How would I use a button in Java to open Jframe over existing Jframe

Question

I have 2 frames, the first frame has the nothing more and a button, which leads to another frame which will have all the components, like tabs which have more components.

The code I am using is:

 button_1.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
     {

      public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {

         JFrame  Frame_2 = new JFrame();

         Frame_1.setVisible(false);
         Frame_2.setVisible(true);
    }
 });  

this is creating a new separate frame , but i want to create new JFrame over existing JFrame

update

@VinceEmigh +1

Thanks for the detail custom solution. It shows that someone is really willing to help, I am a self learner , started just 3 months ago so your code is bit difficult to understand, but the idea of using cardlayout did the work and i came up with a solution.

JFrame guiFrame = new JFrame();
CardLayout cards;
JPanel cardPane;

    JButton B_1 = new JButton("Next Card");
    B_1.setActionCommand("Next Card");
    B_1.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
    {
        @Override
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
        {
            cards.next(cardPane);
        }
    });

cards = new CardLayout();
cardPane = new JPanel();
cardPane.setLayout(cards);
cards.show(cardPane, "Main");

JPanel Card_1 = new JPanel();
JLabel background_1 = new JLabel(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\ME\\Desktop\\Back1.jpg"));
Card_1.add(background_1);
Card_1.add(B_1);

JPanel Card_2 = new JPanel();
JLabel background_2 = new JLabel(new ImageIcon("C:\\Users\\ME\\Desktop\\Back2.jpg"));
Card_2.add(background_2);

cardPane.add(Card_1, "Main");
cardPane.add(Card_2, "Sub");

Answer 1

You shouldnt use 2 frames. You should use 1 frame, then switch between panels in the frame using CardLayout. Unless you're referring to nesting a frame within a frame, creating 2 different frames for 1 applicarion is typically bad practice, and should be avoided if possible.

Set your frames layout to CardLayout, add 2 panels to your frame. One panel contains the button, the other has the components.

When your button event triggers throuhh an actionlistener, switch out the panels using the cardlayout you put for the frames layout.

import java.awt.CardLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;


public class App extends JFrame {
    private CardLayout cl = new CardLayout();
    private JPanel firstPanel = new FirstPanel();
    private JPanel secondPanel = new SecondPanel();

    public App() {
        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setSize(500, 500);
        setLayout(cl);

        add(firstPanel, "first");
        add(secondPanel, "second");

        setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        setVisible(true);
    }

    public void switchPanel(String name) {
        cl.show(getContentPane(), name);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                App app = new App();
            }
        });
    }

    class FirstPanel extends JPanel implements ActionListener {
        private JButton button = new JButton("Button");

        public FirstPanel() {
            button.addActionListener(this);
            add(button);
        }

        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            if(e.getSource() == button) {
                switchPanel("second");
            }
        }
    }

    class SecondPanel extends JPanel { }
}