Beginner's Graphics

Question

Let's say I want to make a board game, for the sake of this question, checkers.
I have an array that represents the CheckerBoard, and Piece objects to represent the Pieces.
What is the best way to visualize this setup so that when a user makes a move (i.e., clicks a valid square to move/jump a piece) the frame updates itself with the new information?
Right now I'm trying to create a Component that takes information from the CheckerBoard then alters its drawing instructions to match the current state of the board. Whenever the user makes a move, the frame will remove and then add the Component, in hopes of drawing a modified board. But right now, this method doesn't seem to work.
Suggestions?

Answer 1

For a grid game like checkers, I'd suggest using a GridLayout, and then create a Square class to represent an individual square. The Square would know how to draw itself based on its current state (e.g. whether there's a piece on it).
Each Square would probably have a reference to a Game object which would hold state relevant to the game as a whole (e.g., whose turn it is), and each square might also (depending on the game) have references to surrounding squares. For example, the square might only have references to squares where a valid move can be made to.