JButton background color question

Hi everybody,
I have a feeling I'm going to get slammed for this, but I have to ask a very general question and hope for an answer.
I have a JDialog on which buttons don't seem to hold their background color. That is, when I use setBackground, the only color change I get is a very thin outline of the color, and the rest of the button is white. The strange thing about the button is that the white center actually seems transparent--if I change the panel the button is on to another color besides white, the center of the button turns that color.
I've tried to solve this problem with setOpaque( true ), setContentAreaFilled( true ), setBackground( color ), setForeground( color ), and I'm pretty sure every combination of those.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to reproduce this in a test case, so I can't give a SSCCE, although I've tried for a while now to make one.
So...has anyone ever run into a problem like this and can give me some advice? I'm sorry I can't be more specific, if anyone has a question I'll do my best to answer.
Thanks,
Jezzica85

I have a feeling I'm going to get slammed for this, but I have to ask a very general question and hope for an answer.Why would people be harsh on you? The only risk you take is: vague question => vague answer (or random).
So...has anyone ever run into a problem like this and can give me some advice? I'm sorry I can't be more specific, if anyone has a question I'll do my best to answer.Never seen that myself, so I'll add a few random questions/thoughts:
I have a JDialog on which buttons don't seem to hold their background color. That is, when I use setBackground, the only color change I get is a very thin outline of the color, and the rest of the button is white.- are you using a custom JButton subclass? If yes are you certain the subclass does not override paintComponent()?
- If not, the button is painted by its ButtonUI. Can you tell which UI class is used (sysout(+theButton.getUI()+)?
The UI is set according to the LookAndFeel.
- Do you set any special LookAndFeel (+UIManager.setLookAndFeel(...)+, or look and feel's UIDefault properties in your app (generally that is done at startup)?
- If not, can you tell the current look and feel when you bring up the dialog (+UIManager.getLookAndFeel(...)+, although that can be inferred from the ButtonUI subclass' name.
I've tried to solve this problem with setOpaque( true ), setContentAreaFilled( true ), setBackground( color ), setForeground( color ), and I'm pretty sure every combination of those.FYI, the ButtonUI paints the button however it sees fit; in particular it doesn't have to respect the colors, opacity, filling... properties.
Eventually:
- are you using a custom JDialog subclass (probably, as that's generally how people write dialogs; not the best way IMHO, but there are cases where this is hard to avoid).
I see you can't provide an SSCCE right ow, but maybe you can try to narrow the list of suspects in your side?
- Do you reproduce the same problem at startup, if you bring the JDialog up as soon as possible?
- Do you reproduce the problem with a mere JOPtionpane.showMessageDialog(..., theButton,...)?
- Do you reproduce the problem outside of the JDialog context (I see you mention using a different JPanel, but is that in the dialog or somewhere else?
Good luck with your investigations.
Edited by: jduprez on Sep 30, 2009 8:20 AM

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As a newbie to the forum you obviously didn't understand how to post a simple direct question, with only the relevant code to demonstrate the problem, which is why I provided you with all the extra information to help you get better answers in the future.
Did you bother to read the link of creating an SSCCE?
Your question is about setting the background color of a button. 99% of the code you posted is not related to that issue. Keep the code simple so we don't waste time reading through unnecessary code. That way we can determine whether the problem is with your code or the environment as I already mentioned.
1) Though the information about setting the text color is helpful, the
background color of the button is the subject of the posting. Please
limit your replies to the subject of the posting.If the code posted was only related to the background color then we wouldn't have this issue now would we? When I see something strange or wrong I make a comment whether it is directly related to the question or not. It has been my experience that most people appreciate the bonus advice, so I will not change my behaviour for you. If you don't like the advice, then just ignore it.
2) Regarding, "I don't use 1.5 so I can't really help you, but neither can
anybody else...", please read Michael_Dunn's post, who remarkably
was able to provide help.My comment was related to the code you provided. Nobody could use the code to compile and execute to see if it ran on their machine. So, Michael, had to waste time creating his own simple test program to see if it worked, which it did.
My point was if you provided the same simple demo program that Michael did, then all he (or anybody else) would have had to do would be to copy, compile and test the program. You should be spending the time creating the simple test program not each of us individually. Think of how much time is wasted if everybody who wanted to help you had to create their own program? Thats why I included the link on creating an SSCCE, so the next time we don't need to waste time.
3) ..... Otherwise, it's alright not to reply to a subject. Nobody will think less of you.Of course I don't have to replay to every question (and I don't), but if you don't learn to post a question properly you will make the same mistake again and again. That was the context of my answer. It was designed to help you ask a better question the next time.
4) Your comment, "And don't forget to use the Code Formatting Tags > so the code retains its original formatting." That was a standard message I use for many newbies to the forum. I'm amazed at the number of people who think we are mind readers and can guess exactly what is causing the problem without posting any code. So I got tired of typing in a different message every time and I now just cut and paste. Yes I could have edited the last line out, but you would be amazed at how many people format the code the first time but then forget to do it when prompted for more detail. So I just keep it in all messages.
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I had to read the code for that latter's UI classes to find out the keys to use (+Panel.background+, Label.foreground, etc.), as I happened to not find this info in an authoritative document - I see that you seem to know thoses keys, may I ask you where you got them from?
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Definitely. I bit a pair of knucles off when discovered it monthes after cumbersomely traversing the BasicL&F code...
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