Why to I have to specify a Component for MediaTracker?

Question

Hi,
I've an application which loads some images. I use a MediaTracker to load the images.
The problem is, that I've to specify a component when creating the MediaTracker.
I tried to create a MediaTracker with
new MediaTracker(null);
but then I get a NullPointerException when I call .waitForID(0);
So I create a MediaTracker like:
new MediaTracker(new Panel());
even tough I don't need the panel.
Do I have to use this workaround to load the images? Or is there a smarter way of doing this??
thx,
dani

Answer 1

ok here is my code, I use a JPanel to be able to use the MediaTracker
Image img = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().createImage(imgURL);
// load the image with media tracker class
MediaTracker tracker = new MediaTracker(new Panel());
tracker.addImage(img, 0);       
tracker.waitForID(0);       
// width and height of the course image
w = img.getWidth(null);
h = img.getHeight(null);
System.out.println("w="+w+", h="+h);If I use this code, the image is loaded properly. If I try to take out the MediaTracker stuff then I get w=-1, h=-1.
The imgURL is something like maps/something.gif. The directory where the "maps/xyz.gif"'s are located is in the classpath.
thx
dani