Java Swing - the best control for specific task

Question

I need to divide java swing window into many fields, something similar to the table or chess board. Color of each cell should be dependent on the object which this cell represents (each object has coordinates, which are changing during the game, so the color of each cell is not constant).

Additionally, if the user clicks on the empty field (white color), then a new random object is created and this object is assigned to these field (and field color is changing).

Which of java swing controls will be the best for these functionalities?

A two dimensional array of JLabels with background color and icon. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21077322/create-a-chess-board-with-jpanel — c0der, May 14 '17 at 16:33

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 19 '17 at 18:30

If I were you I would make 2 panel classes(white and black), the white one with a MouseAdapter, so that when one of the panels is clicked you can pull a random JLabel from an array. Here's an example that might help (roughly 120 lines):

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.util.Random;

import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.UIManager;


public class ScratchPaper extends JFrame {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
    private static final int GRIDSIZE = 8;
    private JPanel[][] whitePanel = new WhitePanel[GRIDSIZE][GRIDSIZE];
    private JPanel[][] blackPanel = new BlackPanel[GRIDSIZE][GRIDSIZE];
    private Random rand = new Random();
    JButton b1 = new JButton("Btn1");
    JButton b2 = new JButton("Btn2");
    JButton b3 = new JButton("Btn3"); 
    JLabel l1 = new JLabel("Lbl1");
    JLabel l2 = new JLabel("Lbl2");
    JLabel l3 = new JLabel("Lbl3");
    JPanel panel = new JPanel();

    private JComponent[][] randObjects = {{b1, b2, b3}, {l1, l2, l3}, {panel, panel, panel}};
    private Color[] randColors = {Color.RED, Color.ORANGE, Color.YELLOW, Color.GREEN, Color.BLUE, Color.MAGENTA};


    public ScratchPaper() {
        initGUI();
        setTitle("EXAMPLE");
        pack();
        setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        setResizable(false);
        setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setVisible(true);
    }

    private void initGUI() {
        JPanel centerPanel = new JPanel();
        centerPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(GRIDSIZE, GRIDSIZE)); // makes 8*8 grid
        add(centerPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);

        MouseAdapter ma = new MouseAdapter() {
            @Override
            public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
                Component clickedComp = findComponentAt(e.getPoint());
                JPanel target = (JPanel) clickedComp;
                panel.setBackground(randColors[rand.nextInt(randColors.length)]);

                if (target instanceof WhitePanel){
                    target.add(randObjects[rand.nextInt(randObjects.length)][rand.nextInt(randObjects[0].length)]); 
                    target.updateUI();
                }
            }
        };
        addMouseListener(ma);

         for (int row=0; row<GRIDSIZE; row++) {
            for (int col=0; col<GRIDSIZE; col++) {
                whitePanel[row][col] = new WhitePanel(row, col);
                blackPanel[row][col] = new BlackPanel(row, col);

                if ((row%2 == 0 && col%2 == 0) || ((row+1)%2 == 0 && (col+1)%2 == 0)) {
                    centerPanel.add(whitePanel[row][col]);
                } 
                else {
                    centerPanel.add(blackPanel[row][col]);
                }
            }
         }
    }


    public static void main(String args[]) {
        try {
            String className = UIManager.getCrossPlatformLookAndFeelClassName();
            UIManager.setLookAndFeel(className);
        } catch (Exception ex) {
            System.out.println(ex);
        }

        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable(){
            @Override
            public void run(){
                new ScratchPaper();
            }
        });
    }

    class WhitePanel extends JPanel {   
        private static final int SIZE = 50;

        public WhitePanel(int row, int col) {
            Dimension size = new Dimension(SIZE, SIZE);
            setPreferredSize(size);
            setBackground(Color.WHITE);
        }
    }

    class BlackPanel extends JPanel {
        private static final int SIZE = 50;

        public BlackPanel(int row, int col) {
            Dimension size = new Dimension(SIZE, SIZE);
            setPreferredSize(size);
            setBackground(Color.BLACK);
        }
    }
}

Try running it! It's actually pretty fun!

Java Swing - the best control for specific task

1 Answers1