How to change Images with ImageIcon

Question

Hello everyone, this is my first post on the forums.
I am struggling at the moment to find a way to change images in my program. I am making a card game and when the user clicks a button it will replace the card he has with another card. I thought the following code would work but apparently it doesnt:
String cardPathA = "image1.gif";
ImageIcon imageCardA = new ImageIcon(cardPathA);   //cardPathA for example is image1.gif
//during the program the user changes cards so it should now show image2.gif
cardPathA = "image2.gif";
imageCardA.setImage(cardPathA);The error occurs when compiling and it reads: "+setImage(java.awt.Image) in javax.swing.ImageIcon cannot be applied to (java.langlString)+".
I have searched all over the internet and I haven't found anything. I would appreciate some help. Thanks :)

Answer 1

im not really sure i made a quick example to show how I would change the imageIcon in a button, just change the paths for cardPathA and cardPathB for your pictures to get it working.
The only other thing i can think of is maybe to call repaint() for the components you are trying to change the image?
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
class ImageChange extends JFrame implements ActionListener{
         final private String cardPathA;
        final private String cardPathB;
     private ImageIcon myImageIcon;
        private JButton changeCard;
        private int counter;
        private JPanel panel;
        private JButton imageButton;
     public ImageChange(){       
            changeCard = new JButton("Change Button");
            counter = 0;
            cardPathA = "1.gif";
            cardPathB = "2.gif";
            myImageIcon = new ImageIcon(cardPathA);
            imageButton = new JButton(myImageIcon);
        public void makeGui(){
            changeCard.addActionListener(this);
            panel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
            panel.add(changeCard,BorderLayout.NORTH);
            panel.add(imageButton,BorderLayout.CENTER);
            this.add(panel);
            this.setDefaultCloseOperation(this.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
            this.pack();
            this.setVisible(true);
     public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent menuChoice){
            counter++;
            if(counter%2 ==0){             
                myImageIcon = new ImageIcon(cardPathA);
                imageButton.setIcon(myImageIcon);
            }else{
                myImageIcon = new ImageIcon(cardPathB);
                imageButton.setIcon(myImageIcon);
        public static void main(String[] args){
            ImageChange test = new ImageChange();
            test.makeGui();
}Calypso