How do I assign numbers a graphic to be shown in a JLabel

Question

I am creating a higher or lower card game, and currently, it generates a random number from 1 to 13 as just a simple string label (1,2,3,4 etc), depending on what number gets pulled. Instead of this, I would like to show a graphic of the card corresponding to the number.

Answer 1

public int getRandomNumber(){
Random r = new Random();
int nr = r.nextInt(13);
return nr;
}
...
 JLabel label = new JLabel(getRandomNumber(), JLabel.CENTER);

To Update Label text you can use this method

public void updateLabel(int nr){

    label.setText(nr+"");

    //place this method inside your Jframe class extend from javax.swing.Jframe
    }

If you want to put an image according to the number. Supose you have an array of 13 images(numbers)//Image images[13]; then you can use this

public void setIcon(int nr){
ImageIcon icon = new ImageIcon(images[nr]); 

label.setIcon(icon);
}

Answer 2

I think that what you are looking for is adding an Icon to a JLabel.

You can do that using the setIcon method which accept any implementation of Icon, as for instance ImageIcon.

Something like the following should work:

ImageIcon imgIcon = new ImageIcon(URL_OF_THE_PIC));    
jLabel.setIcon(imgIcon);

and whenever a new card gets picked you can change text and Icon accordingly.