Setting JLabels to be on top.

Question

I'm making a Deck Card that shuttle and sorts the card. I was able to display the images using a JLabel with ImageIcon. I can get to display the images and everything, but my only problem is when i'm display the image that the first image is on top of the second and the second is on top of the third.
I want it to display the opposite order so I want the first one to be under the second and the second to be under the third.
Is there a way that I can get the a label to be on top of the other?
I forgot to mentioned that they have different X and Y Coordinates.

Answer 1

Actually in any panel etc you have a layout which layouts the componsnts in his own way. So you need a layout that displays components as they are.
Try running following code:
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.border.LineBorder;
public class LayoutPanel extends JPanel {
   public LayoutPanel() {
      setLayout( new EmptyLayout( new Dimension( 400, 300 ) ) );
      JLabel[] labels = new JLabel[10];
      for( int i = 0; i < 10; i++ ) {
         labels[i] = new JLabel( "Label " + i );
         labels.setVerticalAlignment( JLabel.TOP ); // show text at top position
labels[i].setLocation( 13 * i, 13 * i ); // set location
labels[i].setSize( new Dimension( 100, 100 ) ); // set size
int colour = i + 10;
labels[i].setBackground( new Color( 9 * colour, 10 * colour, 11 * colour ) );
labels[i].setBorder( new LineBorder( Color.black, 1, true ) ); // set border
labels[i].setOpaque( true ); // set to draw its all pixels
add( labels[i], 0 ); // set at top means last on top, otherwise use add(labels[i]) to set first on top
public static void main( String argv[] ) {
JFrame frame = new JFrame( "Polygon Demo" );
LayoutPanel layout = new LayoutPanel();
frame.setContentPane( new JScrollPane( layout ) );
frame.pack();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation( JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE );
frame.setVisible( true );
class EmptyLayout implements LayoutManager {
private Dimension size = null;
EmptyLayout( Dimension size ) {
this.size = size;
public void addLayoutComponent( String name, Component comp ) {}
public void removeLayoutComponent( Component comp ) {}
public Dimension preferredLayoutSize( Container parent ) {
return size;
public Dimension minimumLayoutSize( Container parent ) {
return size;
public void layoutContainer( Container parent ) {}
Regards,
Humayun