Adding image to JDialog in Applet

Question

Well.. I've decided to make my Applet load via a JDialog. Which I know is possible :). And to a start I'll make a very simple Applet in the JDialog, including a background picture, which I just can't add! So to make a long story short, I want an image in my JDialog, but my code gives me a nullPointerException during the Runtime.. Here's the exact Runtime error:
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
        at applet.<init>(applet.java:16)
        at applet.main(applet.java:100)And here's my exact applet.java file:
import java.applet.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.imageio.*;
import javax.swing.plaf.metal.*;
public class applet extends Applet implements Runnable
    private ImagePanel panel;   
public applet()
     panel.createGUI();
    public void init()
    public void run()
public void start()
     Thread thread = new Thread(this);
     thread.start();
public void stop()
public void destroy()
public void paint(Graphics g)
private class ImagePanel extends JPanel
    BufferedImage buffered = null;
    public ImagePanel(String name)
        try
            buffered = ImageIO.read(new File(name));
            setPreferredSize(new Dimension(buffered.getWidth(), buffered.getHeight()));
        } catch(IOException ioe)
            ioe.printStackTrace();
    public void paintComponent(Graphics g)
        if (buffered == null)
            g.drawString("No Image", 10, 40);
        else
            g.drawImage(buffered, 0, 0, null);
    public void createGUI()
     MetalLookAndFeel.setCurrentTheme(new BlackTheme());
        JFrame.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(true);
        JDialog.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(true);
        JPopupMenu.setDefaultLightWeightPopupEnabled(false);
     JDialog dialog = new JDialog();
  dialog.setTitle("Applet loading via. JDialog");
  Container container = dialog.getContentPane();
  ImagePanel panel = new ImagePanel("background.gif");
  dialog.pack();
  dialog.setSize(1000, 1000);
  dialog.setVisible(true);
  dialog.setDefaultCloseOperation(JDialog.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
    public static void main(String[] args)
     applet app = new applet();
}And I don't see any errors, but still.. Runtime error.. -.-' So a little bit of help would really be appretaiced!

Answer 1

Okay I guess I spoke to soon.. :O Now I have no Runtime error but my JDialog is completly empty.. And my BlackTheme stopped working.. Not It's a blue theme instead..
Here take a look at my applet.java:
import java.applet.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.imageio.*;
import javax.swing.plaf.metal.*;
public class applet extends Applet implements Runnable
    ImagePanel panel = new ImagePanel("background.gif");  
public applet()
     panel.createGUI();
    public void init()
    public void run()
public void start()
     Thread thread = new Thread(this);
     thread.start();
public void stop()
public void destroy()
public void paint(Graphics g)
private class ImagePanel extends JPanel
    BufferedImage buffered = null;
    public ImagePanel(String s)
        try
            buffered = ImageIO.read(new File(s));
            setPreferredSize(new Dimension(buffered.getWidth(), buffered.getHeight()));
        } catch(IOException ioe)
            ioe.printStackTrace();
    public void paintComponent(Graphics g)
        if(buffered == null)
            System.out.println("No image to display.");
        else
            g.drawImage(buffered, 0, 0, null);
    public void createGUI()
        MetalLookAndFeel.setCurrentTheme(new BlackTheme());
        JFrame.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(true);
        JDialog.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(true);
        JPopupMenu.setDefaultLightWeightPopupEnabled(false);
     JDialog dialog = new JDialog();
  dialog.setTitle("Applet loading via. JDialog");
  Container container = dialog.getContentPane();
  ImagePanel panel = new ImagePanel("background.gif");
  dialog.pack();
  dialog.setSize(1000, 1000);
  dialog.setVisible(true);
  dialog.setDefaultCloseOperation(JDialog.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
    public static void main(String[] args)
     applet app = new applet();
}