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Ugly Swing Button Background

I have a GUI, and the main panels have transparent backgrounds, so
one can see the background image through them. The problem is, clicking on a
button on one of this panels, on Mac OS, where buttons have round borders, their backgrounds turn in a not-transparent color. How could I avoid this?
Here an image:

Simply make the button transparent using setOpaque(false). Never use a alpha color for a background color, Swing only deals with opaque or not opaque components, it does not know how to deal with alpha based colors.
If you use an alpha based background color, Swing does not know that 1- it's suppose to prepare the Graphics context correctly before painting the component and 2- that the components below the component will also need to be updated when the component changes.
Using alpha background colors will generate random and annoying paint artifacts as the complexity of the UI increases and the changes begin to occur (the UI is updated)
See Painting in AWT and Swing and Performing Custom Painting for more details
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.logging.Level;
import java.util.logging.Logger;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.UnsupportedLookAndFeelException;
public class Test {
public static void main(String[] args) {
new Test();
}
public Test() {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} catch (ClassNotFoundException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException | UnsupportedLookAndFeelException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Testing");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(new TestPane());
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
public class TestPane extends JPanel {
private BufferedImage background;
public TestPane() {
JButton btn = new JButton("I'm a transparent button");
btn.setOpaque(false);
setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
GridBagConstraints gbc = new GridBagConstraints();
gbc.gridwidth = GridBagConstraints.REMAINDER;
add(btn, gbc);
add(new JButton("I'm not a transparent button"), gbc);
try {
background = ImageIO.read(new File("C:\\hold\\thumbnails\\issue522.jpg"));
} catch (IOException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return background == null ? new Dimension(200, 200) : new Dimension(background.getWidth(), background.getHeight());
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
if (background != null) {
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g.create();
int x = (getWidth() - background.getWidth()) / 2;
int y = (getHeight() - background.getHeight()) / 2;
g2d.drawImage(background, x, y, this);
g2d.dispose();
}
}
}
}
If you want to paint an translucent background, you will need to override the components paintComponent method and paint it yourself, making sure that the component is marked as transparent (not opaque) first

Creating a JFrame you can click through

I'm trying to create a jframe that the user can click through. I'm not looking for opacity but transparency.
I need a solution that works on all OS and not just Windows because I can't use
WindowUtils.setWindowTransparent(frame, true);
WindowUtils.setWindowAlpha(frame, 0.6f);
or
AWTUtilities.setWindowOpaque(this, false);
AWTUtilities.setWindowOpacity(this, 0.8f);
Can I accomplish this with java alone? It's ok if there is a library that I must use.
EDIT: I have my jframe undecorated and here is the code for it.
frame = new JDialog();
frame.setUndecorated(true);
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.setOpacity(Shared.opacity);
frame.setLocation(0, 0);
frame.setSize(Shared.screenWidth, Shared.screenHeight);
When I say the user can click through what I mean is that if my frame is on top but they have a window under mine, clicking on mine would bring the one under on top.

A completely transparent window can be achieved in Java 7 by using a completely transparent background color, for example...
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Testing");
frame.setUndecorated(true);
frame.setBackground(new Color(0, 0, 0, 0));
The problem you will have is, that anywhere there is any kind of solid pixel (even if it is transparent), it will stop the mouse events from going beyond the window...
This means that every child component you add to the frame (that you want to be able to click through) will need to be transparent as well.
I use a similar technique for some of my utility programs and include a MouseListener on the main opaque component to make the window more visible so I can drag it if I want to it, but that's stuff for another question ;)
import java.awt.AlphaComposite;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.UnsupportedLookAndFeelException;
public class ClickThroughWindow {
public static void main(String[] args) {
new ClickThroughWindow();
}
public ClickThroughWindow() {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} catch (ClassNotFoundException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException | UnsupportedLookAndFeelException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Testing");
frame.setUndecorated(true);
frame.setBackground(new Color(0, 0, 0, 0));
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(new TestPane());
frame.setAlwaysOnTop(true);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
public class TestPane extends JPanel {
public TestPane() {
setOpaque(false);
setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
add(new JLabel("Hello"));
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return new Dimension(200, 200);
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g.create();
g2d.setColor(getBackground());
// g2d.setComposite(AlphaComposite.SrcOver.derive(0.5f));
// g2d.fillRect(0, 0, getWidth(), getHeight());
g2d.setColor(Color.BLACK);
g2d.drawRect(0, 0, getWidth() - 1, getHeight() - 1);
g2d.dispose();
}
}
}
You can find more details at How to Create Translucent and Shaped Windows, in particular How to Implement Per-Pixel Translucency

I need to set a background image for a java DesktopApplication

I didn't know how, and there is no background image property. I researched the answer but all I could find was to set a labels icon inside a panel with a null layout. This worked and my image is there, but it is covering all but a single text field. Can I change the Z value of this label? I do not see a 'move to back' option, if there is one.

