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how to put my background image at the bottom

I want to put my background image at the very bottom in this frame, and the button on top. However the code I wrote below doesn't work. Can anyone see where the problems are?
Another thing is that even though I set the location for my button, it keep showing at the top center on the frame.
Please ignore the comment lines. (I was just guessing, and hoping them will work, but they don't apparently.)
public class Menu extends JFrame{
private JLayeredPane pane;
private JLayeredPane pane2;
public Menu(){
final JFrame f = new JFrame("Chinese Chess");
JButton play = new JButton("Play vs. AI");
f.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
f.setSize(800, 800);
f.setVisible(true);
f.setResizable(false);
//f.pack();
pane = new JLayeredPane();
pane2 = new JLayeredPane();
f.add(pane);
f.add(pane2);
//background image
JLabel background = new JLabel(new ImageIcon("res/img/background.png"));
background.setLocation(0, 0);
background.setSize(800, 800);
pane.add(background, JLayeredPane.FRAME_CONTENT_LAYER);
pane2.add(play, JLayeredPane.DEFAULT_LAYER);
//pane.moveToBack();
//button PlayAI
play.setLocation(500,500);
play.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100,50));
//f.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
//frame menu
f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
//f.getContentPane().add(play);
play.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
new PlayAI();
}
});
}
public static void main(String[] args){
new Menu();
}

Problems/Solutions:
setLocation(...) and setBounds(...) types of calls are ignored by most layout managers. The only way to use them is to set the layout of the container to null via .setLayout(null);
But having said that, while null layouts and setBounds() might seem to Swing newbies like the easiest and best way to create complex GUI's, the more Swing GUI'S you create the more serious difficulties you will run into when using them. They won't resize your components when the GUI resizes, they are a royal witch to enhance or maintain, they fail completely when placed in scrollpanes, they look gawd-awful when viewed on all platforms or screen resolutions that are different from the original one.
So in sum -- don't do this, don't use null layouts or setBounds, but rather nest JPanels, each using its own layout manager, and thereby create easy to maintain and decent GUI's.
If you want an image to be in the background, then draw it in a JPanel that you use as a container for your GUI components by drawing it in the JPanel's paintComponent(Graphics g) method as has been demonstrated in many many similar questions on this site -- I'll find you some of mine in a second.
If you add any JPanels on top of this image drawing JPanel, be sure that you can see through them by calling setOpaque(false) on these overlying JPanels. Otherwise you'll cover up the image.
Your code has two JFrames when only one is needed. Get rid of the one you don't use.
You call setVisible(true) too early on the JFrame, before components have been added to the GUI -- don't. Call it only after adding everything to the GUI so all display OK.
You're creating two JLayedPanes, and completely covering one by the other by adding them to the JFrame without understanding how the JFrame's BorderLayout handles added components.
I suggest that you not even use one JLayeredPane but instead draw in the JPanel as noted above, and use that as your container.
Your code looks to be opening a completely new GUI window when the play button is pressed, and if so, this can get annoying to the user fast. Consider swapping views instead with a CardLayout.
For example:
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import javax.swing.*;
// extend JPanel so you can draw to its background
#SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class Menu2 extends JPanel {
private BufferedImage bgImage = null; // our background image
private JButton playButton = new JButton(new PlayVsAiAction("Play Vs. AI", KeyEvent.VK_P));
public Menu2(BufferedImage bgImage) {
this.bgImage = bgImage;
setLayout(new GridBagLayout()); // center our button
add(playButton);
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
if (bgImage != null) {
g.drawImage(bgImage, 0, 0, this);
}
}
// to size our GUI to match a constant or the image.
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
if (isPreferredSizeSet()) {
return super.getPreferredSize();
}
// if you want to size it based on the image
if (bgImage != null) {
int width = bgImage.getWidth();
int height = bgImage.getHeight();
return new Dimension(width, height);
} else {
return super.getPreferredSize();
}
// if you want to size the GUI with constants:
// return new Dimension(PREF_W, PREF_H);
}
private class PlayVsAiAction extends AbstractAction {
public PlayVsAiAction(String name, int mnemonic) {
super(name); // have our button display this name
putValue(MNEMONIC_KEY, mnemonic); // alt-key to press button
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
// TODO code to start program
}
}
private static void createAndShowGui() {
BufferedImage img = null;
String imagePath = "res/img/background.png";
try {
// TODO: fix this -- use class resources to get image, not File
img = ImageIO.read(new File(imagePath));
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
System.exit(-1);
}
Menu2 mainPanel = new Menu2(img);
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Chinese Chess");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
frame.getContentPane().add(mainPanel);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> {
createAndShowGui();
});
}
}

