Problem with two JLabels on panel on mouseover

Question

Hello all,
I have created a JPanel and I have placed two JLabels on it. I have assigned an icon to each of them. What I want to do is to change this icons to different ones (a "highlighted" version of them) for each one of my JLabels when the mouse is over them. My problem is that with the code i have right now, both change when I mouse over only the first one while nothing happens when i do the same for the 2nd one. As a second step I want to move this two labels along the y-axis. Again only jLabel1 can be moved and only for a few points (that seem to be on the bounds of its original bounds) and jLabel2 gets the exact same movement even though I'm not dragging over it. I hope it's clear what I want to do. So my question is: i) why both my jLabels get highlighted when I mouse over the one and ii) why i can move my jLabel only to a restricted area in the screen? (actually I know the reason for this but I still cannot understand why it's happening: when I drag my image, it doesn't update its location. So if I mouse over its initial location it gets highlighted which means that it thinks it's still there for some reason, although it's repainted in its new position..)
package Viewer;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.geom.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.io.*;
import javax.imageio.*;
import javax.swing.*;
* @author  Laura
public class Test2 extends javax.swing.JPanel {
    BufferedImage  img1=null;
    BufferedImage  img2=null;
    BufferedImage  img3=null;
    BufferedImage  img4=null;
    ImageIcon icon1=null;
    ImageIcon icon2=null;
    ImageIcon icon1_h=null;
    ImageIcon icon2_h=null;
    JLabel jLabel1;
    JLabel jLabel2;
    public Test2 (ColoringProperties parent) {
        try {
            img1=ImageIO.read((getClass().getResource("/arrow_right.gif")));
            icon1=new ImageIcon(img1);
            img2=ImageIO.read((getClass().getResource("/arrow_left.gif")));
            icon2=new ImageIcon(img2);
            img3=ImageIO.read((getClass().getResource("/arrow_right_highlighted.gif")));
            icon1_h=new ImageIcon(img3);
            img4=ImageIO.read((getClass().getResource("/arrow_left_highlighted.gif")));
            icon2_h=new ImageIcon(img4);
        } catch (IOException exc) {
        initComponents();
        jLabel1=new JLabel(icon1);
        jLabel2=new JLabel(icon2);
        this.add(jLabel1);
        this.add(jLabel2);
    public void PlaceIcons(){
        Dimension size = this.getSize();
        if (icon1 != null) {
            jLabel1.setBounds(0, 0,icon1.getIconWidth(),icon1.getIconHeight());
            jLabel1.setOpaque(true);
        } else {
            System.err.println("icon not found; using black square instead.");
            jLabel1.setBounds(0, 0, 30, 30);
            jLabel1.setOpaque(true);
            jLabel1.setBackground(Color.BLACK);
        if (icon2 != null) {
            jLabel2.setBounds(size.width - icon2.getIconWidth(), size.height - icon2.getIconHeight(),
                    icon2.getIconWidth(),icon2.getIconHeight());  
            jLabel2.setOpaque(true);
        } else {
            System.err.println("icon not found; using black square instead.");
            jLabel2.setBounds(0, 0, 30, 30);
            jLabel2.setOpaque(true);
            jLabel2.setBackground(Color.BLACK);
    private void initComponents() {
        addMouseListener(new java.awt.event.MouseAdapter() {
            public void mouseEntered(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
                formMouseEntered(evt);
            public void mouseExited(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
                formMouseExited(evt);
        addMouseMotionListener(new java.awt.event.MouseMotionAdapter() {
            public void mouseDragged(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
                formMouseDragged(evt);
            public void mouseMoved(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
                formMouseMoved(evt);
        javax.swing.GroupLayout layout = new javax.swing.GroupLayout(this);
        this.setLayout(layout);
        layout.setHorizontalGroup(
            layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGap(0, 54, Short.MAX_VALUE)
        layout.setVerticalGroup(
            layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGap(0, 323, Short.MAX_VALUE)
    private void formMouseExited(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
        // TODO add your handling code here:
        this.jLabel1.setIcon(this.icon1);
        this.jLabel2.setIcon(this.icon2);
        this.repaint();
    private void formMouseMoved(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
        // TODO add your handling code here:
        Point p=new Point(evt.getPoint());
        if (this.jLabel1.contains(p)){
            this.jLabel1.setIcon(this.icon1_h);
            this.repaint();
        else {
            this.jLabel1.setIcon(this.icon1);
            this.repaint();
        if (this.jLabel2.contains(p)){
            this.jLabel2.setIcon(this.icon2_h);
            this.repaint();
        else{
            this.jLabel2.setIcon(this.icon2);
            this.repaint();
    private void formMouseDragged(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
        // TODO add your handling code here:
        Point p=new Point(evt.getPoint());
        if (this.jLabel1.contains(p)){
            Point init=this.jLabel1.getLocation();
            this.jLabel1.setLocation(init.x,p.y);
            this.repaint();
        if (this.jLabel2.contains(p)){
            Point init=this.jLabel2.getLocation();
            this.jLabel2.setLocation(init.x,p.y);
            this.repaint();
}Any help would be appreciated. I'm not an experienced programmer and I'm using NetBeans IDE 6.0.1 (if that's of any help)
Thank you,
Laura

