Custom LAF - Transparent Checkboxes

Question

Ok.. so after fixing my other bug, ive discovered that i want checkboxes to be completely transparent. ive tried setting the JComponent not to be opaque using the setOpaque(false) method, but to no avail. The code works fine except for the fact that something is filling the component with some sorta semi transparent colour which is causing me problems, i just want a blank space with the background showing up through it.
Im drawing an Icon, and some text, thats all, but its getting covered in other rubbish from some of the other components... can anyone help?
I'll post a screeny if someone wants to see a more detailed view...
Toby

Answer 1

thats a good idea in princible, but the problem is im not extending JCheckbox and doing my own paint, im writing my own entire LAF, ive got a test program as u said, it shows 2 jbuttons, a jTogglebutton, all inside a transparent JInternalFrame placed onto a JFrame with an image background which can be set to fullscreen. The LAF is being made for a game my friends are developing.
The code for the LAF is show below.
The problem im having is that the checkbox will start as transparent with no problems, but as soon as i click it, a clone of another painted component will place itself in its place with the checkbox drawn over it... screeny here:
http://users.cs.cf.ac.uk/T.A.Jackson/images/HydraPaintFails.jpg
As you can see, it does some really funky stuff, the button which gets drawn again will usualy be whatever u last clicked upon. but if u select and deselect the checkbox a few times it'll fade out till u get to a very faint filled rect around it.
Source code for my CheckboxUI
* Created on 13-May-2005
* Filename: HydraCheckBoxUI.java
package uk.co.warmfusion.plaf.hydra;
import java.awt.AlphaComposite;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Composite;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.Insets;
import java.awt.Rectangle;
import javax.swing.AbstractButton;
import javax.swing.Icon;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.plaf.ComponentUI;
import javax.swing.plaf.UIResource;
import javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicCheckBoxUI;
* @author Toby Jackson
* Package: uk.co.warmfusion.plaf.hydra
* Date: 13-May-2005
* FileName: HydraCheckBoxUI.java
public class HydraCheckBoxUI extends BasicCheckBoxUI {
     Font font;
     public void installUI(JComponent b) {
          AbstractButton c  = (AbstractButton)b;
          System.out.println("Installing UI for Checkbox");
          Icon ico = UIManager.getIcon("Checkbox.icon");
          if (c.getIcon() == null || c.getIcon() instanceof UIResource){
               c.setIcon(ico);
          c.setOpaque(false);
          super.installListeners(c);
     public synchronized void paint(Graphics g, JComponent c) {
          AbstractButton b = (AbstractButton)c;
          font = UIManager.getFont("Control.font");
        Insets i = c.getInsets();
          //Gets the area for the text and icon to be painted in with respects to the insets
          Rectangle viewRect = new Rectangle(i.left,i.top,b.getWidth()-(i.right+i.left),b.getHeight() - (i.bottom + i.top));
          //the area that the text will be drawn in that will be defined
          //by SwingUtilities.layoutCompoundLabel
          Rectangle textRect = new Rectangle(0,0,0,0);
          //the area that the icon will be drawn in that will be defined
          //by SwingUtilities.layoutCompoundLabel
          Rectangle iconRect = new Rectangle(0,0,0,0);
          g.setColor(new Color(0,0,0,0));
          //g.fillRect(0,0,(int)viewRect.getWidth(), (int)viewRect.getHeight());          
        g.setFont(font);
          String text = SwingUtilities.layoutCompoundLabel(
                    c, g.getFontMetrics(), b.getText(), b.getIcon(),
                    b.getVerticalAlignment(), b.getHorizontalAlignment(),
                    b.getVerticalTextPosition(), b.getHorizontalTextPosition(),
                    viewRect, iconRect, textRect,
                    b.getText() == null ? 0 : b.getIconTextGap());
          g.setColor(UIManager.getColor("Checkbox.foreground"));
          g.drawString(text, (int)textRect.getX(), (int)textRect.getX());
          Icon ico = b.getIcon();
          ico.paintIcon(c,g,iconRect.x, iconRect.y);          
    //          Create PLAF
     public static ComponentUI createUI(JComponent c){
          return new HydraCheckBoxUI();
    //          Uninstall
    public void uninstallDefaults(AbstractButton b) {
     super.uninstallDefaults(b);
}