Setting Colors in a Swing Application

Hi Folks,
i have got some Problems to set the Color in a Swing Application. My Problems are that i want to set the Color of a not selected Tab from a JTabbedPane and the color of a table, where it shows no data.
Does anyone have some usefull advice??
greetings tom

Hi Richard,
you will have to develop a new Collection- and/or ResourceRenderer, depending on which parts you want to change.
Hope it helps
Detlev

Similar Messages

How to give Common Background color for all JPanels in My Swing application

Hi All,
I am developing a swing application using The Swing Application Framework(SAF)(JSR 296). I this application i have multiple JPanel's embedded in a JTabbedPane. In this way i have three JTabbedPane embedded in a JFrame.
Now is there any way to set a common background color for the all the JPanel's available in the application??
I have tried using UIManager.put("Panel.background",new Color.PINK);. But it did not work.
Also let me know if SAF has some inbuilt method or way to do this.
Your inputs are valuable.
Thanks in Advance,
Nishanth.C

It is not the fault of NetBeans' GUI builder, JPanels are opaque by default, I mean whether you use Netbeans or not.Thank you!
I stand corrected (which is short for +"I jumped red-eyed on my feet and rushed to create an SSCCE to demonstrate that JPanels are... mmm... oh well, they are opaque by default... ;-[]"+)
NetBeans's definitely innocent then, and indeed using it would be an advantage (ctrl-click all JPanels in a form and edit the common opaque property to false) over manually coding
To handle this it would be better idea to make a subclass of JPanel and override isOpaque() to return false. Then use this 'Trasparent Panel' for all the panels where ever transparency is required.I beg to differ. From a design standpoint, I'd find it terrible (in the pejorative sense of the word) to design a subclass to inconsistently override a getter whereas the standard API already exposes the property (both get and set) for what it's meant: specify whether the panel is opaque.
Leveraging this subclass would mean changing all lines where a would-be-transparent JPanel is currently instantiated, and instantiate the subclass instead.
If you're editing all such lines anyway, you might as well change the explicit new JPanel() for a call to a factory method createTransparentJPanel(); this latter could, at the programmer's discretion, implement transparency whichever way makes the programmer's life easier (subclass if he pleases, although that makes me shudder, or simply call thePanel.setOpaque(false) before returning the panel). That way the "transparency" code is centralized in a single easy to maintain location.
I had to read the code for that latter's UI classes to find out the keys to use (+Panel.background+, Label.foreground, etc.), as I happened to not find this info in an authoritative document - I see that you seem to know thoses keys, may I ask you where you got them from?
One of best utilities I got from this forum, written by camickr makes getting these keys and their values very easy. You can get it from his blog [(->link)|http://tips4java.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/uimanager-defaults/]
Definitely. I bit a pair of knucles off when discovered it monthes after cumbersomely traversing the BasicL&F code...
Still, it is a matter-of-fact approach (and this time I don't mean that to sound pejorative), that works if you can test the result for a given JDK version and L&F, but doesn't guarantee that these keys are there to stand - an observation, but not a specification.
Thanks TBM for highlighting this blog entry, that's the best keys list device I have found so far, but the questions still holds as to what specifies the keys.
Edited by: jduprez on Feb 15, 2010 10:07 AM

Setting Color for whole application

Hello everybody.
I've to set the Button.background - Color for a whole application.
For these purpose I use the JColorChooser and the
UIManager.put("Button.background",>anyColor<); - method.
When I use this the first time after start it works fine. When I try to change the color again it doesn't.
Any ideas?
Thanks for your help.

OK, no more help needed at this time.
My mistake was that I tried to call
UIManager.put("Button.background",Color.red);
it has to be:
UIManager.put("Button.background",new ColorUIResource(Color.red));

Set a default Font for a whole Swing application?

Hi,
Is it possible to set "Courier" as the default font for a whole swing application?
I seem to have gotten lost here, could someone give me some pointers please?
Thank You,
-Uday

So it needs to be done right at the beginningYes.
Is there a code sample i can look at for reference and a standard way of doing this.I've seen examples posted in the forum the use the UIManager.getDefaults() method and then iterate through the defaults looking for all properties that end with ".font" and then replace the font as required.