Answer 1

Thanx for the replies!
I did what Rodney suggested and indeed the Labels now move independently. However, there is a lot of flickering and a ghost label appears that moves respectively with the original one i'm dragging (for both of them). Any ideas why is that?
Thank you again,
Laura
package Viewer;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.geom.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.io.*;
import javax.imageio.*;
import javax.swing.*;
* @author  Laura
public class Test2 extends javax.swing.JPanel {
    BufferedImage  img1=null;
    BufferedImage  img2=null;
    BufferedImage  img3=null;
    BufferedImage  img4=null;
    ImageIcon icon1=null;
    ImageIcon icon2=null;
    ImageIcon icon1_h=null;
    ImageIcon icon2_h=null;
    public Test2(ColoringProperties parent) {
        try {
            img1=ImageIO.read((getClass().getResource("/arrow_right.gif")));
            icon1=new ImageIcon(img1);
            img2=ImageIO.read((getClass().getResource("/arrow_left.gif")));
            icon2=new ImageIcon(img2);
            img3=ImageIO.read((getClass().getResource("/arrow_right_highlighted.gif")));
            icon1_h=new ImageIcon(img3);
            img4=ImageIO.read((getClass().getResource("/arrow_left_highlighted.gif")));
            icon2_h=new ImageIcon(img4);
        } catch (IOException exc) {
        initComponents();       
    public void PlaceArrows(){
        Dimension size = this.getSize();
        if (icon1 != null) {
            jLabel1.setBounds(0, 0,icon1.getIconWidth(),icon1.getIconHeight());
            jLabel1.setOpaque(true);
        } else {
            System.err.println("icon not found; using black square instead.");
            jLabel1.setBounds(0, 0, 30, 30);
            jLabel1.setOpaque(true);
            jLabel1.setBackground(Color.BLACK);
        if (icon2 != null) {
            jLabel2.setBounds(size.width - icon2.getIconWidth(), size.height - icon2.getIconHeight(),
                    icon2.getIconWidth(),icon2.getIconHeight());  
            jLabel2.setOpaque(true);
        } else {
            System.err.println("icon not found; using black square instead.");
            jLabel2.setBounds(0, 0, 30, 30);
            jLabel2.setOpaque(true);
            jLabel2.setBackground(Color.BLACK);
    private void initComponents() {
        jLabel1 = new JLabel(icon1);
        jLabel2 = new JLabel(icon2);
        addMouseListener(new java.awt.event.MouseAdapter() {
            public void mouseEntered(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
                formMouseEntered(evt);
            public void mouseExited(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
                formMouseExited(evt);
        addMouseMotionListener(new java.awt.event.MouseMotionAdapter() {
            public void mouseDragged(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
                formMouseDragged(evt);
            public void mouseMoved(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
                formMouseMoved(evt);
        jLabel1.addMouseListener(new java.awt.event.MouseAdapter() {
            public void mouseEntered(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
                jLabel1MouseEntered(evt);
            public void mouseExited(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
                jLabel1MouseExited(evt);
        jLabel1.addMouseMotionListener(new java.awt.event.MouseMotionAdapter() {
            public void mouseDragged(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
                jLabel1MouseDragged(evt);
        jLabel2.addMouseListener(new java.awt.event.MouseAdapter() {
            public void mouseEntered(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
                jLabel2MouseEntered(evt);
            public void mouseExited(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
                jLabel2MouseExited(evt);
        jLabel2.addMouseMotionListener(new java.awt.event.MouseMotionAdapter() {
            public void mouseDragged(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
                jLabel2MouseDragged(evt);
        javax.swing.GroupLayout layout = new javax.swing.GroupLayout(this);
        this.setLayout(layout);
        layout.setHorizontalGroup(
            layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGroup(layout.createSequentialGroup()
                .addComponent(jLabel1, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, 13, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                .addContainerGap(41, Short.MAX_VALUE))
            .addGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.TRAILING, layout.createSequentialGroup()
                .addContainerGap(42, Short.MAX_VALUE)
                .addComponent(jLabel2, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, 12, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
        layout.setVerticalGroup(
            layout.createParallelGroup(javax.swing.GroupLayout.Alignment.LEADING)
            .addGroup(layout.createSequentialGroup()
                .addComponent(jLabel1, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, 14, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                .addPreferredGap(javax.swing.LayoutStyle.ComponentPlacement.RELATED, 295, Short.MAX_VALUE)
                .addComponent(jLabel2, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, 14, javax.swing.GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
    private void formMouseEntered(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
        // TODO add your handling code here:       
    private void formMouseExited(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
        // TODO add your handling code here:
    private void formMouseMoved(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
        // TODO add your handling code here:
    private void formMouseDragged(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
        // TODO add your handling code here:
    private void jLabel1MouseEntered(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
        // TODO add your handling code here:
        this.jLabel1.setIcon(this.icon1_h);
        this.jLabel1.revalidate();
        this.repaint();
    private void jLabel1MouseExited(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
        // TODO add your handling code here:
        this.jLabel1.setIcon(this.icon1);
        this.jLabel1.revalidate();
        this.repaint();
    private void jLabel1MouseDragged(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
        // TODO add your handling code here:
        Point w=new Point(evt.getPoint());
        if (w.y>0 && w.y<this.getHeight()){
            Point init=this.jLabel1.getLocation();
            this.jLabel1.setIcon(this.icon1_h);
            this.jLabel1.setLocation(init.x,w.y);
            this.jLabel1.revalidate();
            this.jLabel1.repaint();
    private void jLabel2MouseEntered(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
        // TODO add your handling code here:
        this.jLabel2.setIcon(this.icon2_h);
    private void jLabel2MouseExited(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
        // TODO add your handling code here:
        this.jLabel2.setIcon(this.icon2);
    private void jLabel2MouseDragged(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
        // TODO add your handling code here:
        Point p=new Point(evt.getPoint());
        if (p.y>0 && p.y<this.getHeight()){
            Point init=this.jLabel2.getLocation();
            this.jLabel2.setIcon(this.icon2_h);
            this.jLabel2.setLocation((int)init.getX(),(int)p.getY());
    // Variables declaration - do not modify
    public javax.swing.JLabel jLabel1;
    public javax.swing.JLabel jLabel2;
    // End of variables declaration
}