Blackjack drawing multiple images problem

Question

Hi. Im making a blackjack game and im having some trouble drawing the images.
The drawing is fine. But the problem is when to draw new cards. I dont know how to draw a new card without the old one dissapearing. I understand why it dissapears as the code is now, but i dont know how to fix it. Somehow i have to make each card beeing able to paint itself on the board? The filenames of the images to be drawn is fetched by the getCard() in the card class. Since blackjack doesnt use that many cards in play at the same time its possible to simply make more image variables and some if statements deciding which to paint, but that sollution isnt very nice, and i want to make more advanced cardgames after this, so if someone could help me with this it would truly be great.
Thanks.
Image displaying board after first new card is dealed, and third one
http://www.wannerskog.com/newcards.jpg
Card Class
public class Card {
     private int value;
     private String color;
     public Card(String incolor,int invalue) {
          value = invalue;
          color = incolor;
     public String getCard() {
          return value+color;
     public int getValue() {
          return value;
Deck
import java.util.*;
//Creates a deck of cards
public class Deck {
     Card card;
     private Set deck = new HashSet();
     List deck2;
     public void createDeck() {
          for(int i=2; i<=14; i++) {
               card = new Card("s",i);
               deck.add(card);
          for(int i=2; i<=14; i++) {
               card = new Card("h",i);
               deck.add(card);
          for(int i=2; i<=14; i++) {
               card = new Card("c",i);
               deck.add(card);
          for(int i=2; i<=14; i++) {
               card = new Card("d",i);
               deck.add(card);
          deck2 = new Vector(deck);
     public void shuffleDeck() {
          Collections.shuffle(deck2);
     public List getDeck() {
          return deck2;
Dealer Class
import java.util.*;
public class Deal {
     Deck deck = new Deck();
     private String card1;
     private String card2;
     public Deal() {
          deck.createDeck();
          deck.shuffleDeck();
     public void dealCards(int j) {
          deck.shuffleDeck();
          List d = (List)deck.getDeck();
          Card card;
          Iterator it = d.iterator();
          String card1 = "";
          String card2 = "";
          for(int i=1; i<=j; i++) {
               card = (Card)it.next();
               if(i==1) card1 = card.getCard();
               if(i==2) card2 = card.getCard();
          this.card1 = card1;
          this.card2 = card2;
     public String getCard1() {
          return card1;
     public String getCard2() {
          return card2;
Jpanel displaying the buttons
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class Controll extends JPanel {
     JButton deal = new JButton("Deal");
     JButton newcard = new JButton("New card");
     JButton stay = new JButton("Stay");
     JButton exit = new JButton("Exit");
     public Controll(View view) {
     final Deal d = new Deal();
     final View v = view;
          class ChoiceListener implements ActionListener
               int i=0;
               public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
                    if("deal".equals(event.getActionCommand()))
                         d.dealCards(2);
                         stay.setEnabled(true);
                         newcard.setEnabled(true);
                         deal.setEnabled(false);
                         v.dealCards(d.getCard1(),d.getCard2());
                         v.resetNew();
                         v.repaint();
                         i=0;
                    if("exit".equals(event.getActionCommand()))
                         System.exit(0);
                    if("newcard".equals(event.getActionCommand()))
                         if(i != 3) {
                              d.dealCards(1);
                              v.newCard(d.getCard1(),20);
                              v.repaint();
                              i++;
                         if(i == 3) {
                              newcard.setEnabled(false);
                              stay.setEnabled(false);
                              deal.setEnabled(true);
                    if("stay".equals(event.getActionCommand()))
                         deal.setEnabled(true);
                         stay.setEnabled(false);
                         newcard.setEnabled(false);
          Color c = new Color(0, 0, 100);
          setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400, 40));
          setBackground(c);
          ActionListener listener = new ChoiceListener();
          deal.setActionCommand("deal");
          exit.setActionCommand("exit");
          newcard.setActionCommand("newcard");
          stay.setActionCommand("stay");
          exit.addActionListener(listener);
          deal.addActionListener(listener);
          newcard.addActionListener(listener);
          stay.addActionListener(listener);
          add(deal);
