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Question

I have this problem of changing the look and feel of my application. I am not using any readymade theme but applying my own color combination to whole application. I am stuck in changing the background color of dialog boxes, filechoosers. basically the pop-ups. The sample code is shown below:
public class TestDialog extends javax.swing.JDialog {
/** Creates new form TestDialog */
public TestDialog(java.awt.Frame parent, boolean modal) {
super(parent, modal);
initComponents();
/** This method is called from within the constructor to
* initialize the form.
private void initComponents() {
jOptionPane1 = new javax.swing.JOptionPane();
setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE);
setTitle("Test Dialog");
setUndecorated(true);
addWindowListener(new java.awt.event.WindowAdapter() {
public void windowClosing(java.awt.event.WindowEvent evt) {
closeDialog(evt);
jOptionPane1.setBackground(new java.awt.Color(239, 239, 239));
jOptionPane1.setBorder(null);
jOptionPane1.setForeground(new java.awt.Color(0, 0, 0));
jOptionPane1.setMessageType(javax.swing.JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE);
jOptionPane1.setOptionType(javax.swing.JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION);
jOptionPane1.setPreferredSize(new java.awt.Dimension(200, 90));
getContentPane().add(jOptionPane1, java.awt.BorderLayout.CENTER);
pack();
/** Closes the dialog */
private void closeDialog(java.awt.event.WindowEvent evt) {//GEN-FIRST:event_closeDialog
setVisible(false);
dispose();
* @param args the command line arguments
public static void main(String args[]) {
new TestDialog(new javax.swing.JFrame(), true).show();
// Variables declaration
private javax.swing.JOptionPane jOptionPane1;
// End of variables declaration
Now I dont want that irritating gray background, so i am changing it to some Color(239,239,239). buts its not coming up only on the border area.. and not on the full screen. Now what do I have to change.. here i have three components.. JDialog, JOptionPane, and a parent frame... i have triend changing background of all three but for no use. Please help me out.. its urgent. Thanx in advance.

Answer 1

If you want to create a color combination, you'll be better off creating a theme. This can be done by extending the DefaultMetalTheme and changing the colors. Here's a theme to use. Note: I typed in random rgb values, this is not a real color set (meaning it should not look nice :)
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.plaf.*;
import javax.swing.plaf.metal.*;
public class MyLookAndFeel extends MetalLookAndFeel
    public MyLookAndFeel()
        super();
        MetalTheme myLookAndFeel = new MyTheme();
        setCurrentTheme(myLookAndFeel);
class MyTheme extends DefaultMetalTheme
    public String getName() { return "My Theme"; }
    private final ColorUIResource primary1 = new ColorUIResource(255, 0, 0);
    private final ColorUIResource primary2 = new ColorUIResource(40, 190, 240);
    private final ColorUIResource primary3 = new ColorUIResource(20, 140, 105);
    private final ColorUIResource secondary1 = new ColorUIResource(75, 180, 125);
    private final ColorUIResource secondary2 = new ColorUIResource(75, 180, 125);
    private final ColorUIResource secondary3 = new ColorUIResource(255, 255, 200);
    private final ColorUIResource black = new ColorUIResource(200, 210, 230);
    private final ColorUIResource white = new ColorUIResource(65, 90, 90);
    protected ColorUIResource getPrimary1() { return primary1; }
    protected ColorUIResource getPrimary2() { return primary2; }
    protected ColorUIResource getPrimary3() { return primary3; }
    protected ColorUIResource getSecondary1() { return secondary1; }
    protected ColorUIResource getSecondary2() { return secondary2; }
    protected ColorUIResource getSecondary3() { return secondary3; }
    protected ColorUIResource getBlack() { return black; }
    protected ColorUIResource getWhite() { return white; }
}Then to apply this to your program, here's it is:
import javax.swing.*;
public class TestDialog extends javax.swing.JDialog {
/** Creates new form TestDialog */
public TestDialog(java.awt.Frame parent, boolean modal) {
super(parent, modal);
initComponents();
/** This method is called from within the constructor to
* initialize the form.
private void initComponents() {
jOptionPane1 = new javax.swing.JOptionPane();
setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE);
setTitle("Test Dialog");
setUndecorated(true);
addWindowListener(new java.awt.event.WindowAdapter() {
public void windowClosing(java.awt.event.WindowEvent evt) {
closeDialog(evt);
//jOptionPane1.setBackground(new java.awt.Color(255, 0, 0));
jOptionPane1.setBorder(null);
jOptionPane1.setForeground(new java.awt.Color(0, 0, 0));
jOptionPane1.setMessageType(javax.swing.JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE);
jOptionPane1.setOptionType(javax.swing.JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION);
jOptionPane1.setPreferredSize(new java.awt.Dimension(200, 90));
getContentPane().add(jOptionPane1, java.awt.BorderLayout.CENTER);
pack();
/** Closes the dialog */
private void closeDialog(java.awt.event.WindowEvent evt) {//GEN-FIRST:event_closeDialog
setVisible(false);
dispose();
* @param args the command line arguments
public static void main(String args[]) {
try // CHANGE HERE
    UIManager.setLookAndFeel("MyLookAndFeel");
} catch(Exception e) {}
new TestDialog(new javax.swing.JFrame(), true).show();
// Variables declaration
private javax.swing.JOptionPane jOptionPane1;
// End of variables declaration
}This is one way to do it. It's simple even if if it looks like a lot of code. The only thing is that you need your own icons when creating your theme. If you want to use the defaults, extract them from rt.jar and put them in MyLookAndFeel/icons . You can see examples like these in MetalWorks.