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Draw Line While Dragging The Mouse

What I'm trying to do is to draw circles and lines.
When the mouse is first pressed, I draw a small circle. Then, I need
to draw a line connecting the original point to the current
position of the mouse. When the mouse is released, the line
remains, but when I click again, everything disappears and I draw a
circle and a line all over again.
This is the code I have so far:
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class Canvas4 extends JComponent implements MouseListener, MouseMotionListener {
//constructor
public Canvas4() {
super();
addMouseListener(this);
addMouseMotionListener(this);
}
//some variables I may or may not use
int pressedX;
int pressedY;
int currentX;
int currentY;
int startDragX;
int startDragY;
int endDragX;
int endDragY;
int mouseReleasedX;
int mouseReleasedY;
//mouse events
public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent event) { }
public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent event) { }
public void mouseExited(MouseEvent event) { }
public void mousePressed(MouseEvent event) {
pressedX = event.getX();
pressedY = event.getY();
drawCircle();
startDragX = pressedX;
startDragY = pressedY;
}
public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent event) {
mouseReleasedX = event.getX();
mouseReleasedY = event.getY();
//repaint() here maybe???
}
//mouse motion events
public void mouseDragged(MouseEvent event) {
System.out.println("You dragged the mouse.");
endDragX = event.getX();
endDragY = event.getY();
drawLine();
}
public void mouseMoved(MouseEvent event) { }
//draw circle when mouse pressed
//this method works fine
public void drawCircle() {
Graphics g1 = this.getGraphics();
g1.setColor(Color.CYAN);
g1.fillOval(pressedX, pressedY, 10, 10);
}
//draw line when mouse dragged
//this is where I need help
public void drawLine() {
Graphics g2 = this.getGraphics();
g2.setColor(Color.RED);
g2.drawLine(pressedX, pressedY, mouseReleasedX, mouseReleasedY);
}
}
Then of course, there's a main method that creates the class object and adds it to a frame and whatnot.
My two specific questions are:
how do I draw a line as it's dragged? The code I have currently only draws a line to the last point of mouse release.
When do I repaint? If I repaint in the drawCircle() method, the circle blinks in and out instead of disappearing on the next click.

If you want to draw circles and lines then you need to keep an ArrayList of Shapes to draw. You would add an Ellipse2D.Double for the circle and a Line2D.Double for the line.
In the mousePressed event you add the Ellipse2D.Double object to the ArrayList, then you set up a temporary Line2D.Double object to contain your line information.
In the mouseDragged event you update Line2D.Double object with the new end point and then invoke repaint().
In the mouseReleased event you add the Line2D.Double object to the ArrayList and clear the variable referencing the Line2D.Double object.
Then in the paintComponent() method you add logic to:
iterate through the ArrayList to paint each Shape.
draw the Line2D.Double object when not null
Check out the Draw On Component example found in Custom Painting Approaches. This will show you the basic concept of this approach.
In the example the ArrayList only contains information on Rectangles so you will need to make it more generic to hold a Shape object. Both Ellispse2D.Double and Line2D.Double implement the Shape interface.

For drawing lines i have this.When you click mouse left you retain a point next click will retain another point making a line between them , and with mouse right you make the line between first point and last point (you can delete this "if (isClosed)" if you dont want)
Another thing : it's not a good precision because pointlocation return a double and drawline need an integer and the cast loses precision.
public class PolygonOnClick extends JPanel implements MouseListener, MouseMotionListener {
ArrayList<Point> points = new ArrayList<>();
static boolean isClosed = false;
PolygonOnClick() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Polygon ON CLICK");
frame.addMouseListener(this);
frame.setLocation(80, 50);
frame.setSize(1000, 700);
frame.add(this);
frame.setResizable(false);
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
public void paintComponent(Graphics graphics) {
super.paintComponent(graphics);
graphics.drawString("Click stanga pentru a incepe a desena , click dreapta pentru a inchide poligonul ", 15, 15);
for (int i = 1; i < points.size(); i++) {
graphics.drawLine((int) points.get(i - 1).getX(), (int) points.get(i - 1).getY(), (int) points.get(i).getX(), (int) points.get(i).getY());
}
if (isClosed) {
graphics.drawLine((int) points.get(points.size() - 1).getX(), (int) points.get(points.size() - 1).getY(), (int) points.get(0).getX(), (int) points.get(0).getY());
}
}
#Override
public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {
if (!isClosed) {
if (e.getButton() == MouseEvent.BUTTON1) {
points.add(e.getPoint().getLocation());
}
}
if (e.getButton() == MouseEvent.BUTTON3) {
isClosed = true;
}
repaint();
}

