(640,480);
myFrame.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(640,480));
myFrame.setVisible(true);
}
}
And here some links to posts I read which describe similar problems:
Java - Transparent JScrollPane
Transparent JEditorPane in a JScrollPane over a background JPanel
setOpaque(true/false); Java
I would really appreciate if someone can help me with the problem or even only suggest me an alternative solution. I'm writing a little chat-program atm for a project for my university and i think transparent message fields are a neat idea. I will try to answer here as fast as i can. Thx in advance.

Do not use transparent color as background - kind of hard to delete with it (e.g. when component is being repaint (and opaque)).
Do not use setBounds (unless using null LayoutManager). In below example I used setPreferredSize but still better to correctly use LayoutManager (I am a bit lazy, and lot of work to do at the moment).
public class Test extends JPanel {
JTextPane inputField = new JTextPane();
JScrollPane scrollpane = new JScrollPane(inputField);
public Test(){
this.setOpaque(true);
this.setBackground(Color.GREEN);
inputField.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(300, 100));
inputField.setOpaque(false);
scrollpane.setOpaque(false);
scrollpane.getViewport().setOpaque(false);
this.add(scrollpane);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame myFrame = new JFrame();
myFrame.add(new Test());
myFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
myFrame.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(640,480));
myFrame.pack();
myFrame.setVisible(true);
}
}
The whole code of main should be called on the EDT (e.g. SwingUtilities.invokeLater) since it is manipulating swing components but that is not part of the question (and not that relevant here since setVisible is the last command - components not being displayed while changed).

Your program gave me some errors when launching, occasionally. Make sure to run a swing GUI from the EDT (invokeLater()).
The line that is causing your issue is:
scrollpane.getViewport().setBackground(new Color(0,0,0,0));
Also - is there some reason you are setting bounds manually instead of using a layout manager?
Maybe I didn't understand your question, or you want to have an image in the background - but could you not just set the color of your text area to be the same color as your JPanel?
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTextPane;
public class Test extends JPanel {
JTextPane inputField = new JTextPane();
JScrollPane scrollpane = new JScrollPane(inputField);
public Test(){
this.setBackground(Color.GREEN);
scrollpane.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(300, 300));
inputField.setBackground(Color.GREEN);
this.add(scrollpane);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
JFrame myFrame = new JFrame();
myFrame.add(new Test());
myFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
myFrame.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(640,480));
myFrame.pack();
myFrame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
}

Put one JPanel onto another JPanel from a different Java class

I'm developing Java Swing application. My application has two Java classes. Inside class1.java, I include JFrame, JButton and JPanel (panel1). When I click the button I want to hide panel1 and should be shown panel2 of class2.java. I tried this method in button actionPerformed method of class1.java. But it was not working.
class2 pnl = new class2();
this.remove(panel1);
this.add(pnl);
this.validate();
this.repaint();

Analysis
You simply want the JComponents to be displayed on the JFrame. We can achieve this by using a single JPanel, but adding and removing the JComponents from it, during the JButton's action listener.
Without looking at your actual code, it is better to make a manageable way to reach code and instantiated Objects. The code listed below, creates a nice and manageable way to do so.
Achieving This
The entire class is listed below with comments for explanations.
package swing;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class MultiPaneledFrame {
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
JPanel window = new JPanel();
// As you can see, we create an array containing all your JComponents.
// We have two of these, to simulate multiple JPanel's.
List<JComponent> window1Contents = new ArrayList<JComponent>();
List<JComponent> window2Contents = new ArrayList<JComponent>();
// NOTE: The above Lists can instead be stuck in their own class like asked for,
// and instantiated on Class invocation.
JButton goto2 = new JButton("Goto Panel 2");
JButton goto1 = new JButton("Goto Panel 1");
int panelToShow = 0; // 0 - First "panel".
// 1 - Second "panel".
// Main method of class. Change 'Multi_Paneled_Frame' to the name of your Class.
public MultiPaneledFrame() {
// Execute anything else you want here, before we start the frame.
window1Contents.add(goto2);
window2Contents.add(goto1);
// Here is where I personally am setting the coordinates of the JButton's on the JPanel.
goto2.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 100));
goto1.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 100));
//goto2.setBounds(5, 5, 150, 30); < Used for 'null' layout.
//goto1.setBounds(5, 5, 150, 30); < Used for 'null' layout.
goto2.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
addComponents(panelToShow = 1);
}
});
goto1.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
addComponents(panelToShow = 0);
}
});
initialiseFrame();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
new MultiPaneledFrame();
}
});
}
private void initialiseFrame() {
frame.setSize(600, 400); // Change it accordingly.
// Optional
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setResizable(false);
// Needed
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.add(window);
window.setLayout(new BorderLayout()); // Assuming your using a BorderLayout.
//window.setLayout(null); < Uses 'null' layout.
addComponents(panelToShow);
// I always like to make sure that everything is on the frame nicely.
frame.repaint();
frame.validate();
}
private void addComponents(int panelNo) {
if (panelNo == 0) {
for (JComponent component : window1Contents) {
window.removeAll(); // We're removing everything that it contains and replacing it...
window.revalidate();
window.add(component, BorderLayout.CENTER);
//window.add(component); < Uses 'null' layout.
// Since we are using the first panel, we are adding
// everything from the first list of components to the window...
}
} else {
for (JComponent component : window2Contents) {
window.removeAll(); // We're removing everything that it contains and replacing it...
window.revalidate();
window.add(component, BorderLayout.CENTER);
//window.add(component); < Uses 'null' layout.
// Since we are using the second panel, we are adding
// everything from the second list of components to the window...
}
}
// Refreshes the frame.
frame.repaint();
frame.validate();
}
}
Conclusion
Although there are countless ways to achieve something like this, the way I have given, is semi-efficient, and very flexible. Feel free to edit the code, or drop a question if you have any concerns, and I will be happy to respond.
PS: This code was tested and works on a Macbook Air running OS X 10.11 and Java Version 8 Update 65.