Javaw does not work for my SWING application

Dear all,
I try to use 'javaw ClassName' (from a batch test.bat) to hide command prompt window when a Swing application starts. Unfortunately, the CMD still appears. So I recommend the command java and javaw has no difference in my situation.
I use jdk1.6.0_02 runs on Windows XP Prof Service Pack 2.
Could anyone give me some hint please?
Regards,
Byron
The Swing code is attached
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Reminder extends JFrame
     public static void main(String[] args)
          new Reminder();
     public Reminder()
          super("Reminder");
          JDesktopPane desktop = new JDesktopPane();
this.setContentPane(desktop);
this.setLocation(350, 300);
this.setSize(300, 80);
this.setResizable(false);
JLabel reminder = new JLabel("Do not forget delivering reports!", SwingConstants.CENTER);
reminder.setForeground(new Color(125, 125, 220));
reminder.setFont(new Font("SansSerif", Font.BOLD, 18));
     this.getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());
     this.getContentPane().add("Center", reminder);
     this.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);// set frame closeable
//     this.setExtendedState(JFrame.MAXIMIZED_BOTH);// set maximized frame
          this.setVisible(true);
}

Hi Andrew,
In my case, it does not require any web server. I could not use javaws.
There is way work around by using Runtime.exec(). The MS Windows CMD hides when I double click the start.bat file.
File start.bat:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
java Test
File Test.java:-----------------------------------
public class Test
     public static void main(String[] args)
          try{
               Runtime r = Runtime.getRuntime();
               r.exec("java Reminder");
          }catch(Exception e)
               e.printStackTrace();
File Reminder.java has been attached in the original post.
Regards,
Byron

Open image in Swing Application

Hi,
I'm having trouble getting an image to open into my swing application and I cant figure out whats wrong. In response to selecting the "Open" button or menu item a JFileChooser opens up and i select an image but the image doesn't actually load. If anyone could help i'd really appreciate it.
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.io.*;
import javax.swing.border.*;
import javax.imageio.*;
class PhotoEditor extends JPanel implements ActionListener {
     * Create the GUI and show it. For thread safety,
     * this method should be invoked from the
     * event-dispatching thread.
    JMenu imageMenu, effectsMenu;
    JFileChooser fc = new JFileChooser();
    BufferedImage img = null;
     public JMenuBar createMenuBar() {
     JMenuBar menuBar = new JMenuBar();
    /* Build the first menu: */
    JMenu fileMenu = new JMenu("File");
    menuBar.add(fileMenu);
    fileMenu.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_F);
    //a group of JMenuItems under the File option:
        String[] menuItems1 = {"Open", "Save","Save As..", "Close"};
    String[] menuIcons1 = {"Open.gif", "Save.gif", "", ""};
    for (int i = 0; i<menuItems1.length; i++)
              JMenuItem fileMI = new JMenuItem(menuItems1, new ImageIcon(menuIcons1[i]));
          fileMI.addActionListener(this);
          fileMenu.add(fileMI);
//adding a separator to the drop down menu list
fileMenu.addSeparator();
JMenuItem exitMI = new JMenuItem("Exit", new ImageIcon("Exit.gif"));
exitMI.addActionListener(this);
fileMenu.add(exitMI);
/* Code which builds all the menu here */
return menuBar;
     public JToolBar createToolBar() {
     JToolBar toolB = new JToolBar(FlowLayout.LEFT);
toolB.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
// contentPane.add(toolB, "North");
JButton newButton = new JButton(new ImageIcon("new24.gif"));
newButton.addActionListener(this);
toolB.add(newButton);
newButton.setToolTipText("New");
newButton.setActionCommand("New");
//adding a separator to the drop down menu list
toolB.addSeparator();
JButton openButton = new JButton(new ImageIcon("open24.gif"));
openButton.addActionListener(this);
toolB.add(openButton);
openButton.setToolTipText("Open");
     openButton.setActionCommand("Open");
/* More code building the toolbar*/
return toolB;
     public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
Object eventSource = e.getSource();
if ((eventSource instanceof JMenuItem) || (eventSource instanceof JButton));{
String label = (String) e.getActionCommand();
//Sets up the Action Listeners
if (label.equals("Exit")) {
System.exit(0);
// Closes application
else if (label.equals("Open")) {
     openImage();
/* More codes for each button or menu item */
protected void openImage() {
          int returnVal = fc.showOpenDialog(this);
if (returnVal == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
File file = fc.getSelectedFile();
     try {
               img = ImageIO.read(file);
                    catch (IOException e1) {
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
     super.paintComponent(g);
g.drawImage(img, 500, 500, null);
private static void createAndShowGUI() {
//Create and set up the window.
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Photo Editor");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
//Create a main label to put in the content pane.
JLabel main = new JLabel();
// main.setOpaque(true);
// main.setBackground(new Color(128, 128, 128));
main.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(800, 600));
//Set the menu bar and add the label to the content pane.
PhotoEditor mainmenu = new PhotoEditor();
frame.setJMenuBar(mainmenu.createMenuBar());
     frame.getContentPane().add(mainmenu.createToolBar(), BorderLayout.PAGE_START);
frame.getContentPane().add(main, BorderLayout.CENTER);
//Display the window.
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
public static void main(String[] args) {
//Schedule a job for the event-dispatching thread:
//creating and showing this application's GUI.
javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
createAndShowGUI();

