Request For Enhancement: paintForeground() and paintBackground()

Question

I would like to propose that the paintComponent() methods of JComponent (and descendents) and the paint methods of ComponentUI (and descendents) be further broken down to call paintBackground() followed by paintForeground(), and possibly even paintBorder() and paintFocus().
This way, the look of JComponents could be more easily customized, especially the backgrounds. As it is now, if one wishes a JComponent merely to have a textured background, for instance, the implementer is also saddled with the much more difficult tasks of dealing with Fonts, Font Metrics, Icons, Gaps, Alignments, Margins, Borders, Preferred Sizes, etc.

Answer 1

Hi, Marsian -
This is why I find this useful:
This way, the look of JComponents could be more easily customized,
especially the backgrounds. As it is now, if one wishes a JComponent
merely to have a textured background, for instance, the implementer
is also saddled with the much more difficult tasks of dealing with
Fonts, Font Metrics, Icons, Gaps, Alignments, Margins, Borders,
Preferred Sizes, etc.I wasn't proposing that paintForeground(), paintBackground(), etc., be
de-coupled, i.e. separate events in the event dispatch thread
...sorry... I should have been more clear.
What I had in mind was, the current paintComponent() method would be
re-implemented to merely call, in order, paintBackground(),
paintForeground(), paintFocus(), and paintBorder(). That way, one
could provide an alternate implementation of any one (or more) of
these methods without an impact on the others. As it is, if I want to
change how the background gets painted, e.g. with a texture, I am stuck
with dealing with the foreground as well, as I mentioned before.
Thanks,
---Mark