Save screen as .gif in Java 1.1

Question

Hi, I have a frame that the user draws on, and I need to save the contents of this frame as a .gif file. I'm running Java 1.1. Can anyone help? Thanks.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
class PaintArea extends Frame
    static int x, y;
    static Graphics g;
    PaintArea ()
        addWindowListener (new WindowAdapter ()
            public void windowClosing (WindowEvent e)
                System.exit (0);
        setSize (400, 400);
        show ();
        g = getGraphics ();
        hide ();
    public void loadArea (PaintArea pa)
        pa.show ();
        pa.addMouseListener (new MouseAdapter ()
            public void mousePressed (MouseEvent me)
                x = me.getX ();
                y = me.getY ();
                g.fillOval (x - 5, y - 5, 10, 10);
        pa.addMouseMotionListener (new MouseMotionAdapter ()
            public void mouseDragged (MouseEvent me)
                x = me.getX ();
                y = me.getY ();
                g.fillOval (x - 5, y - 5, 10, 10);
    public void saveScreen (PaintArea pa)
}

Answer 1

java doesn't have any included writers for gif files. you can write a gif if you find a plugin elsewhere, but i believe unisys still has a patent on the compression part of the format--so any free gif writer you find will either write uncompressed gifs, or be illegal. :)
why not save as a jpg or png instead? png is a pretty nifty format -- it's totally free, as in no licensing inssues, and the format is easily found. plus, most browsers these days can do png's.
to save an image as a png....
File outfile = new File("put/your/path/here.png");
javax.imageio.ImageIO.write(your_image, "png", outfile);the process is similar for jpeg files. just replace 'png' with 'jpg'. :)