Setting z-index

Question

Is there a java equivalent to the CSS z-index attribute? I want an image for an applet to be set with a higher z-index, so when something is painted on it, it'll hide behind the image rather than painting onto it.

Answer 1

There are two general approaches that come to mind when rendering something in Java.
1) Create a custom component which internally manages all of the visual elements, doing all necessary book-keeping to repaint things when they need to be repainted.
2) Each discrete element is represented as a component. This makes some thing easier since Swing (or AWT) automatically handle drawing the components in the proper order, repainting when necessary, etc.
As you can imagine, the latter tends to be a bit easier as a lot of the work is done for you already. If you like this approach, then you're working with components (Components in AWT, or JComponents in Swing). Still, there's a lot to learn --> containers, components, layout managers, and the like.
All containers maintain a z-order internally, redrawing their children components from back to front. The last component added to the container sits on top. So to move a component to the top, you could remove it and add it again. There's also a container called javax.swing.JLayeredPane which provides direct support for setting the z-order.