Displaying images in an application frame

Question

I'm trying to display a .gif in a frame. The first challenge is to turn the file(local) into an Image class. I don't know how to do that. Second is taking that Image and using Graphics to draw it. Alas, made necessary are "ImageObserver", "ImagerConsumer", "ImageProducer" and other such nonsensical classes. I've spent quite some time trying to figure this out
I feel bad wasting a post on something like this, but it seems to me like a valid question. It even says in the O'Reilly's Java in a Nutshell that images in Java are confusing. If there are links to good tutorials, or someone could post code for a simple Frame with a Graphics object that displays a .gif image from the same directory as the class I would appreciate it greatly.

Answer 1

I'm not sure why "Java in a nutshell" would say it's complex or confusing. But then that's the only O'Reilly book I've bought and didn't like. I prefer Bruce Eckel's "Thinking In Java"
In any case, let's look at images:
First, reference the "How to use Images" sectin of the Java Tutorial at http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/misc/icon.html
The way I'd do it is to construct an ImageIcon class using
public ImageIcon(String filename)
Now, ImageIcon and Image are not derived from Component, so you can't put them into a Frame. BUT, you can put a JLable into a JFrame and the JLable can have an image. So you construct a new JLable like this:
ImageIcon myIcon = new ImageIcon("/images/duke.gif")
JLabel myLabel = new JLabel(myIcon);
Then put myLabel into your JFrame
myJFrame.getContentPane().add(myLabel);
(or put it in whatever layout manager and panel you are using within yoru JFrame)
That should do it. If you're going to be putting your code into a jar file then there is an additional bit of code that needs to be added. If you search for "Images jar" you'll find lots of discussion. Or you could go to my site at www.brouelette.com and look at the code for "One Hour Wumpus" to see the ImageLoader that I use that works in or out of a jar file.
Good luck.