          add(newcard);
          add(stay);
          add(exit);
          stay.setEnabled(false);
          newcard.setEnabled(false);
JPanel displaying the board with cards
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class View extends JPanel {
     String dealcard1;
     String dealcard2;
     String newcard;
     int i;
     private Image cardimage1 = null;
     private Image cardimage2 = null;
     private Image cardimage3 = null;
     public View() {
          Color c = new Color(0, 100, 0);
          setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400, 300));
          setBackground(c);
     public void dealCards(String incard1, String incard2) {
          dealcard1 = incard1;
          dealcard2 = incard2;
     public void newCard(String incard3,int j){
          newcard = incard3;
          i = i+j;
     public void resetNew() {
          i=0;
          newcard = "";
     public void paint(Graphics g) {
          super.paint(g);
          Toolkit kit = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit();
          cardimage1 = kit.getImage("CardImages/"+dealcard1+".gif");
          cardimage2 = kit.getImage("CardImages/"+dealcard2+".gif");
          cardimage3 = kit.getImage("CardImages/"+newcard+".gif");
          g.drawImage(cardimage1,80,200,this);
          g.drawImage(cardimage2,100,200,this);
          g.drawImage(cardimage3,180+i,200,this);
Main
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class Main
     public static void main(String[] args)
               JFrame frame = new JFrame("card");
               View v = new View();
               Controll c = new Controll(v);
               frame.getContentPane().add(v, BorderLayout.NORTH);
               frame.getContentPane().add(c, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
               frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
               frame.pack();
               frame.show();
}

Answer 1

Actually, your app looks okay. Since you asked for some ideas I made some changes, including changing the name of some classes, variables and the image folder. I put all the files in one because I'm lazy. Score is the only class without changes. And nice images.
Some suggestions:
1 � try to keep the responsibilities of the View/CardTable class limited to rendering images. You only need to load an image once; continual loading makes for slow performance. If you are using j2se 1.4+ you can use the ImageIo read methods and could then load the images in the Deck class, eliminating the need to pass the images to Deck from View/CardTable (which is an ImageObserver needed for the MediaTracker).
2 � let the classes do more of the work, eg, Deal/Dealer can add the new cards to the View/CardTable. This will simplify the event code. The ChoiceListener class could be an inner named/nested class and will be easier to follow/maintain if removed from the class constructor.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.List;
import javax.swing.*;
public class CardGame
    public static void main(String[] args)
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("card");
        CardTable table = new CardTable();
        Controller control = new Controller(table);
        frame.getContentPane().add(table, BorderLayout.NORTH);
        frame.getContentPane().add(control, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
class CardTable extends JPanel {
    Image[] images;
    Image cardBack;
    private String score;
    List player, house;
    public CardTable() {
        loadImages();
        score = "0";
        player = new ArrayList();
        house = new ArrayList();
        Color c = new Color(0, 100, 0);
        setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400, 300));
        setBackground(c);
    public void setScore(int score) {
        this.score = String.valueOf(score);
    public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
        super.paintComponent(g);
        int x = 80, y = 50;
        Card card;
        for(int j = 0; j < house.size(); j++) {
            card = (Card)house.get(j);
            if(j == 0)
                g.drawImage(cardBack, x, y, this);
            else
                g.drawImage(card.getImage(), x, y, this);
            x += 20;
        x = 80; y = 200;
        for(int j = 0; j < player.size(); j++)
            card = (Card)player.get(j);
            g.drawImage(card.getImage(), x, y, this);
            x += 20;
        g.setColor(Color.white);
        g.drawString("Score: " + score, 345, 15);
    public void reset() {
        player.clear();
        house.clear();
        repaint();
    public void addCard(Card card)
        player.add(card);
        repaint();
    public void addDealerCard(Card card)
        house.add(card);
        repaint();
    private void loadImages() {
        String[] suits = { "c", "h", "s", "d" };
        Toolkit toolkit = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit();
        MediaTracker tracker = new MediaTracker(this);
        cardBack = toolkit.getImage("cards/00w.gif");
        tracker.addImage(cardBack, 0);
        images = new Image[suits.length * 13];