Drawing a rectangle on screen as an "area selection" tool (Java)

I want the user of my program to be able to highlight an area on a JFrame to select a group of items on screen. The code I posted below works, but it is very choppy, which becomes quite an eyesore every single time the JFrame repaints. Here's an image of what I'm talking about: http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u400/mfgravesjr/choppy%20draw%20rectangle_zpsspqsqnyf.png
Maybe someone here has suggestions to improve my code?
This is the mouseDragged method in MouseMotionListener:
public void mouseDragged(MouseEvent me)
{
if(groupingTerr&&me.getSource()==background)
{
endPoint = MouseInfo.getPointerInfo().getLocation();
topLeftRect = new Point(Math.min(startPoint.x,endPoint.x),Math.min(startPoint.y,endPoint.y));
bottomRightRect = new Point(Math.max(startPoint.x,endPoint.x),Math.max(startPoint.y,endPoint.y));
for(Point p:map.territoryPoints)
{
if(p.x>topLeftRect.x&&p.x<bottomRightRect.x&&p.y>topLeftRect.y&&p.y<bottomRightRect.y)img.getGraphics().drawImage(selectedIco,p.x-selectedIco.getWidth()/2,p.y-selectedIco.getHeight()/2,null);
else img.getGraphics().drawImage(defaultIco,p.x-defaultIco.getWidth()/2,p.y-defaultIco.getHeight()/2,null);
}
background.repaint();
}
}
This is the private overridden JFrame class
private static class DrawableJFrame extends JFrame
{
#Override
public void paint(Graphics g)
{
super.paint(g);
g.setColor(new Color(0,0,0,100));
g.drawRect(topLeftRect.x,topLeftRect.y,bottomRightRect.x-topLeftRect.x,bottomRightRect.y-topLeftRect.y);
g.setColor(new Color(200,10,10,100));
g.fillRect(topLeftRect.x,topLeftRect.y,bottomRightRect.x-topLeftRect.x,bottomRightRect.y-topLeftRect.y);
}
}
The image is original artwork. Please do not use it.

MouseListener on a graphics object

I'm feeling quite stupid. But what is the reason why this simple piece of code doesn't change the ellipse's color?
Basically I want to add a mouse listener to the oval - a graphic object. when the mouse cursor is in oval, the oval changes its color. But this code doesn't change at all... This code is for testing only.
public class Help extends JFrame{
public static void main(String [] agrs){
Help h = new Help();
h.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
h.add(new Help_Option());
h.setSize(2000, 1000);
h.setVisible(true);
}
}
class Help_Option extends JComponent implements MouseListener{
Ellipse2D ellipse = new Ellipse2D.Double(0, 0, 1000, 500);
Color c = Color.BLACK;
public Help_Option(){
this.addMouseListener(this);
}
public void paintComponent(Graphics g){
super.paintComponent(g);
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g;
g2d.setColor(Color.BLUE);
g2d.draw(ellipse);
g2d.setColor(c);
g2d.fill(ellipse);
}
public void setColor(Color c){
this.c = c;
}
#Override
public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
}
#Override
public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {}
#Override
public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent e) {}
#Override
public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent e) {
if (ellipse.contains(e.getX(), e.getY()) ) {
setColor(Color.GREEN);
repaint();
}
}
#Override
public void mouseExited(MouseEvent e) {
}
}