Apart from the solution above... you should create and launch your swing application this way:
public static void main(String[] args) {
//Schedule a job for the event-dispatching thread:
//creating and showing this application's GUI.
javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
private static void createAndShowGUI() {
// Instantiate your JFrame and show it
}

My JRadioButton change look with setOpaque(false)

I want to remove the background of my JRadioButton but still keeping the same look & feel.
Images will speak by themselves:
When I do this code:
JRadioButton myJRadioButton = new JRadioButton("My JRadioButton");
add(myJRadioButton);
I get this:
And when I run it with this code:
JRadioButton myJRadioButton = new JRadioButton("My JRadioButton");
myJRadioButton.setForeground(Color.white); //To see it on the black background.
myJRadioButton.setOpaque(false);
add(myJRadioButton);
I get this:
I've something like a "star" instead of a great and beautiful circle.
And what I want is to keep the great and beautiful circle of the first image but without the default background according to it.

Document says
public void setOpaque(boolean isOpaque)
If true the component paints every pixel within its bounds. Otherwise,
the component may not paint some or all of its pixels, allowing the
underlying pixels to show through. The default value of this property
is false for JComponent. However, the default value for this property
on most standard JComponent subclasses (such as JButton and JTree) is
look-and-feel dependent.
It says all.

You can create a class which extends the JRadioButton and add all the properties inside the class:
setOpaque(false);
setContentAreaFilled(false);
setBorderPainted(false);
setForeground(Color.white);
setBackground(Color.BLACK);
Sample output:
Code:
public class Sample extends JPanel {
public Sample() {
super(new BorderLayout());
setBackground(Color.BLACK);
TransparentButton testButton = new TransparentButton("hello");
testButton.setSelected(true);
add(testButton, BorderLayout.LINE_START);
setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(20, 20, 20, 20));
}
private static void createAndShowGUI() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Hello Word demo");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
JComponent newContentPane = new Sample();
newContentPane.setOpaque(true);
frame.setContentPane(newContentPane);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
class TransparentButton extends JRadioButton {
public TransparentButton(String string) {
super(string);
setOpaque(false);
setContentAreaFilled(false);
setBorderPainted(false);
setForeground(Color.white);
setBackground(Color.BLACK);
}
}
}

Click button and get draw rectangle

I am new to Java....I studied that we can add two things on frame... I added button and in response by clicking on button I want rectangle as output....but i don't understand that..Why i am not getting output.....
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class customizedgui5 implements ActionListener {
JButton button;
JFrame frame;
public static void main(String[] args) {
customizedgui5 hi = new customizedgui5();
hi.go();
}
public void go() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
JButton button = new JButton("click me");
button.addActionListener(this);
myclass a = new myclass();
frame.getContentPane().add(button, BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.getContentPane().add(a, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
frame.setSize(100, 100);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
frame.repaint();
frame.revalidate();
}
}
class myclass extends JPanel {
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
g.setColor(Color.orange);
g.fillRect(20, 50, 100, 100);
}
}

