I need help with TransparentBackgrounds for a school project

Question

So i had found the transparentBackground class
* @(#)TransparentBackground.java
* @author
* @version 1.00 2010/2/26
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.text.NumberFormat;
public class TransparentBackground extends JComponent implements ComponentListener, WindowFocusListener, Runnable{
    private JFrame frame;
    private Image background;
     private long _lastUpdate = 0;
     private boolean _refreshRequested = true;
     public Robot rbt;
     public Toolkit tk;
     public Dimension dim;
     public Point pos;
     public Point offset;
     long total;
     long used;
public TransparentBackground(JFrame frame) {
    this.frame = frame;
    updateBackground();
    frame.addComponentListener(this);
     frame.addWindowFocusListener(this);
    new Thread(this).start();
public void updateBackground( ) {
    try {
         total = Runtime.getRuntime().totalMemory();
         used  = (Runtime.getRuntime().totalMemory() - Runtime.getRuntime().freeMemory())/1024;
         System.out.println("updateBackground() Run: Memory Usage: " + used +" MB");
        rbt = new Robot();
        tk = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit( );
        dim = tk.getScreenSize( );
        background = rbt.createScreenCapture(
        new Rectangle(0,0,(int)dim.getWidth( ),
                          (int)dim.getHeight( )));
    } catch (Exception ex) {
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
     System.out.println("paintComponent() Run");
    pos = this.getLocationOnScreen();
    offset = new Point(-pos.x,-pos.y);
    g.drawImage(background,offset.x,offset.y,null);
protected void refresh() {
          if (frame.isVisible() && this.isVisible()) {
               repaint();
               _refreshRequested = true;
               _lastUpdate = System.currentTimeMillis();
          System.out.println("refresh() Run");
// ComponentListener -------------------------------------------------------
     public void componentHidden(ComponentEvent e) {
     public void componentMoved(ComponentEvent e) {
          repaint();
     public void componentResized(ComponentEvent e) {
          repaint();
     public void componentShown(ComponentEvent e) {
          repaint();
     // WindowFocusListener -----------------------------------------------------
     public void windowGainedFocus(WindowEvent e) {
          refresh();
     public void windowLostFocus(WindowEvent e) {
          refresh();
public void run() {
          try {
               while (true) {
                    Thread.sleep(10);
                    long now = System.currentTimeMillis();
                    if (_refreshRequested && ((now - _lastUpdate) > 100)) {
                         if (frame.isVisible()) {
                              Point location = frame.getLocation();
                              frame.setLocation(-frame.getWidth(), -frame.getHeight());
                              updateBackground();
                              frame.setLocation(location);
                              refresh();
                         _lastUpdate = now;
                         _refreshRequested = false;
                         System.out.println("run() END------------");
          } catch (InterruptedException e) {
               e.printStackTrace();
}In have like 8 - 12 of these "panels" in my program. They are not running simultaneously but each one is created everytime I press a button.
I have A button ing main class (x) and another class (y)
Class y
public JFrame Frame;
public TransparentBackground Panel;
class y()
public void makeMe()
Frame = new JFrame(" ");
     Panel= new TransparentBackground(Frame);
  ///   ....all the combining
   // and then
   frame.setVisible(true);
public void hideMe()
     frame.setVisible(false);
}When press A which has only one instanciation of class y:
it calls
y.makeMe()
and then it when I press it again
it calls
y.hideMe()
and then this same process goes on for like 8 times before it starts to show this
updateBackground() Run: Memory Usage: 248606 MB
Exception in thread "Thread-25" java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space
    at sun.awt.windows.WRobotPeer.getRGBPixels(WRobotPeer.java:46)
    at java.awt.Robot.createScreenCapture(Robot.java:329)
    at TransparentBackground.updateBackground(TransparentBackground.java:45)
    at TransparentBackground.run(TransparentBackground.java:104)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)
paintComponent() Run
refresh() Run
paintComponent() RunBTW: the x and y class are just skeletal classes, but the actual ones I use in the programs are filled with Images and all that good stuff..
So my ulimate question is..
Why dose it make that error?
and i also tried to increase the heap space, but it still showed the same error.
I am just a newbie, so i would appreciate if the explainations are easier to understand for beginners
thank you for reading and taking interest

Answer 1

I don't understand you GUI approach at all: you are making a very basic board game. You need not even do an animation loop as a continuously running process. While I have not gone over your code extensively, what your errors and glimpsing at your code says to me is that you don't have your objects being disposed of because they are running--your "while(true)" loop is not being canceled/stopped.
You need to make a very basic animation loop and look at making your events happen accordingly. You can easily paint your cards/messages over portions of the playing screen and have them age off with a timer or other triggered events--this removes the need of your while(true) loops and runnable objects.
On the other hand, you do not need to implement runnable nor have a running animation loop with a basic GUI. When you have your "cards" pop up, they need not be objects that implement runnable either, but just basic GUI components.
Anyways, I'm just at a loss as to your need to have everything implement runnable.