Your PhotoEditor class extends JPanel. In that class you override paintComponent(). But you never add the panel to the GUI, so that method is never invoked.
Personally I would have the PhotoEditor class extend JFrame. Then in the constructor you build all the components for the frame
a) build the menu
b) build the toolbar
Then I would create a PhotoPanel class that you extend and override the paintComponent(). Then you add this panel to the GUI as your main panel.
For a simple example of drawing a background image on a panel search the forum for my BackgroundImage example.

Setting UIManager properties via swing.properties file

Folks'es,
I would like to change some default settings of existing Swing Applications, eg font size. The API doc for UIManager mentions the file swing.properties and three levels of defaults, that are being searched/used.
How can I set up these 3 levels? Where are their settings defined?
Can some kind soul pls enlighten me, as to how to setup swing.properties? The only thing I could get to work was setting the L&F (I got an error message when setting the Windows L&F on Solaris :).
here are some lines I tried, but they don't have any effect:label.font=javax.swing.plaf.FontUIResource[family\=Dialog,name\=Dialog,style\=plain,size\=40]
table.font=javax.swing.plaf.FontUIResource[family\=Dialog,name\=Dialog,style\=plain,size\=20]
table.color=javax.swing.plaf.ColorUIResource[r\=255,g\=0,b\=0]
button.background=javax.swing.plaf.ColorUIResource[r\=255,g\=0,b\=0]they don't make a lot of sense, i know, i just want to get a handle on this.
and yes, i tried upper/lower case, qutoes, etc etc
stuck and desperate after hunting all morning through the forums...
thomas
Message was edited by:
kloeber

to me there is the main question: where does a
Swing L&F gets its default properties from and From the L&F class. Take a look at the source for MetalLookAndFeel. Granted, this is not a very well developed L&F, from a code perspective. There are numerous inconsistencies in how things are used throughout the various UI delegates. (And don't get me started on the subclass-ability of Basic/Metal classes.)
I've recently written my own L&F for a project that started by using Metal as a basis, and had to rip out or rewrite so much, it really shows why few people write L&F's for Swing.
is there a way of overwriting them 'from the outside',
ie can users change them to suit their individual taste.There is nothing that I can see that is any standard mechanism in Swing to support this. I think it comes down to you just have to implement it yourself.
In my recent experiences with working on a L&F, the problems come down to this:
a) The first time you look at the code for Metal/Basic, it's extremely intimidating how much.
b) You think you can subclass a lot, but once you realize you can't without rewriting large chunks and start really looking at the code in detail, you really get intimidated, and a bit mad at Sun.
c) Finally you either give up, or realize you have to pick your battles. For example, coping some classes outright to tweak a couple things.
You really need to take time to understand how it all works (and there's no really good documentation). It's nearly a full time job to work thru a L&F.

