JAVA Set a background on JFrame

Question

I've been getting the hang of GUI's in java pretty well, but I had not realized that setting a background would be so difficult/complicated. Any ideas on how to set an image as the background to my existing GUI? The image would be exactly the same height/width of my jframe.

 public class cipher extends JFrame implements ActionListener {

        private int wHEIGHT = 600;
        private int wWIDTH  = 900;

        private JTextField userString;
        private String userWords = "";

        private JButton encryptButton;
        private JButton importPic;
        private JButton importText;

        public cipher(){

            // JFrame management 
            setSize(wWIDTH, wHEIGHT);
            setTitle("Camo Cypher");
            setLocationRelativeTo(null);
            setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
            setResizable(false);    

            // GridBag management 
            GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
            GridBagLayout myLayout = new GridBagLayout();
            setLayout(myLayout);

            // User input bar
            userString = new JTextField(50);
            userString.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(700,27));
            userString.setVisible(true);
            c.weightx = 0.5;
            c.gridx = 1;
            c.gridy = 1;
            add(userString,c );

            // Blank space
            JButton blank = new JButton("");
            blank.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(0, 10));
            c.weightx = 0.5;
            c.gridx = 1;
            c.gridy = 2;
            add(blank, c);      

            // Encypt button
            encryptButton = new JButton("Encrypt");
            encryptButton.addActionListener(this);
            encryptButton.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(150, 35));
            encryptButton.setForeground(Color.BLUE);
            c.weightx = 0.5;
            c.gridx = 1;
            c.gridy = 3;
            add(encryptButton, c);

            // Import buttons panel
            Panel buttonPanel = new Panel();
            importText = new JButton("Import Text File");
            importText.addActionListener(this);
            importPic = new JButton("Import Image");
            importPic.addActionListener(this);
            importText.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 60));
            importPic.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 60));     
            buttonPanel.add(importText);
            buttonPanel.add(importPic);     
            c.weightx = 100;
            c.gridx = 1;
            c.gridy = 4;
            add(buttonPanel, c);    

        }

I would recommend adding everything you did into a JPanel, then setting the background of that JPanel. That's my quick and easy way of solving things — DreadHeadedDeveloper, Oct 23 '14 at 02:56
Don't mix lightweight components (Swing) with heavyweight containers (AWT) (ie `Panel`, is an AWT container) — MadProgrammer, Oct 23 '14 at 02:59
What do you not understand about it? There are a few ways to do it; I recommend passing an `ImageIcon` which contains your image, to a `JLabel`, then using the JLabel — Vince, Oct 23 '14 at 03:01
As an [example](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13944795/trouble-figuring-out-how-to-set-background-image/13945145#13945145) — MadProgrammer, Oct 23 '14 at 03:01
@VinceEmigh Beware with using a `JLabel` for this purpose, as it doesn't not calculate it's preferred size based on it's contents, but the size of the icon and text... — MadProgrammer, Oct 23 '14 at 03:02
@MadProgrammer I don't quite understand, perhaps you could explain in better detail? I have chat if you want to move it there... — DreadHeadedDeveloper, Oct 23 '14 at 03:03
@MadProgrammer Lol, my first time, I think this is it? http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/info/63533/swing-and-awt-mixing-a-good-thing?tab=general — DreadHeadedDeveloper, Oct 23 '14 at 03:08
@DreadHeadedDeveloper, how do I do that exactly? I am using a GridBagLayout - which I need to be using for this. — user1765804, Oct 23 '14 at 15:50
@user1765804 Sorry bud, thought I could help but I guess not. — DreadHeadedDeveloper, Oct 23 '14 at 17:48

JAVA Set a background on JFrame

0 Answers0