you are adding a MouseListener and waiting for mouseEntered events. These are fired when the mouse enters a Component, not a region of it. Try entering the component's boundary where the ellipse is shown and observe.
What you need is a MouseMotionListener, so that you can observe the mouse pixel by pixel; use the mouseMoved or mouseDragged events.
You might still need to listen for mouseEntered or mouseExited events, as MouseMotionEvents are only fired while inside the component's boundary, so you might miss the mouse exiting the component while still inside the ellipse.
A good and simple way for debugging this is adding prints inside the event handler. You would then see that the handler was called, but only once or a few times, and not when you move the mouse within the component.
class Help_Option extends JComponent implements MouseListener, MouseMotionListener {
Ellipse2D ellipse = ...;
public Help_Option() {
this.addMouseListener(this);
this.addMouseMotionListener(this);
}
public void mouseMoved(MouseEvent e) {
if (ellipse.contains(e.getX(), e.getY()) ) {
//mouse is inside the ellipse
} else {
//mouse is outside the ellipse
}
}
public void mouseExited(MouseEvent e) {
//mouse is outside the ellipse
}
//more method stubs
}

..if i use the boundary of the ellipse, it would be a rectangle, so whenever my mouse enter the rectangle-but-not-in-ellipse, the color will change
See:
Shape.contains(x,y): Tests if the specified coordinates are inside the boundary of the Shape, as described by the definition of insideness.
Shape.contains(Point2D): Tests if a specified Point2D is inside the boundary of the Shape, as described by the definition of insideness.
See also this answer for a demo showing collisions between 2 shapes.

Why isn't anything getting drawn to my awt window on the second call to paint?

I have the following code that draws an invisible window on the entire screen:
Window w=new Window(null)
{
private int x = 200; private int y=200;
private int dx = 2; private int dy = 2;
private final int CIRCLE_DIAMETER = 400;
#Override
public void paint(Graphics g)
{
g.setColor(Color.ORANGE);
g.fillOval(x, y, CIRCLE_DIAMETER, CIRCLE_DIAMETER);
}
#Override
public void update(Graphics g)
{
if(x<=0)
dx*=-1;
if(y<=0)
dy*=-1;
if(x+CIRCLE_DIAMETER>=this.getWidth())
dx*=-1;
if(y+CIRCLE_DIAMETER>=this.getHeight())
dy*=-1;
x+=dx;
y+=dy;
this.paint(g);
}
};
w.setAlwaysOnTop(true);
w.setBounds(w.getGraphicsConfiguration().getBounds());
w.setBackground(new Color(0, true));
w.setVisible(true);
//Lazy way of making calls to paint for testing
while(true){
w.repaint();
try {
Thread.sleep(100);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
This draws an orange circle on the screen at the coordinates x and y. When I call repaint in my infinite loop, paint gets called and the x and y get updated, but the circle never gets drawn in another position. If I print the values of x and y to every call of paint they are getting updated properly, so I do not know why it isn't getting drawn. Does anyone know what I am doing wrong here?
Thanks for any suggestions!

I am new here so I may be wrong.
I think that your problem is something to do with how you are using a Window object and not a JPanel. So change your Window object to a JPanel. You should probably close that up with a JFrame in order to complete the final window.
You should be using a JPanel I think so that the methods that you can use to perform the drawing of the ball to move are implemented properly.
Instead of overriding the paint() method you need to override the paintComponent() method.
Following the cycle of drawing your objects.
Like so...
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
g.setColor(Color.ORANGE);
g.fillOval(x, y, CIRCLE_DIAMETER, CIRCLE_DIAMETER);
}
The super.paintComponent() should empty the original image out of the JPanel and you should then be able to draw your updated image.
These may help you as well(I haven't really looked at them properly):
Java ball moving
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/painting/
Java Bouncing Ball
Sorry if I missed something. (I haven't tested your code)

