Need help combining a Layout and Graphics

Question

Okay, I've been working on this for a long time now, and I'm getting close...but not quite.
I want to have a JApplet where I can use Graphics methods, as well as JButton, etc. However, if I set my applet to use a certain type of Layout (setLayout), it will only display the JButton and none of the graphics that I drew in paintComponent(). If I don't define a Layout at all, the JButton covers the entire applet. If I take out the JButton and the Layout, then I do see the Graphics. So, it's like the Graphics are being hidden underneath the Layout, and I don't know how to get them to show through.
Here's what I have...as you can see from the billion commented lines, I tried a lot of different things.
import javax.swing.*;       // Imports JButton, JTextArea, JTextField
import java.awt.*;          // Imports Canvas
import java.awt.event.*;    // Imports ActionEvent, ActionListener
public class HashTableApplet extends JApplet
  public void init()
    PaintStuff paint = new PaintStuff();
    Container contentPane = getContentPane();
    JButton startButton = new JButton("Start");
    //Determine the "look" of the Applet:
    contentPane.setLayout(null);
    contentPane.add(paint);
    // Add in the button:
    Insets insets = contentPane.getInsets();
    contentPane.add(startButton);
    startButton.setBounds(25 + insets.left, 5 + insets.top, 75, 20);
class PaintStuff extends JPanel
  public PaintStuff()
    //setBackground(Color.lightGray);
  public void paintComponent(Graphics g)
    super.paintComponent(g);
    //setOpaque(false);
    g.setColor(Color.yellow);
    // drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2)
    g.drawLine(50, 50, 100, 100);
    g.drawLine(0, 200, 700, 200);
    g.drawRect(200, 200, 200, 200);
}

Answer 1

/*    <applet code="GraphicApplet" width="400" height="300"></applet>
*    use: >appletviewer GraphicApplet.java
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.geom.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class GraphicApplet extends JApplet {
  GraphicPanel graphicPanel = new GraphicPanel();
  int colorCount = 0;
  public void init() {
    final Color[] colors = {
      Color.orange, Color.yellow, Color.pink
    final JButton button = new JButton("Change Background");
    button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
      public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
        Color color = colors[colorCount++ % colors.length];
        graphicPanel.setBackgroundColor(color);
    JPanel northPanel = new JPanel();
    northPanel.add(button);
    Container cp = getContentPane();
    // default layout for JPanel (== JApplet) is Flow Layout
    cp.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
    cp.add(northPanel, "North");
    cp.add(graphicPanel, "Center");   
   * Convenience method allows you to run this from the command line.
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    JFrame f = new JFrame("Grpahic Applet");
    f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    JApplet applet = new GraphicApplet();
    f.getContentPane().add(applet);
    f.setSize(400,300);
    f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
    applet.init();
    applet.start();
    f.setVisible(true);
class GraphicPanel extends JPanel {
  Color bgColor;
  public GraphicPanel() {
    setBackground(Color.black);
    bgColor = Color.red;
    // add listeners here
  public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
    super.paintComponent(g);
    Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D)g;
    g2.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING,
                        RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
    int width = getSize().width;
    int height = getSize().height;
    int cx = width/2;
    int cy = height/2;
    int diameter = Math.min(width, height)*2/3;
    g2.setPaint(bgColor);
    g2.fill(new Rectangle2D.Double(width/8, height/8, width*3/4, height*3/4));
    g2.setPaint(Color.blue);
    g2.draw(new Rectangle2D.Double(cx - diameter/2, cy - diameter/2,
                                   diameter, diameter));
    g2.setPaint(Color.green);
    g2.draw(new Ellipse2D.Double(cx - diameter/2, cy - diameter/2,
                                 diameter, diameter));
  public void setBackgroundColor(Color color) {
    this.bgColor = color;
    repaint();
}