Problems After shifting swing application from jdk1.3 to 1.4

hi,
i have shifted my Swing application from jdk1.3 to 1.4, some component settings changed in j2se1.4. are listed below
1). i have added JComboBox to JPanel using BoxLayout, in jdk1.3 it is normal where as in 1.4 comboBox height is increased to panel height.
Sample code
(in a Panel)
     setLayout(new BoxLayout(this, BoxLayout.X_AXIS));
add(getYearComboBox());
     add(getMonthNameComboBox());
     add(getDayOfMonthComboBox());
2). in jdk1.3 the icon which is set to JFrame is visible in the JOptioPane.showConfirmationDialog() also, but in 1.4 the icon is not visible in conformation dialog box.
Sample Code
in a JFrame's constructor
public OptionPaneTest()
ImageIcon icon = new ImageIcon("icon.gif");
setIconImage(icon.getImage());
setSize(250,100);
addWindowListener(new java.awt.event.WindowAdapter() {
public void windowClosing(java.awt.event.WindowEvent e) {
                    System.exit(0);
setVisible(true);
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this,"hai", "Hai",JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE);
3). the Labels added to the panel or frame are displaying in light blue color with jdk1.3 and the same label displaying in black with j2se1.3
Sample Code
in a JPanel
setLayout(new BorderLayout(20, 20));
add(new JLabel("Testing Label Color"), BorderLayout.CENTER);
please send solution to any or all.
thanks in advance,
Pavan.DV

Thanks for your sugession.
You realized me by showing the fact that there are no many classes
Keep suggesting like this.
I don't even know how to see the API documentation Before you told me.
Don't take any issue as simple thing and never give foolish suggessions like this.
If you know the Answer then share it or else musukoni kurcho ra

Need Help to update the labels in the GUI syncronously - Swing application

Hello everyone,
I need some help regarding a swing application. I am not able to syncronously update the counters and labels that display on my Swing GUI as the application runs in the background. But when the running of application is completed, then the labels on the GUI are getting updated, But I want update the labels and counters on the GUI syncronously as the code executes... below I am giving the format of the code I have written..............
public class SwingApp extends JFrame{
        // here i have declared the label and component varibles like...
                  private JTextField startTextField;
       private JComboBox maxComboBox;
       private JTextField logTextField;
       private JTextField searchTextField;
       private JLabel imagesDownloaded1;
       private JLabel imagesDownloaded2;
       private JLabel imagesDidnotDownload1;
       private JLabel imagesDidnotDownload2;
                  private JButton startButton;
//now in the constructer.............
public Swing(){
//I used gridbaglayout and wrote the code for the GUI to appear....
startButton = new JButton("Start Downloading");
    startButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
      public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
        try{
             actionSearch();   //actionSearch will contain all the code and the function calls of my application...........
        }catch(Exception e1){
             System.out.println(e1);
    constraints = new GridBagConstraints();
    constraints.gridwidth = GridBagConstraints.REMAINDER;
    constraints.insets = new Insets(5, 5, 5, 5);
    layout.setConstraints(startButton, constraints);
    searchPanel.add(startButton);
//update is a function which initiates a thread which updates the GUI. this function will be called to pass the required variables in the application
public void update(final int count_hits, final int counter_image_download1, final int didnot_download1) throws Exception{
     Thread thread = new Thread(new Runnable() {
         public void run() {
              System.out.println("entered into thread");
              System.out.println("the variable that has to be set is " + count_hits);
              server_hits_count.repaint(count_hits);
              server_hits_count.setText( " "+ Integer.toString(count_hits));
              imagesDownloaded2.setText(" " + Integer.toString(counter_image_download1));
              imagesDidnotDownload2.setText(" " + Integer.toString(didnot_download1));
              repaint();
     //this.update(count_hits);
     thread.start();
//Now in main............................
public static void main(String[] args){
Swing s = new Swing();
s.setVisible(true);
}//end of main
}//end of class SwingAbove I have given the skeleton code of my application........ Please tell me how to update the GUI syncronously...
Please its a bit urgent...............
Thank you very much in advance
chaitanya

First off, note that this question should have been posted in the Swing section.
GUI events run in a separate thread (the AWT / Event Dispatch Thread) than your program.
You should be invoking AWT/Swing events via SwingUtilities.invokeLater().
If for whatever reason you want to have the program thread wait for the event to process
you can use invokeAndWait().
http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/javax/swing/SwingUtilities.html

How to create the digital clock in java swing application ?

