Simple layout issue: positioning text atop a JButton image

Question

(I apologize for the cross-post; I assumed that this forum was for relatively advanced Swing topics, and therefore initially posted this question in the "New to Java Technology" forum.)
I've got a newbie Swing problem that I just can't seem to figure out. Basically, I'd like to place text for a JButton in a certain location within the image I'm using for the button. If I use the following code:
String buttonText = MyStringFactory.getString();
JButton myButton = new JButton(buttonText, new ImageIcon("myimage.png"));
myButton.setHorizontalTextPosition(SwingConstants.CENTER);
myButton.setVerticalTextPosition(SwingConstants.CENTER);The text will display within the button, but it will be exactly centered atop the image. What I'd like is to have the text displayed on top of the image, but to be left-aligned. So, instead of:
|        Test        |
----------------------I want:
| Test               |
----------------------Where the image behind the word "Test" is the image specified when I created the myButton JButton object. The string can be of varying length and must support various fonts (i.e., simply using a monospaced font and padding on the right-side of the string with spaces isn't an option). In more explicit terms, what I want is a way to center the text vertically with respect to the background image, and place it (the text) X pixels from the left-hand side of the background image.
I've looked at using OverlayLayout to solve this problem, creating a JButton and a JLabel and placing them both within a JPanel. However, when I do this, the JLabel is always rendered behind the JButton, so I can't see it. Is there any way to specify the z-ordering of objects in a JPanel when using OverlayLayout?
Or is there a much simpler solution to this (seemingly) simple problem?
Thanks in advance for any assistance!

Answer 1

hello guy,
well, you seem to want your text to be in a very specific position since you mention x pixels.
i don't think you can tell a JButton where exactly to draw the text and icon.
if you want to do that, you'll have to create you own button.
something like that:
class CustomButton extends JButton {
String text;
ImageIcon icon;
public CustomButton(String text, ImageIcon icon) {
// only use the default constructor of the JButton
// and save the text and icon separately
super();
this.text = text;
this.icon = icon;
// set some preferred size so that the layout
// manager has some idea of how big your button will be
this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(
icon.getIconWidth(),
2*icon.getIconHeight()));
// override paintComponent()
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
// first call this method in the super class
// this will draw your button color, outline, borders..
super.paintComponent(g);
// now draw your icon whereever you want it on
// your button
g.drawImage(icon.getImage(),5,
getHeight()/2-icon.getIconHeight()/2,null,this);
// and draw your string.
// using FontMetrics to get the dimensions of your
// string will allow it to be independent of
// font type and size
g.drawString(text, icon.getIconWidth()+10,
getHeight()/2+g.getFontMetrics().getAscent()/2);
hope that helps a bit :)
cheers, alex.