This should solve your problem:
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class TestImage {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
ContentPane panel = new ContentPane();
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(panel);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
private static class ContentPane extends JPanel {
BufferedImage image = null;
public ContentPane() {
try {
String pathToImage = "C:/Users/Branislav/Pictures/sun.jpg";
image = ImageIO.read(new File(pathToImage));
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
g.drawImage(image, 0, 0, null);
};
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return new Dimension(image.getWidth(), image.getHeight());
}
}
}
Basically, I set image on JPanel (ContentPane). Also, size of your JPanel depends on size of image (at least in this case).
Regards.

Java Swing: Transparent PNG permanently captures original background

I have the following code:
import javax.swing.JWindow;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Image;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
public class sutff extends JWindow
{
//Get transparent image that will be use as splash screen image.
Image bi=Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getImage("window.png");
ImageIcon ii=new ImageIcon(bi);
public sutff()
{
try
{
setSize(ii.getIconWidth(),ii.getIconHeight());
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
show();
//Thread.sleep(10000);
//dispose();
//JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"This program will exit !!!","<>",JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
}
catch(Exception exception)
{
exception.printStackTrace();
}
}
//Paint transparent image onto JWindow
public void paint(Graphics g)
{
g.drawImage(bi,0,0,this);
}
public static void main(String[]args)
{
sutff tss=new sutff();
}
}
The purpose is to create a window that is translucent and resembles Windows Aero-style glass. I have the following transparent png that I am using:
http://i.imgur.com/5UNGbsr.png
The problem is that since its transparent, its suppose to show the things behind the window, right? That's what it does when first executed, except whatever window is behind this "transparent window" when it first starts up, the program somehow creates an "image" of that and permanently attaches it with the window. So even if I minimize the windows behind this "transparent window," the image of the first background window remains.
Here is a screenshot:
When I took this screen shot, I had already minimized the command prompt and the IDE which can be seen in the background, yet it still remains in the background of the window.
What am I doing wrong?

Don't override the paint() method of a top level container, especially when you don't invoke super.paint(). This will cause painting problems. If you ever do need to do custom painting then you should override the paintComponent() method of JPanel (or JComponent) and then add the panel to the window/frame. Read the Swing tutorial on Custom Painting. This advice is given daily, I don't know why people still try to override paint()???
However this is only one of your problems. The better solution is to add your image to a JLabel and then add the label to the window. You will also need to make the window background transparent:
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.Image;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
public class Stuff extends JWindow
{
//Get transparent image that will be use as splash screen image.
Image bi=Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getImage("transparent.png");
ImageIcon ii=new ImageIcon(bi);
public Stuff()
{
try
{
setBackground( new Color(0, 0, 0, 0) );
setSize(ii.getIconWidth(),ii.getIconHeight());
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
JLabel label = new JLabel(ii);
add(label);
show();
//Thread.sleep(10000);
//dispose();
//JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"This program will exit !!!","<>",JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
}
catch(Exception exception)
{
exception.printStackTrace();
}
}
/*
//Paint transparent image onto JWindow
public void paint(Graphics g)
{
super.paint(g);
g.drawImage(bi,0,0,this);
}
*/
public static void main(String[]args)
{
Stuff tss=new Stuff();
}
}