I want to create the running digital clock in my java swing application. Can someone throw some light on this how to do this ? Or If someone has done it then can someone pl. paste the code ?
Thanks.

hi prah_Rich,
I have created a digital clock you can use. You will most likely have to change some things to use it in another app although that shouldn't be too hard. A least it can give you some ideas on how to create one of your own. There are three classes.One that creates the numbers. a gui class and frame class.
cheers:)
Hex45
import java.awt.*;
import java.util.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.geom.*;
public class DigitalClock extends Panel{
          BasicStroke stroke = new BasicStroke(4,BasicStroke.CAP_ROUND,
                                           BasicStroke.JOIN_BEVEL);
          String hour1, hour2;
          String minute1, minute2;
          String second1, second2;
          String mill1, mill2, mill3;
          int hr1, hr2;
          int min1, min2;
          int sec1, sec2;
          int mll1, mll2,mll3;
    public void update(Graphics g){
         paint(g);
     public void paint(Graphics g){
          Graphics2D g2D = (Graphics2D)g;
          DigitalNumber num = new DigitalNumber(10,10,20,Color.cyan,Color.black);
          GregorianCalendar c = new GregorianCalendar();
          String hour = String.valueOf(c.get(Calendar.HOUR));
          String minute = String.valueOf(c.get(Calendar.MINUTE));
          String second = String.valueOf(c.get(Calendar.SECOND));
          String milliSecond = String.valueOf(c.get(Calendar.MILLISECOND));
          if(hour.length()==2){
               hour1 = hour.substring(0,1);
               hour2 = hour.substring(1,2);
          }else{
               hour1 = "0";
               hour2 = hour.substring(0,1);
          if(minute.length()==2){
               minute1 = minute.substring(0,1);
               minute2 = minute.substring(1,2);
          }else{
               minute1 = "0";
               minute2 = minute.substring(0,1);
          if(second.length()==2){
               second1 = second.substring(0,1);
               second2 = second.substring(1,2);
          }else{
               second1 = "0";
               second2 = second.substring(0,1);
          if(milliSecond.length()==3){
               mill1 = milliSecond.substring(0,1);
               mill2 = milliSecond.substring(1,2);
               mill3 = milliSecond.substring(2,3);
          }else if(milliSecond.length()==2){
               mill1 = "0";
               mill2 = milliSecond.substring(0,1);
               mill3 = milliSecond.substring(1,2);
          }else{
               mill1 = "0";
               mill2 = "0";
               mill3 = milliSecond.substring(0,1);
          hr1 = Integer.parseInt(hour1);
          hr2 = Integer.parseInt(hour2);
          min1 = Integer.parseInt(minute1);
          min2 = Integer.parseInt(minute2);
          sec1 = Integer.parseInt(second1);
          sec2 = Integer.parseInt(second2);
          mll1 = Integer.parseInt(mill1);
          mll2 = Integer.parseInt(mill2);
          g2D.setStroke(stroke);
          g2D.setPaint(Color.cyan);
          num.setSpacing(true,8);
          num.setSpacing(true,8);
          if(hr1==0&hr2==0){
               num.drawNumber(1,g2D);
               num.setLocation(40,10);
               num.drawNumber(2,g2D);
          else{
               if(!(hr1 == 0)){
                    num.drawNumber(hr1,g2D);
               num.setLocation(40,10);
               num.drawNumber(hr2,g2D);
          num.setLocation(70,10);
          num.drawNumber(DigitalNumber.DOTS,g2D);
          num.setLocation(100,10);
          num.drawNumber(min1,g2D);
          num.setLocation(130,10);
          num.drawNumber(min2,g2D);
          num.setLocation(160,10);
          num.drawNumber(DigitalNumber.DOTS,g2D);
          num.setLocation(190,10);
          num.drawNumber(sec1,g2D);
          num.setLocation(220,10);
          num.drawNumber(sec2,g2D);
          /*num.setLocation(250,10);
          num.drawNumber(DigitalNumber.DOTS,g2D);
          num.setLocation(280,10);
          num.drawNumber(mll1,g2D);
          num.setLocation(310,10);
          num.drawNumber(mll2,g2D);
          g2D.setPaint(Color.cyan);
          if((c.get(Calendar.AM_PM))==Calendar.AM){
               g2D.drawString("AM",260,20);
          }else{
               g2D.drawString("PM",260,20);
     String dayOfweek = "";
     switch(c.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK)){
          case(Calendar.SUNDAY):
               dayOfweek = "Sunday, ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.MONDAY):
               dayOfweek = "Monday, ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.TUESDAY):
               dayOfweek = "Tuesday, ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.WEDNESDAY):
               dayOfweek = "Wednesday, ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.THURSDAY):
               dayOfweek = "Thursday, ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.FRIDAY):
               dayOfweek = "Friday, ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.SATURDAY):
               dayOfweek = "Saturday, ";
               break;
     String month = "";
     switch(c.get(Calendar.MONTH)){
          case(Calendar.JANUARY):
               month = "January ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.FEBRUARY):
               month = "February ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.MARCH):
               month = "March ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.APRIL):
               month = "April ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.MAY):
               month = "May ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.JUNE):
               month = "June ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.JULY):
               month = "July ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.AUGUST):