Java MouseEvent position is inaccurate

I've got a problem in Java using a "canvas" class I created, which is an extended JPanel, to draw an animated ring chart. This chart is using a MouseListener to fetch click events.
The problem is that the mouse position does not seem to be accurate, meaning it does not seem to be relative to the "canvas" but instead relative to the window (in the left, upper corner I got about 30px for y coord).
This is my code:
I created a class, that extends JPanel and does have a BufferedImage as member.
public class Canvas extends JPanel {
public BufferedImage buf;
private RingChart _parent;
public Canvas(int width, int height, RingChart parent){
buf = new BufferedImage(width, height, 1);
...
In the paint component method I just draw the buffered image, so I am able to paint on the canvas from 'outside' by painting on the buffered image, which is public.
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D)g;
g2.drawImage(buf, null, 0, 0);
}
Now there's a class RingChart which contains a "canvas":
public class RingChart extends JFrame{
public Canvas c;
...
And I create a Graphics2D from the bufferedImage in the canvas class. This g2d is used for painting:
public RingChart(){
c = new Canvas(1500,980,this);
add(c);
setSize(1500, 1000);
setTitle("Hans");
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
g2d = (Graphics2D)c.buf.createGraphics();
...
What I now was trying to achieve, was a mouse listener that listened to mouse events happening on the canvas. So when the user clicks on the canvas I could retrieve the position he clicked on, upon the canvas, through the event variable.
So I created a mouse listener:
class MouseHandler implements MouseListener {
#Override
public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e){
RingChart r = ((Canvas)e.getSource()).getParent();
r.mouseClick(e);
}
...
...and added this mouse listener to the canvas of the RingChart class (myChart is an instance of RingChart and c is the canvas it contains):
...
MouseHandler mouse = new MouseHandler();
myChart.c.addMouseListener(mouse);
...
But as I mentioned above, the mouse position, that's returned when the click event is called, does not seem to be accurate. I think the mistake must be somehow in the way I created that mouseListener or maybe assigned it to the wrong element or something like that. But I've tried quite a couple of things and it didn't change. Can maybe someone tell me, what I've done wrong?
UPDATE:
The code of the function "mouseClick" that is a member of RingChart and is called in the mouse listener:
public void mouseClick(MouseEvent evt){
//evt = SwingUtilities.convertMouseEvent(this, evt, c);
if(evt.getButton() == MouseEvent.BUTTON1 && animation == null){
for(Element e : elements){
if(e.getShape() != null && e.getShape().contains(evt.getPoint())){
//do some stuff
}
}
}
}
Again, the hierarchy of my classes:
RingChart --contains a--> Canvas --got a--> MouseListener.
The shapes in this function are shapes that have been painted on the canvas c. Now I want to check, if the user has clicked on one of them. So as I thought, the shapes should be in canvas-coordinates and the event position should be in canvas-coordinates and everything should fit together. But it doesn't.
Now user MadProgrammer told me, to use the ConvertMouseEvent function. But I currently don't see which exact way I should use this sensibly.
UPDATE:
I found a solution: All I had to do is adding the canvas not directly to the JFrame but to the ContentPane of the JFrame instead:
So instead:
public RingChart(){
c = new Canvas(1500,980,this);
add(c);
...
I do:
public RingChart(){
c = new Canvas(1500,980,this);
getContentPane().add(c);
...
Then I give the MouseListener to the ContentPane.
getContentPane().addMouseListener(new MouseHandler());
getContentPane().addMouseMotionListener(new MouseMoveHandler());
I don't know, if this is an elegant solution, but it works.