The problem is, you window is actually transparent. Java still thinks that the Window opaque and therefore won't update the graphics in such away as to show what's actually behind.
Creating a transparent window is relatively simple in Java since Java 1.6.10 (I think)
The following is a very simple example, using a semi transparent paint effect that will allow what ever falls below the window to continue to be painted correctly.
import com.sun.awt.AWTUtilities;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.Shape;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.geom.RoundRectangle2D;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.UnsupportedLookAndFeelException;
public class TransaprentBlur {
public static void main(String[] args) {
new TransaprentBlur();
}
public TransaprentBlur() {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} catch (ClassNotFoundException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException | UnsupportedLookAndFeelException ex) {
}
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Testing");
frame.setUndecorated(true);
frame.setBackground(new Color(0, 0, 0, 0));
// Java 6...
// AWTUtilities.setWindowOpaque(frame, true);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
frame.add(new TestPane());
frame.setSize(400, 400);
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
public class TestPane extends JPanel {
public TestPane() {
setOpaque(false);
addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter() {
#Override
public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
if (e.getClickCount() == 2) {
System.exit(0);
}
}
});
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
Shape shape = new RoundRectangle2D.Float(0, 0, getWidth() - 1, getHeight() - 1, 20, 20);
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g.create();
g2d.setColor(new Color(225, 225, 225, 128));
g2d.fill(shape);
g2d.setColor(Color.GRAY);
g2d.draw(shape);
g2d.dispose();
}
}
}
Update with image example
Screen shoots showing windows been moved behind the window...
Basically, all you need to do, is place you image rendering code with in the paintComponent method of TestPane
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.IOException;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.UnsupportedLookAndFeelException;
public class TransaprentBlur {
public static void main(String[] args) {
new TransaprentBlur();
}
public TransaprentBlur() {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} catch (ClassNotFoundException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException | UnsupportedLookAndFeelException ex) {
}
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Testing");
frame.setUndecorated(true);
frame.setBackground(new Color(0, 0, 0, 0));
// Java 6...
// AWTUtilities.setWindowOpaque(frame, true);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
frame.add(new TestPane());
frame.setSize(400, 400);
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
public class TestPane extends JPanel {
private BufferedImage image;
public TestPane() {
try {
image = ImageIO.read(getClass().getResource("/5UNGbsr.png"));
} catch (IOException ex) {
}
setOpaque(false);
addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter() {
#Override
public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
if (e.getClickCount() == 2) {
System.exit(0);
}
}
});
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return image == null ? super.getPreferredSize() : new Dimension(image.getWidth(), image.getHeight());
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
if (image != null) {
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g.create();
int x = (getWidth() - image.getWidth()) / 2;
int y = (getHeight() - image.getHeight()) / 2;
g2d.drawImage(image, x, y, this);
g2d.dispose();
}
}
}
}

Inserting an image under a JTextArea

so I'm trying to insert an image underneath a JTextArea, but I havent had much luck, could anyone please help? Basically what I'm asking is if anybody could help make another class or subclass that does this. Heres my code:
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class t{
private JFrame f; //Main frame
private JTextArea t; // Text area private JScrollPane sbrText; // Scroll pane for text area
private JButton btnQuit; // Quit Program
public t(){ //Constructor
// Create Frame
f = new JFrame("Test");
f.getContentPane().setLayout(new FlowLayout());
String essay = "Test";
// Create Scrolling Text Area in Swing
t = new JTextArea(essay, 25, 35);
t.setEditable(false);
Font f = new Font("Verdana", Font.BOLD, 12 );
t.setFont( f );
t.setLineWrap(true);
sbrText = new JScrollPane(t);
sbrText.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);
// Create Quit Button
btnQuit = new JButton("Quit");
btnQuit.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
System.exit(0);
} } );
}
public void launchFrame(){ // Create Layout
// Add text area and button to frame
f.getContentPane().add(sbrText);
f.getContentPane().add(btnQuit);
// Close when the close button is clicked
f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
//Display Frame
f.pack(); // Adjusts frame to size of components
f.setSize(450,480);
f.setResizable(false);
f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
f.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String args[]){
t gui = new t();
gui.launchFrame();
}
}

The basic issue is that JTextArea will paint it's background and it's text within the paintComponent.
The simplest solution is to make the JTextArea transparent and take over the control of painting the background.
This example basically fills the background with the background color, paints the image and then calls super.paintComponent to allow the text to be rendered.
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.UnsupportedLookAndFeelException;
public class TransparentTextArea {
public static void main(String[] args) {
new TransparentTextArea();
}
public TransparentTextArea() {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} catch (ClassNotFoundException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException | UnsupportedLookAndFeelException ex) {
}
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Test");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
frame.add(new JScrollPane(new CustomTextArea()));
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
public class CustomTextArea extends JTextArea {
private BufferedImage image;
public CustomTextArea() {
super(20, 20);
try {
image = ImageIO.read(new File("/Users/swhitehead/Dropbox/MegaTokyo/Miho_Small_02.png"));
} catch (IOException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}
#Override
public boolean isOpaque() {
return false;
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g.create();
g2d.setColor(getBackground());
g2d.fillRect(0, 0, getWidth(), getHeight());
if (image != null) {
int x = getWidth() - image.getWidth();
int y = getHeight() - image.getHeight();
g2d.drawImage(image, x, y, this);
}
super.paintComponent(g2d);
g2d.dispose();
}
}
}

Check out the Background Panel. When you add a scrollpane to the panel it will make the scrollpane, viewport and text area all non-opaque so you can see the image.