               month = "August ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.SEPTEMBER):
               month = "September ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.OCTOBER):
               month = "October ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.NOVEMBER):
               month = "November ";
               break;
          case(Calendar.DECEMBER):
               month = "December ";
               break;
     int day = c.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH);
     int year = c.get(Calendar.YEAR);
     Font font = new Font("serif",Font.PLAIN,24);
     g2D.setFont(font);
     g2D.drawString(dayOfweek+month+day+", "+year,10,80);
     public static void main(String args[]){
          AppFrame aframe = new AppFrame("Digital Clock");
          Container cpane = aframe.getContentPane();
          final DigitalClock dc = new DigitalClock();
          dc.setBackground(Color.black);
          cpane.add(dc,BorderLayout.CENTER);
          aframe.setSize(310,120);
          aframe.setVisible(true);
          class Task extends TimerTask {
             public void run() {
                  dc.repaint();
          java.util.Timer timer = new java.util.Timer();
         timer.schedule(new Task(),0L,250L);
class DigitalNumber {
     private float x=0;
     private float y=0;
     private float size=5;
     private int number;
     private Shape s;
     private float space = 0;
     public static final int DOTS = 10;
     private Color on,off;
     DigitalNumber(){
          this(0f,0f,5f,Color.cyan,Color.black);
     DigitalNumber(float x,float y, float size,Color on,Color off){
          this.x = x;
          this.y = y;
          this.size = size;
          this.on = on;
          this.off = off;
     public void drawNumber(int number,Graphics2D g){
          int flag = 0;
          switch(number){
               case(0):
                    flag = 125;
                    break;
               case(1):
                    flag = 96;
                    break;
               case(2):
                    flag = 55;
                    break;
               case(3):
                    flag = 103;
                    break;
               case(4):
                    flag = 106;
                    break;
               case(5):
                    flag = 79;
                    break;
               case(6):
                    flag = 94;
                    break;
               case(7):
                    flag = 97;
                    break;
               case(8):
                    flag = 127;
                    break;
               case(9):
                    flag = 107;
                    break;
               case(DOTS):
                    GeneralPath path = new GeneralPath();
                    path.moveTo(x+(size/2),y+(size/2)-1);
                    path.lineTo(x+(size/2),y+(size/2)+1);
                    path.moveTo(x+(size/2),y+(size/2)+size-1);
                    path.lineTo(x+(size/2),y+(size/2)+size+1);
                    g.setPaint(on);
                    g.draw(path);
                    return;
          //Top
          if((flag & 1) == 1){
               g.setPaint(on);
          }else{
               g.setPaint(off);
          GeneralPath Top = new GeneralPath();
          Top.moveTo(x + space, y);
          Top.lineTo(x + size - space, y);
          g.draw(Top);
          //Middle
          if((flag & 2) == 2){
               g.setPaint(on);
          }else{
               g.setPaint(off);
          GeneralPath Middle = new GeneralPath();
          Middle.moveTo(x + space, y + size);
          Middle.lineTo(x + size - space,y + size);
          g.draw(Middle);
          //Bottom
          if((flag & 4) == 4){
               g.setPaint(on);
          }else{
               g.setPaint(off);
          GeneralPath Bottom = new GeneralPath();
          Bottom.moveTo(x + space, y + (size * 2));
          Bottom.lineTo(x + size - space, y + (size * 2));
          g.draw(Bottom);
          //TopLeft
          if((flag & 8) == 8){
               g.setPaint(on);
          }else{
               g.setPaint(off);
          GeneralPath TopLeft = new GeneralPath();
          TopLeft.moveTo(x, y + space);
          TopLeft.lineTo(x, y + size - space);
          g.draw(TopLeft);
          //BottomLeft
          if((flag & 16) == 16){
               g.setPaint(on);
          }else{
               g.setPaint(off);
          GeneralPath BottomLeft = new GeneralPath();
          BottomLeft.moveTo(x, y + size + space);
          BottomLeft.lineTo(x, y + (size * 2) - space);
          g.draw(BottomLeft);
          //TopRight
          if((flag & 32) == 32){
               g.setPaint(on);
          }else{
               g.setPaint(off);
          GeneralPath TopRight = new GeneralPath();
          TopRight.moveTo(x + size, y + space);
          TopRight.lineTo(x + size, y + size - space);
          g.draw(TopRight);
          //BottomRight
          if((flag & 64) == 64){
               g.setPaint(on);
          }else{
               g.setPaint(off);
          GeneralPath BottomRight = new GeneralPath();
          BottomRight.moveTo(x + size, y + size + space);
          BottomRight.lineTo(x + size, y + (size * 2) - space);
          g.draw(BottomRight);
     public void setSpacing(boolean spacingOn){
          if(spacingOn == false){
               space = 0;
          else{
               this.setSpacing(spacingOn,5f);
     public void setSpacing(boolean spacingOn,float gap){
          if(gap<2){
               gap = 2;
          if(spacingOn == true){
               space = size/gap;
     public void setLocation(float x,float y){
          this.x = x;
          this.y = y;
     public void setSize(float size){
          this.size = size;
class AppFrame extends JFrame{
     AppFrame(){
          this("Demo Frame");
     AppFrame(String title){
          super(title);
          setSize(500,500);
          setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}