CardLayout should be your solution. In this tutorial they show how to switch from panel to another one by selecting a value in ComboBox.
A little bit of explanation for the CarLayout:
The CardLayout lets you place different panel on top of each other but shows only one at the time. With your code, you select the one you want to display.
Initialisation:
this.setLayout(new CardLayout());
class1 pnl1 = new class1();
class2 pnl2 = new class2();
this.add(pnl1, "PANEL1");
this.add(pnl2, "PANEL2");
On your button actionPerformed:
CardLayout cl = (CardLayout)(this.getLayout());
cl.show(this, "PANEL2");

Using Java pack() method

I can't make the pack() method work. I tried several things. My code looks like this at the moment:
Class 1:
public static void main( String[] args )
{
java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run()
{
JavaGui mygui = new JavaGui();
// mygui.setSize(1154, 753);
mygui.setVisible(true);
mygui.pack();
Class 2:
public class JavaGui extends javax.swing.JFrame
{
public JavaGui()
{
getContentPane().setLayout(null);
..
getContentPane().add(panelLeft);
...
getContentPane().add(panelRight);
I tried putting the pack method in everywhere, but it's not going to work with this way of adding gui elements. Any suggestions why? I also tried adding everything to a JFrame instead of the getContentPane(), but I can't make that work either.

Don't use null layouts together with pack(). The pack method tells the layout managers and components to size themselves optimally, and if you instead use null layouts, then the gui risks shrinking to a minimal size, since there is no layout to hold it together.
Don't use null layouts at all for the most part. Using these risk your creating rigid GUI's that are almost impossible to extend, improve, debug.
Don't use setSize(...) and pack(). The layouts mostly respect the preferred sizes of components, not their sizes.
Instead:
Use a pleasing and sensible combination of nested JPanels, each using its own layout manager.
Let the components and the layout managers size themselves.
Then pack should help.
The general order that I do is to add all components to the GUI, then call pack(), then setLocationByPlatform(true) (I think), then setVisible(true).
For better help, please check out the Swing Layout Manager Tutorials.
Here are a couple examples to other questions on this site that use various layout managers:
A combination of BorderLayout and GridLayout to create a calculator
BorderLayout and BoxLayout Combination for labels and JTextFields
Using GridBagLayout to create flexible label/textfield grid

I would recommened beginners on building up swing guis to use a good ide with a builtin gui designer like eclipse and windowbuilder or netbeans with matisse. It will help you building up a prototype of your desired gui and gives you an insight how the layouting is done in the source code.
Experiment with the differenet layouts and what is happening when some values are changed.
one does not simply build up a well behaving gui without understanding how the layout works, so doing the recommended tutorials and looking at examples as already posted by Hovercraft Full Of Eels is absolutely necessary.
For your case i just guess what you were up to. Because youre mentioning left and right panels i suggest a JSplitPane which let you divide your screen in two areas which are customizable in size and orientation.
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JSplitPane;
public class JavaGui extends JFrame {
//SerialVersionId http://stackoverflow.com/questions/285793/what-is-a-serialversionuid-and-why-should-i-use-it
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
public static void main(String[] args) {
//Calls to Gui Code must happen on the event dispatch thread that the gui does not get stuck
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
new JavaGui().setVisible(true);
}
});
}
public JavaGui() {
// Set the desired size of the frame to determine the maximum size of its components
setPreferredSize(new Dimension(1024, 768));
// Set the default close operation, if press x on frame, destroy the frame and exit the application - others are just destroy the frame or just hide the
// frame
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
// BorderLayout because we just need a centric gui with one component, here JSplitPane in full size
getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout(0, 0));
// JsplitPane is a bit special as it depends on the divider location between both panels, for the sake of a small example we take the default -1,
JSplitPane splitPane = new JSplitPane();
// 0.5 divides extra space equally to left and right component when resizing the frame - so specifiying a size for the left and right component is not
// necessary
// use the divider location default -1 to let the width of the left component decide where the right component begins, in that case because of the
// resize weight half and half
splitPane.setDividerLocation(-1);
splitPane.setResizeWeight(0.5);
getContentPane().add(splitPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
// For the panels the same layout as default as the intention is not stated in your question
JPanel leftPanel = new JPanel();
splitPane.setLeftComponent(leftPanel);
leftPanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout(0, 0));
JPanel rightPanel = new JPanel();
splitPane.setRightComponent(rightPanel);
rightPanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout(0, 0));
// Add a button Panel to the south for doing something - flow layout for letting the components flow to the right side
JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.RIGHT));
getContentPane().add(buttonPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
// Close Button for closing the frame
JButton btnExit = new JButton("Destroy this frame, but let application run");
btnExit.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
dispose();
}
});
buttonPanel.add(btnExit);
// Set every component to its preferred size
pack();
// Make it visible
setVisible(true);
}
}

