Add a background image to applet

Question

Hi. Sorry if this question has been asked to death, but i have searched for the best part of the last 2 hours for a solution to my problem which is as follows:
I have been tying to place a background image on an applet for part of a project i have to do at uni. From what i have read this is very simple and i have tried all possiblities to get it working, all to no avail.
The code below is what i have for this:
import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.*;
public class BackImage extends Applet
Image background;
public void init()
background = getImage(getCodeBase(), "Images/back.gif");
setVisible(true);
public void paint(Graphics g)
g.drawImage(background, 0, 0, this);
When using textpad to compile and run this, the command window opens and closes instantly and the applet window doesnt even open. when opening the html file in firefox, all i am greeted with is a white applet area but no error messages in the console.
I have checked and checked again that locations for the image are correct and all seems fine, so i put it to you guys to help me if you could.
thanks
=============
S.Harvey

Answer 1

1. Switch from the AWT to Swing.
2. My favorite way it to draw the image with a border. That way I can
decorate an existing container without having to subclass it. Have fun!
import java.awt.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.net.URL;
import javax.imageio.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.*;
public class BackgroundBorderExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        JFrame.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(true);
        JFrame f = new JFrame("BackgroundBorderExample");
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        JTextArea area = new JTextArea(24,80);
        area.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
        area.setOpaque(false);
        area.read(new FileReader(new File("BackgroundBorderExample.java")), null);
        final JScrollPane sp = new JScrollPane(area);
        sp.setBackground(Color.BLACK);
        sp.getViewport().setOpaque(false);
        f.getContentPane().add(sp);
        f.setSize(600,400);
        f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        f.setVisible(true);
        String url = "http://blogs.sun.com/jag/resource/JagHeadshot.jpg";
        final Border bkgrnd = new CentredBackgroundBorder(ImageIO.read(new URL(url)));
        Runnable r = new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                sp.setViewportBorder(bkgrnd);
                sp.repaint();
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(r);
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import javax.swing.border.*;
public class CentredBackgroundBorder implements Border {
    private final BufferedImage image;
    public CentredBackgroundBorder(BufferedImage image) {
        this.image = image;
    public void paintBorder(Component c, Graphics g, int x, int y, int width, int height) {
        int x0 = x + (width-image.getWidth())/2;
        int y0 = y + (height-image.getHeight())/2;
        g. drawImage(image, x0, y0, null);
    public Insets getBorderInsets(Component c) {
        return new Insets(0,0,0,0);
    public boolean isBorderOpaque() {
        return true;
}