        int index = 0;
        for(int j = 0; j < suits.length; j++)
            for(int k = 2; k < 15; k++)
                String fileName = "cards/" + k + suits[j] + ".gif";
                images[index] = toolkit.getImage(fileName);
                tracker.addImage(images[index], 0);
                index++;
        try
            tracker.waitForAll();
        catch(InterruptedException ie)
            System.out.println("Image loading in CardTable interrupted: " +
                                ie.getMessage());
class Controller extends JPanel {
    CardTable table;
    Dealer d;
    JButton deal, newcard, stay, exit;
    public Controller(CardTable ct) {
        table = ct;
        d = new Dealer(table, table.images);
        Color c = new Color(0, 0, 100);
        setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400, 40));
        setBackground(c);
        deal = new JButton("Deal");
        newcard = new JButton("New card");
        stay = new JButton("Stay");
        exit = new JButton("Exit");
        deal.setActionCommand("deal");
        exit.setActionCommand("exit");
        newcard.setActionCommand("newcard");
        stay.setActionCommand("stay");
        ActionListener listener = new ChoiceListener();
        exit.addActionListener(listener);
        deal.addActionListener(listener);
        newcard.addActionListener(listener);
        stay.addActionListener(listener);
        add(deal);
        add(newcard);
        add(stay);
        add(exit);
        stay.setEnabled(false);
        newcard.setEnabled(false);
    private class ChoiceListener implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
            String ac = event.getActionCommand();
            if(ac.equals("deal")) {
                d.prepareDeck();
                table.reset();
                d.dealCards(2);
                d.dealDealerCards(2);
                stay.setEnabled(true);
                newcard.setEnabled(true);
                deal.setEnabled(false);
                Score s = d.getScore();
                table.setScore(s.getScore());
            if(ac.equals("exit"))
                System.exit(0);
            if(ac.equals("newcard"))
                d.dealCards(1);
                Score s = d.getScore();
                table.setScore(s.getScore());
                if(s.getScore() > 21) {
                    stay.setEnabled(false);
                    newcard.setEnabled(false);
                    deal.setEnabled(true);
                    s.resetScore();
            if(ac.equals("stay"))
                deal.setEnabled(true);
                stay.setEnabled(false);
                newcard.setEnabled(false);
                Score s = d.getScore();
                table.setScore(s.getScore());
class Dealer {
    CardTable table;
    Deck deck;
    Iterator it;
    private int score;
    private int dealerScore;
    Score s;
    public Dealer(CardTable ct, Image[] images) {
        table = ct;
        deck = new Deck(images);
        score = 0;
        dealerScore = 0;
        s = new Score();
    public void dealCards(int j) {
        Card card;
        for(int i = 0; i < j; i++) {
            card = (Card)it.next();
            table.addCard(card);
            if(card.getValue() > 10)
                score += 10;
            else
                score += card.getValue();
        s.setScore(score);
        score = 0;
    public void dealDealerCards(int j) {
        Card card;
        for(int i = 0; i < j; i++) {
            card = (Card)it.next();
            table.addDealerCard(card);
            if(card.getValue() > 10)
                dealerScore += 10;
            else
                dealerScore += card.getValue();
        s.setDealerScore(dealerScore);
        dealerScore = 0;
    public void prepareDeck() {
        deck.shuffle();
        it = deck.getCards().iterator();
    public Score getScore() {
        return s;
class Score {
    private int score;
    public void setScore(int s) {
        score = score + s;
    public void resetScore() {
        score = 0;
    public int getScore() {
        return score;
    private int dealerScore;
    public void setDealerScore(int s) {
        dealerScore = dealerScore + s;
        System.out.println("DEALER: " + dealerScore);
    public void resetDealerScore() {
        dealerScore = 0;
    public int getDealerScore() {
        return dealerScore;
class Deck {
    List cards;
    public Deck(Image[] images) {
        cards = new ArrayList();
        createDeck(images);
    private void createDeck(Image[] images) {
        for(int j = 0; j < images.length; j++)
            int value = j % 13 + 2;
            cards.add(new Card(images[j], value));
    public void shuffle() {
        for(int j = 0; j < 4; j++)
            Collections.shuffle(cards);
    public List getCards() {
        return cards;
class Card {
    private Image image;
    private int value;
    public Card(Image image, int value) {
        this.image = image;
        this.value = value;
    public Image getImage() {
        return image;
    public int getValue() {
        return value;
}