I would start by taking a look at Performing Custom Painting.
The main problem in your code is you are getting NullPointerException when you click the button because the reference of frame is null.
It is null because you've shadowed it in the constructor (basically, declared another variable of the same name within the constructor)...
// I'm null..
JFrame frame;
public void go() {
// Not the same as frame above...
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
You are also going to not see any changes because of a number of reasons...
The myclass panel has no size. With BorderLayout, this won't be "too" much of a problem, but...
You've drawing outside of the visible range of the panel. The rectangle you are painting won't appear because it is being painted outside of the width and height of the panel.
The rectangle will appear before you press the button as paintComponent will be called to update the state of the panel once it's made visible on the screen...
The first thing you need to is provide some kind of size hints to the BorderLayout. Try adding...
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return new Dimension(120, 150);
}
To myclass.
You also don't need to repaint the frame, what you really want to repaint is the instance of myclass. Try updating customizedgui5 so that a becomes a instance variable (like frame...
//...
myclass a;
//...
public void go() {
//...
a = new myclass();
//...
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
a.repaint();
}
Now, the rectangle will still be shown the moment that the panel is made visible on the screen. Sure you could try setting it invisible, but this will affect the layout of the frame, hiding your component to start with, so, instead, we need some kind of flag we can trip so we know when to paint the rectangle. This is easily achieved by using a simple boolean variable, for example...
class myclass extends JPanel {
private boolean paintRect;
public void setPaintRect(boolean paint) {
paintRect = paint;
repaint();
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return new Dimension(120, 150);
}
#Override
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
if (paintRect) {
g.setColor(Color.orange);
g.fillRect(20, 50, 100, 100);
}
}
}
Then in you actionPerformed method, you just need to set the flag...
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
a.setPaintRect(true);
}
You may also want to take a read through Code Conventions for the Java Programming Language. It will make it easier for people to read your code...

When you click on your button, you're calling the method actionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
Take a look at what you did there. Currently, you repaint and re-validate the frame. If you want to add a rectangle to your frame, you need to do so by adding a new component to the frame that will draw the rectangle.
You could add another instance of your myclass JPanel which paints a rectangle like so:
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
frame.getContentPane().add(new myclass(), BorderLayout.NORTH);
frame.repaint();
}
This would add your custom rectangle-drawing panel to the North section of your BorderLayout. If you want to add the rectangle "on top of" your button, you should embed your button within a JPanel, then add the rectangle-drawing panel to that instead of your main JFrame

Why is it not showing my label?

I am new to swing, can anyone help me out with this...
It is not showing my "label" , instead it shows me only components which are in the "panel" class.
One more question, can anyone clarify me about LayoutManagers ?
Can 2 or more LayoutManagers be used in a frame ? like for the frame i will be using FlowLayout and i have a JPanel added to the frame for which i will be using BoxLayout ... is it possible in the first place ??
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.Graphics;
public class JForm1 extends JFrame
{
public JForm1()
{
init();
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
JForm1 form = new JForm1();
}
public void init()
{
JFrame frame = new JFrame("My Form 1");
frame.setSize(500,500);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
getContentPane().setLayout(new BoxLayout(this,BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
JLabel label = new JLabel("Enter your Name : ");
panel MyPanel = new panel();
frame.getContentPane().add(label);
frame.getContentPane().add(MyPanel);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}
class panel extends JPanel implements ActionListener
{
JButton submitButton;
JTextField text;
panel()
{
this.setLayout(new BoxLayout(this,BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
}
public void paintComponent(Graphics g)
{
text = new JTextField("Enter Name here");
text.setSize(100,25);
submitButton = new JButton("Submit");
submitButton.setSize(50,90);
submitButton.setBounds(200, 0, 80, 80);
submitButton.addActionListener(this);
this.add(text);
this.add(submitButton);
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
{
if(event.getSource()==submitButton)
{
System.out.println("The Entered Name is : "+text.getText());
}
}
}