How can I select a smaller font for all components of a Swing application?

The default size of font in Java Look and Feel is 12, how can I change it to 10 globally for my Swing application ?
Thanks for your help.
Helen

It is not very simple because all components don't use the same fonts and if you don't want to subclass the l&f you can do this :
after setting the l&f (in the main for example)
Font f = new Font("dialog", Font.PLAIN, 11);
UIManager.put("MenuItem.font", f);
UIManager.put("Menu.font", f);
UIManager.put("MenuItem.acceleratorFont", new Font("dialog", Font.PLAIN, 10));
UIManager.put("Label.font", f);
UIManager.put("Button.font", f);
UIManager.put("ToggleButton.font", f);
UIManager.put("ToolTip.font", f);
UIManager.put("List.font", f);
UIManager.put("Table.font", f);
UIManager.put("TextField.font", f);
UIManager.put("ComboBox.font", f);
UIManager.put("RadioButton.font", f);
UIManager.put("CheckBox.font", f);
UIManager.put("RadioButtonMenuItem.font", f);
UIManager.put("CheckBoxMenuItem.font", f);
UIManager.put("TableHeader.font", f);
UIManager.put("Spinner.font", f);
UIManager.put("Panel.font", f);etc...
Denis

Swing application eats CPU on resume after standby

My application contains a mix of regular Swing components and about 200 (small) custom components (JPanels) that draw themselves. The problem is that if put my laptop into Standby, then restart it, the application eats CPU. It goes from ~4% pre standby to ~48% after standby. Totally repeatable. There is only the main thread, the AWT thread and a couple timers firing: one to get data from a server and one to redraw the custom controls to make the control blink (calls repaint() to cue up a call to paintComponent()). I put timing code in the two timer driven threads and both are running fine. NOTE: each of the custom components is just a rectangle with a short text string in it. Think checkerboard with text. The background color is all that is being changed. It's basically a grid of alarm/status "lights".
I did some searching and only found a reference to a drawing bug that was fixed back in 1.4.x that had to do with WinXP and dual-headed computers.
Note that another simple Swing application I wrote (no custom controls), doesn't appear to behave this way, so I suspect it has to do with the custom drawing stuff (rolling my own paintComponent() method).
Any thoughts on how to figure out what is eating the CPU? I'm using NetBeans 6.7 and JDK 1.6_14 under Windows XP.
Edited by: garrysimmons on Sep 15, 2009 1:52 PM
Edited by: garrysimmons on Sep 15, 2009 2:57 PM
Edited by: garrysimmons on Sep 15, 2009 3:02 PM

It doesn't matter if it's a Swing timer or a Util timer. It behaves the same either way. That was one of the first things I tried.
I ended up refactoring the code to go from a grid of individual controls (think checker board where each square is a control that draws itself), to a single "board" control that draws a grid. That seems to have fixed the issue. I can go in/out of Standby and the app doesn't eat a ton of CPU any more. The real problem may still be there, just too small of an effect to notice.
I don't know why the original design would work fine before a Standby, but not after. Having ~200 little controls doing repaints twice a second must confuse something in the JVM/Windows versus having 4 large controls doing the same amount of drawing.
It's working, so time to move on.

