How do I stretch a JButtonImage to use the whole cell in a GridLayout?

Question

Hi,
I have a problem that is similar to what Edilmar_Alves had when posting the thread "I don't get to stretch an image in a JButton" in February 2009, though this is a bit different so I'm posting it in a new thread.
I also want to put an image in a JButton (or similar) in such a way that the image covers the whole area of the JButton. I've downloaded the SubMacroForms package and I'm trying to use a JButtonImage, where I set the size of it to exactly the size of the image I use.
It works if I just put the button in a JPanel using FlowLayout, but that's not what I really want. I need a 2 dimensional array of JButtonImages, since they will form the board of a game.Therefore I'm using a JPanel with GridLayout, to put the buttons in.
The problem is that when the JButtonImage buttons are added to the cells of the GridLayout, they don't cover the whole area of the cells (there's space at the top and at the bottom). What can I do about this? It's absolutely crucial that I fix this problem, because I can't have any space between the buttons (e.g. the images on them) since they will be forming something similar to a chess board.
Should I use some other layout or try to make my own Layout manager perhaps?
Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated!
Let me know if I should add any code.

Answer 1

If you want to fill the component (JButton/JLabel/and AbstractButton subclass/any third party component that supports setIcon/getWidth/getHeight) IMO the easiest way is to subclass ImageIcon and override paintIcon to do what you want.public class StretchIcon extends ImageIcon {
  public StretchIcon(Image image) {
    super(image);
  // other constructor/s as desired that call into the corresponding ImageIcon constructor
  public void paintIcon(Component c, Graphics g, int x, int y) {
    if(imageObserver == null) {
      g.drawImage(image, 0, 0, c.getWidth(), c.getHeight(), c);
    } else {
      g.drawImage(image, 0, 0, c.getWidth(), c.getHeight(), imageObserver);
}Alternatively you could write a class that implements Icon and wraps a ImageIcon.public class StretchIcon implements Icon {
  private ImageIcon icon;
  public StretchIcon(ImageIcon icon) {
    this.icon = icon;
  public void paintIcon(Component c, Graphics g, int x, int y) {
    if(icon.getImageObserver() == null) {
      g.drawImage(icon.getImage(), 0, 0, c.getWidth(), c.getHeight(), c);
    } else {
      g.drawImage(icon.getImage(), 0, 0, c.getWidth(), c.getHeight(), icon.getImageObserver());
  public int getIconWidth() {
    return icon.getIconWidth();
  public int getIconHeight() {
    return icon.getIconHeight();
Note: All code typed here, may contain typos or otherwise need debugging.
Depending on the layout in which this is to be used, you may want to return something else for the width and height.
db