What is this ?:
public void paintComponent(Graphics g)
{
text = new JTextField("Enter Name here");
text.setSize(100,25);
submitButton = new JButton("Submit");
submitButton.setSize(50,90);
submitButton.setBounds(200, 0, 80, 80);
submitButton.addActionListener(this);
this.add(text);
this.add(submitButton);
}
This code has nothing to do in paintComponent. paintComponent is about "painting a component", ie, paint a rectangle, draw a line, fill an oval, etc... This is absolutely not the place where to add your components. Instead, call that code in your constructor.
Additionally, if you are using LayoutManager's (which you should), calling setSize/setBounds/setLocation is useless (dimply remove those calls).
A few more things:
If you override paintComponent, make sure to invoke the super-method
Don't extends JFrame if not needed (here it is clearly not needed)
Follow Java naming conventions (class names should start with an UpperCase letter, variables and methods with a lowerCase letter)
All Swing-related code must be called on the EDT. Start your UI within a SwingUtilities.invokeLater() block.

Try by changing layout to FlowLayout for mypanel.
mypanel.setLayout(new FlowLayout());

Pass a JPanel class to the main class in JAVA

I need to pass a JPanel extending class to the main class.
Here is what I have so far:
Main class
import java.awt.Color;
import javax.swing.*;
public class main {
private gamePanel gamepanel = new gamePanel();
public JPanel createContentPane(){
// We create a bottom JPanel to place everything on.
JPanel totalGUI = new JPanel();
//We set the Layout Manager to null so we can manually place
// the Panels.
totalGUI.setLayout(null);
//Now we create a new panel and add it to the bottom JPanel.
totalGUI.add(gamepanel);
totalGUI.setOpaque(true);
return totalGUI;
}
private static void createAndShowGUI(){
JFrame.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(true);
JFrame frame = new JFrame("[=] There's a JPanel in here! [=]");
//Create and set up the content pane.
main demo = new main();
frame.setContentPane(demo.createContentPane());
//The other bits and pieces that make your program a bit more stable.
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setSize(700,500);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
//Schedule a jog for the event-dispatching thread:
//creating and showing this application's GUI.
System.out.println(gamepanel);
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run(){
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
}
The gamePanel class
public class gamePanel extends JPanel implements Commons {
private Dimension d;
private ArrayList snowmens;
private coreFunctions functions = new coreFunctions();
private int snowmenX = 150;
private int snowmenY = 5;
private final String snowmenpix = "snowman.png";
private JPanel background;
public gamePanel() {
add(new JLabel("TEST"));
setFocusable(true);
setDoubleBuffered(true);
}
#Override
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
g.setColor(Color.BLUE);
g.fillRect(0, 0, 700, 700);
}
}
I can't figure out why the blue background and the label is not being shown...
EDIT:
Here are more details:
Ok so I am trying to make a little 2D game. For that I need to create some snowmen on the gamePanel class and display it via the main class. To start it off, the createContentPane creates a background panel, the root panel if you want. The createandshowgui creates a JFrame.
The gamepanel class is in fact a JPanel which has 1 panel as of now, which is the background panel. For now, I only want it to have a blue background.
I tried putting it like this because I saw some examples and they were pretty similar to what I have, but for some reason, I can't get it to work....
Thank you,
Ara

You should use LayoutManager instead of setLayout(null); and if only one component is being added no need for it either (that component will stretch to fill unless others are added)
see here for tutorial on LayoutManagers:
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/layout/visual.html
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/layout/using.html
If all you are trying to do is have a blue background (on which you can add components) then simply override paintComponent() of your gamePanel and paint the background blue:
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
g.setColor(Color.BLUE);
g.fillRect(0, 0, this.getWidth(), this.getHeight());
}
then you can add your JLabel as if it was a normal Panel as the background is now being painted blue and not set by/as a component.
If you have an image look into g.drawImage(Image image,int x,int y,ImageObserver iO)
EDIT
DROP THE CALL TO:
setLayout(null);
and it will work