JTabbedPane background color doesn't work in Win XP - SP 1 with JRE 1.4.2

Question

Setting background color for JTabbedPane doesn't
work in "Windows XP with SP 1" when using JRE 1.4.2.
For example, following call doesn't set the
tab to green:
tabbedPane.setBackgroundAt(0, Color.green);
It always displays TABS with the white background.
Is anybody aware of this problem?
Thanks-in-advance for any help / suggestions!
Sundar

Answer 1

Thanks, bbritta and vairavan.
I tried setOpaque also, but still doesn't work,
On my system also:
UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName() = com.sun.java.swing.plaf.windows.WindowsLookAndFeel
I have given below the sample code that doesn't display tab color. Please let me know if you suspect something is wrong here, or any suggestions to make this work under Windows XP - Service Pack 1.
Thanks,
Sundar
// CODE STARTS HERE
import javax.swing.JTabbedPane;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class TEMP_TABBED_PANE extends JPanel {
public TEMP_TABBED_PANE() {
JTabbedPane tabbedPane = new JTabbedPane();
     tabbedPane.setOpaque(true);
Component panel1 = makeTextPanel("Howdy");
tabbedPane.addTab("One", panel1);
tabbedPane.setSelectedIndex(0);
tabbedPane.setBackgroundAt(0, Color.green);
Component panel2 = makeTextPanel("Howdy Howdy");
tabbedPane.addTab("Two", panel2);
tabbedPane.setBackgroundAt(1, Color.yellow);
Component panel3 = makeTextPanel("Howdy Howdy Howdy");
tabbedPane.addTab("Three", panel3);
tabbedPane.setBackgroundAt(2, Color.red);
Component panel4 = makeTextPanel("Howdy Howdy Howdy Howdy");
tabbedPane.addTab("Four", panel4);
tabbedPane.setBackgroundAt(3, Color.cyan);
//Add the tabbed pane to this panel.
setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 1));
add(tabbedPane);
protected Component makeTextPanel(String text) {
JPanel panel = new JPanel(false);
JLabel filler = new JLabel(text);
filler.setHorizontalAlignment(JLabel.CENTER);
panel.setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 1));
panel.add(filler);
//panel.setOpaque(true); <<-- UNCOMMENTING THIS ALSO DOESN'T HELP :(
return panel;
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Tabbed Pane Demo for Color");
try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
// UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getCrossPlatformLookAndFeelClassName());
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frame,
          "UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName() = " +
          UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName(),
          "Look And Feel",
          JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
catch(Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
frame.addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter() {
public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e) {System.exit(0);}
frame.getContentPane().add(new TEMP_TABBED_PANE(),
BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.setSize(400, 125);
frame.setVisible(true);
// CODE ENDS HERE