Loading an image into an Applet from a JAR file

Question

Hello everyone, hopefully a simple question for someone to help me with!
Im trying to load some images into an applet, currently it uses the JApplet.getImage(url) method just before registering with a media tracker, which works but for the sake of efficiency I would prefer the images all to be contained in the jar file as oppossed to being loaded individually from the server.
Say I have a class in a package eg, 'com.mydomain.myapplet.class.bin' and an images contained in the file structure 'com.mydomain.myapplet.images.img.gif' how do I load it (and waiting for it to be loaded before preceeding?
I've seen lots of info of the web for this but much of it is very old (pre 2000) and im sure things have changed a little since then.
Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

I don't touch applets, so I can't help you there, but here's some Friday Fun: tracking image loading.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.beans.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import javax.imageio.*;
import javax.imageio.event.*;
import javax.imageio.stream.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class ImageLoader extends SwingWorker<BufferedImage, Void> {
    private URL url;
    private JLabel target;
    private IIOReadProgressAdapter listener = new IIOReadProgressAdapter() {
        @Override public void imageProgress(ImageReader source, float percentageDone) {
            setProgress((int)percentageDone);
        @Override public void imageComplete(ImageReader source) {
            setProgress(100);
    public ImageLoader(URL url, JLabel target) {
        this.url = url;
        this.target = target;
    @Override protected BufferedImage doInBackground() throws IOException {
        ImageInputStream input = ImageIO.createImageInputStream(url.openStream());
        try {
            ImageReader reader = ImageIO.getImageReaders(input).next();
            reader.addIIOReadProgressListener(listener);
            reader.setInput(input);
            return reader.read(0);
        } finally {
            input.close();
    @Override protected void done() {
        try {
            target.setIcon(new ImageIcon(get()));
        } catch(Exception e) {
            JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, e, "Error", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
    //demo
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        final URL url = new URL("http://blogs.sun.com/jag/resource/JagHeadshot.jpg");
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable(){
            public void run() {
                launch(url);
    static void launch(URL url) {
        JLabel imageLabel = new JLabel();
        final JProgressBar progress = new JProgressBar();
        progress.setBorderPainted(true);
        progress.setStringPainted(true);
        JScrollPane scroller = new JScrollPane(imageLabel);
        scroller.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(800,600));
        JPanel content = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
        content.add(scroller, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        content.add(progress, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        JFrame f = new JFrame("ImageLoader");
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        f.setContentPane(content);
        f.pack();
        f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        f.setVisible(true);
        ImageLoader loader = new ImageLoader(url, imageLabel);
        loader.addPropertyChangeListener( new PropertyChangeListener() {
             public  void propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent evt) {
                 if ("progress".equals(evt.getPropertyName())) {
                     progress.setValue((Integer)evt.getNewValue());
                     System.out.println(evt.getNewValue());
                 } else if ("state".equals(evt.getPropertyName())) {
                     if (SwingWorker.StateValue.DONE == evt.getNewValue()) {
                         progress.setIndeterminate(true);
        loader.execute();
abstract class IIOReadProgressAdapter implements IIOReadProgressListener {
    @Override public void imageComplete(ImageReader source) {}
    @Override public void imageProgress(ImageReader source, float percentageDone) {}
    @Override public void imageStarted(ImageReader source, int imageIndex) {}
    @Override public void readAborted(ImageReader source) {}
    @Override public void sequenceComplete(ImageReader source) {}
    @Override public void sequenceStarted(ImageReader source, int minIndex) {}
    @Override public void thumbnailComplete(ImageReader source) {}
    @Override public void thumbnailProgress(ImageReader source, float percentageDone) {}
    @Override public void thumbnailStarted(ImageReader source, int imageIndex, int thumbnailIndex) {}
}