If you want your JFrame to work with a null layout, rearrange your code so that it looks like this:
public class JavaGui extends javax.swing.JFrame
{
public JavaGui()
{
setMinimumSize(1154, 753); // Make sure you do setMinimumSize() instead of setSize() when using pack() so that the JFrame does not shrink to 0 size
setLayout(null);
add(panelLeft);
add(panelRight);
pack();
}
// Next is main method
Main:
public static void main(String[] args)
{
java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run()
{
new JavaGui().setVisible(true);
// Do not do any formatting for your JFrame here
}
});
Before, you were modifying the JFrame after it was set visible, so that usually does not work, except for pack(). All components and settings for your JFrame should not be in the main method if you are using an anonymous inner class.
You can also use other layouts. Null layouts are for getting pixels in precise locations, which is used for advanced GUI design such as creating a custom GUI, but it seems that you are making a generic GUI with JPanels. For this, I would recommend using a GridBagLayout, which keeps everything centered if the frame is resized and is easy to use. To use a GridBagLayout, you have to replace setLayout(null); with setLayout(new GridBagLayout()); and set GridBagConstraints. Here is some example code of making a panel with a component and a GridBagLayout:
JPanel pane = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
if (shouldFill) {
//natural height, maximum width
c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
}
//For each component to be added to this container:
//...Create the component...
//...Set instance variables in the GridBagConstraints instance...
pane.add(theComponent, c);
// Source: Oracle Docs

Put object in x,y position JFrame

I'm trying to do something in Java, where I simply place an object at a specific x, y coordinates on a JFrame. I need to know what layout to use, or what I need to do to do this.. Any help would be great. Thanks

You would do this with a null layout and then call setLocation or setBounds on the component. But you shouldn't be doing this in general as this makes for very inflexible GUI's that look good on one platform and terrible on another and that are very difficult to update and maintain. Just don't do this.

This example provides 'white space' (or in this case 'green space') using an empty border. Of course, all this 'specific co-ordinates' becomes more complicated if there are other components in the frame, but the same technique can be used to provide white space to particular components.
Note that it is usually best to wrap the component in a panel when providing white space, to preserve the existing border(s) of the component.
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.EmptyBorder;
class SpecificCoords {
public static void main(String[] args) {
final int specificX = 40;
final int specificY = 20;
Runnable r = new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
// imagine this is our 'frame'
JPanel gui = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
JTextField tf = new JTextField(10);
JPanel borderPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout());
borderPanel.add(tf);
borderPanel.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(
specificX, specificY,
specificX, specificY));
borderPanel.setBackground(Color.GREEN);
gui.add(borderPanel);
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, gui);
}
};
// Swing GUIs should be created and updated on the EDT
// http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/concurrency/initial.html
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(r);
}
}

Widgets behaving strangely when using "setlayout(null)"

I'm doing the following call in my code:
...
setLayout(null);
...
I'm trying to place a button and a textfield by specifying their x and y coordinates.
The problem when I run the program (either with Eclipse or BlueJ) is that I need to run on the panel up to the position of the button and the textfield in order to see respectively the button and the textfield.
When I find the textfield, it is small. Only when I start writing it assumes the size I specified.
Does anyone know how to solve it?

Avoid setLayout (null), unless you have a very good reason for it. You can learn about layout managers here: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/layout/using.html
If you still want to use a null layout, you have to set the width and height of the component, not just its x and y position (see the setSize method).
From the link mentioned above:
Although we strongly recommend that you use layout managers, you can
perform layout without them. By setting a container's layout property
to null, you make the container use no layout manager. With this
strategy, called absolute positioning, you must specify the size and
position of every component within that container. One drawback of
absolute positioning is that it does not adjust well when the
top-level container is resized. It also does not adjust well to
differences between users and systems, such as different font sizes
and locales.

I'd recommend using the setBounds method instead of the setLocation
JTextField tf = new JTextField(10);
Dimension d = tf.getPreferredSize();
tf.setBounds(x, y, d.width, d.height);
Of course, if you're using a null Layout manager, you also need to take care of your preferredSize. Here's an example that incorporates all the major aspects:
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class TestProject extends JPanel{
public TestProject(){
super(null);
JTextField tf = new JTextField(10);
add(tf);
Dimension d = tf.getPreferredSize();
tf.setBounds(10, 20, d.width, d.height);
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize(){
//Hard coded preferred size - but you'd probably want
//to calculate it based on the panel's content
return new Dimension(500, 300);
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation( JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE );
frame.setContentPane(new TestProject());
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
}