The mouse event is automatically converted to be relative to the component that it occurred in that is, point 0x0 is always the top left corner of the component.
By using RingChart r = ((Canvas)e.getSource()).getParent(), you've effectively changed the reference, which now means the location is no longer valid.
You need to convert the location so that its coordinates are in the context of the parent component. Take a look at SwingUtilities.convertMouseEvent(Component, MouseEvent, Component)
UPDATE with PICTURES
Lets take this example...
The blue box has a relative position of 50px x 50px to the red box. If you click in the blue box, lets say at 25x25, the mouse coordinates will be relative to the blue box (0x0 will be the top left of the blue box).
If you then pass this event to the red box and try and use the coordinates from it, you will find that the coordinates will now be half way between the top left of the red box and the blue box, because the coordinates are context sensitive.
In order to get it to work, you need to translate the mouse events location from the blue box to the red box, which would make it 75x75
Now, I don't know what you're doing when you pass the mouse event to the RingChart so I'm only guessing that this is the issue you're facing.
UPDATED with Click Code
Okay, lets say, you have a Canvas at 100x100. You click on that Canvas at 50x50. You then pass that value back up the chain.
public void mouseClick(MouseEvent evt){
//evt = SwingUtilities.convertMouseEvent(this, evt, c);
if(evt.getButton() == MouseEvent.BUTTON1 && animation == null){
for(Element e : elements){
// Here, we are asking the shape if it contains the point 50x50...
// Not 150x150 which would be the relative position of the click
// in the context to the RingChart, which is where all your objects
// are laid out.
// So even the original Canvas you clicked on will return
// false because it's position + size (100x100x width x height)
// does not contain the specified point of 50x50...
if(e.getShape() != null && e.getShape().contains(evt.getPoint())){
//do some stuff
}
}
}
}
UPDATED
I think you have your references around the wrong way...
public static MouseEvent convertMouseEvent(Component source,
MouseEvent sourceEvent,
Component destination)
I think it should read something like
evt = SwingUtilities.convertMouseEvent(evt.getComponent(), evt, this);
UPDATE with Code Example
Okay, so, I put this little example together...
public class TestMouseClickPoint extends JFrame {
private ContentPane content;
public TestMouseClickPoint() throws HeadlessException {
setSize(600, 600);
setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
content = new ContentPane();
add(content);
}
protected void updateClickPoint(MouseEvent evt) {
content.updateClickPoint(evt);
}
protected class ContentPane extends JPanel {
private Point relativePoint;
private Point absolutePoint;
public ContentPane() {
setPreferredSize(new Dimension(600, 600));
setLayout(null); // For testing purpose only...
MousePane mousePane = new MousePane();
mousePane.setBounds(100, 100, 400, 400);
add(mousePane);
}
protected void updateClickPoint(MouseEvent evt) {
absolutePoint = new Point(evt.getPoint());
evt = SwingUtilities.convertMouseEvent(evt.getComponent(), evt, this);
relativePoint = new Point(evt.getPoint());
System.out.println(absolutePoint);
System.out.println(relativePoint);
repaint();
}
protected void paintCross(Graphics2D g2d, Point p) {
g2d.drawLine(p.x - 5, p.y - 5, p.x + 5, p.y + 5);
g2d.drawLine(p.x - 5, p.y + 5, p.x + 5, p.y - 5);
}
/*
* This is not recommended, but I want to paint ontop of everything...
*/
#Override
public void paint(Graphics g) {
super.paint(g);
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g;
if (relativePoint != null) {
g2d.setColor(Color.BLACK);
paintCross(g2d, relativePoint);
}
if (absolutePoint != null) {
g2d.setColor(Color.RED);
paintCross(g2d, absolutePoint);
}
}
}
protected class MousePane extends JPanel {
private Point clickPoint;
public MousePane() {
addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter() {
#Override
public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
clickPoint = e.getPoint();
TestMouseClickPoint.this.updateClickPoint(e);
repaint();
}
});
setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.RED));
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g;
g2d.setColor(Color.BLUE);
if (clickPoint != null) {
g2d.drawLine(clickPoint.x, clickPoint.y - 5, clickPoint.x, clickPoint.y + 5);
g2d.drawLine(clickPoint.x - 5, clickPoint.y, clickPoint.x + 5, clickPoint.y);
}
}
}
/**
* #param args the command line arguments
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} catch (ClassNotFoundException ex) {
} catch (InstantiationException ex) {
} catch (IllegalAccessException ex) {
} catch (UnsupportedLookAndFeelException ex) {
}
new TestMouseClickPoint().setVisible(true);
}
}
Basically, it will paint three points. The point that the mouse was clicked (relative to the source of the event), the unconverted point in the parent container and the converted point with the parent container.
The next thing you need to do is determine the mouse location is actually been converted, failing that. I'd probably need to see a working example of your code to determine what it is you're actually doing.