Help Needed in opening a HTML File from swing application

Hi,
I am opening a HTML file in Internet Explorer from my swing application.
I am using the code given below
private final static String WIN_FLAG = "url.dll,FileProtocolHandler";
private final static String WIN_PATH = "rundll32";
String cmd = WIN_PATH + " " + WIN_FLAG + " " + url;
// url is HTML file Path
Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec( cmd );
The HTML file is opening up,but it always opens behind the swing application,that makes me every time to maximize the HTML file after it being opened up.
I want to open it in front of the Swing Application.
Any Help Please ?
- Manikandan

Check your Application's JFrame properties (may be ur Frame is set to be in top position ,always),and also check running your application in some other OS.

Swing Application on a Mac

I'm developing a Swing application to be deployed using WebStart on Windows as well as Macintosh platforms w/ the Mac-mini being the primary at this time.
Development is being done in Windows where everything looks good. When run on a Mac, there seem to be component size calculation issues.
In another post about deploying an applet having similar problems with text fields, just enabling the Smooth Text in Applets solved it. This, however, is not an applet but an application and that solution has no impact.
Any suggestions?

Set the LookAndFeel specifically pointing to one of the Look and Feel available. Guessing you might NOT have set any specific look and feel.
Example:
UIManager.setLookAndFeel("com.sun.java.swing.plaf.windows.WindowsLookAndFeel");
Let us know if it worked.

Unicode characters with accents won't display in Java Swing applications

I'm using FreeMind (a Java Swing application) and I need to enter classical Greek characters with accent marks. When I type an accented Greek character, FreeMind displays the unaccented character. However, I can type the accented character in MS Word, then copy and paste into FreeMind, the accented character appears.
One of the FreeMind developers indicated this was a Java Swing issue, not FreeMind, and suggested I test with another Swing application. So, I installed jEdit and got exactly the same results. I can paste an accented character into jEdit, but I cannot type it in directly.
I'm using Windows Vista with Java 6 Update 22 (build 1.6.0_22-b04). I also tested on a XP Pro box with Java 1.6.0_18-b07 and got the same result.
One other note: A couple days ago, I was able to type accented Greek characters into FreeMind. But it only worked for a couple days and then the behavior reverted to unaccented characters. It is possible, but I don't recall specifically, that I updated Java during the time and that may indicate a bug in one version of Java but not another.
Any assistance or guidance would be greatly appreciated!
Darin

Walter,
The link you provided does not appear to describe the Greek Polytonic keyboard. (The page also describes using the "Option" key as the dead key. There is no "Option" key on my keyboard. I'm using a Sony VGN-NS140E purchased in Chicago, i.e. standard physical US keyboard.)
Please see http://darindavis.net/languages/keyboard_Greek.pdf for a detailed description of how to use the Greek (Polytonic) keyboard in Windows to produce a complete set of accented classical Greek characters. This method works in MS Word and Notepad. I enabled the Greek (Polytonic) keyboard with:
Windows (Vista) Start > Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > Change Keyboards > General > Add > Greek (Greece) > Greek Polytonic
A test that will demonstrate whether you can replicate the error is to do the following in both MS Word (or Notepad) and jEdit (or FreeMind):
1. Enable the Greek Polytonic keyboard
2. Type "\" then "e" which should produce an epsilon with smooth breathing and grave accent (ἒ)
When I do this in MS Word or Notepad, I see the epsilon with smooth breathing and grave accent. When I do this in jEdit and FreeMind, I only see an epsilon.
I recorded a screencast to illustrate the problem: http://www.screencast.com/t/TRKkKQrCgbN
Actually, this problem is transient. Sometimes FreeMind or jEdit will display accented characters, other times it won't. Ironically, the first time I recorded the above referenced screencast, a few characters in jEdit did appear with accents. A couple minutes later, I re-recorded the screencast and as you can see jEdit did not display the accents. Between the two recordings I literally did nothing other than stop the Jing recording and start a new one. There is another variable at play here and I can't determine what it is. The most likely source seems to be Java since MS Word and Notepad consistently display accent characters.
Thanks,
Darin

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