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Creating an Image Icon from a local file for eclipse

So I am trying to add an image to a JLabel object which is added to a JPanel called "topPanel" which is part of a JFrame called
"primaryWindow". I have already declared the "topPanel" and "primaryWindow". I found on other forms that you have to create a separate source folder and add the image file in that folder in order to access it and I did so.
However, when I execute the following, the image does not appear to be on the Label. I know that it has nothing to do with adding the JLabel to the panel properly because when I enter a String into the JLabel constructor, the String appears on the panel. An image however does not appear. Am I properly adding the image? I am using a mac if this helps.
private JLabel image = new JLabel();
image.setIcon(new ImageIcon("Check.png"));
topPanel.add(image);
primaryWindow.add(topPanel, BorderLayout.NORTH);

You can also use BufferedImage
BufferedImage myPicture = ImageIO.read(new File("C:\\xx\\xxx\\Check.png.jpg"));
Image scaled = myPicture.getScaledInstance(100,70,Image.SCALE_SMOOTH);
image = new JLabel(new ImageIcon(scaled));
topPanel.add(image);
primaryWindow.add(topPanel, BorderLayout.NORTH);
Note that "C:\\xx\\xxx\\Check.png.jpg" is the path where you save Check.png.
Hope this helped.

The ImageIcon that you passed into the setIcon method of the JLabel could be null. Have you tried to check if it is null before calling setIcon? If you create a "res" resource folder in the root directory of your project, you could try the following:
image.setIcon(new ImageIcon(ImageIO.read(new File("res/Check.png"))));
Additionally, if you are using Eclipse, you should try and refresh the project directory by right clicking and pressing refresh; sometimes Eclipse doesn't register files added.
Lastly, try setting the background of the JPanel to a certain color to see if it is displaying it and make sure its width and height are not 0 (it is possible that the layout you are using changed its size).

How To Correctly Specify Image path from a folder (ImageIcon)

I was following a reference and some tutorial on setting the path of an image for a JLabel but can't get the path correctly.
I have
String pathToUserPictureImage = "resources/Assets/studentPhoto.png";
ImageIcon userPicture = new ImageIcon(getClass().getClassLoader().getResource(pathToUserPictureImage));
JLabel userPictureImagePlaceHolder = new JLabel(userPicture, HEIGHT);
And my folders in the project are:
When I run it, it would return an error message about a Null Pointer which I suspect to be a problem with the path supplied.
I would appreciate any suggestion and correction to my code. I recently just switched from dragging and dropping components to writing code by hand.

Custom ToolBar with Java Swing for Desktop

I have created a GUI with Java Swing and wanting to create a custom toolbar according to my modules. Below are the images am wanting to use:
These images are placed in the same level as the src folder within my application. I am aware that I can perhaps create a jar with these images so that I can easily access them from within my application but do not know how. I have spent hours trying to make this work.
Below is my GUI that I have created ad wanting to beautify with these images for the toolbar else create an array of labels that will act as a navigation but either approach I couldn't get it to work.
The code below was my last attempt on this:
JToolBar toolbar1 = new JToolBar();
ImageIcon client = new ImageIcon("clients.png");
ImageIcon timesheet = new ImageIcon("timesheets.png");
JButton clientTB = new JButton(client);
JButton timesheetTB = new JButton(timesheet);
toolbar1.add(clientTB );
toolbar1.add(timesheetTB);
add(toolbar1, BorderLayout.NORTH);
I even moved these images and placed them within the class that's calling them.
What could I be doing wrong, please help?

You have a look at the JavaDocs for ImageIcon(String), the String value is "a String specifying a filename or path"
This is a problem, because your images aren't actually files, any more, they have been embedded within your application (typically within the resulting jar file) and no longer be treated like "normal files".
Instead, you need to use Class#getResource which searches the application's classpath for the named resource, something like...
// This assumes that the images are in the default package
// (or the root of the src directory)
ImageIcon client = new ImageIcon(getClass().getResource("/clients.png"));
Now, I have a personal dislike for ImageIcon, because it won't tell you when the image is loaded for some reason, like it can't be found or it's the wrong format.
Instead, I'd use ImageIO to read the image
ImageIcon client = new ImageIcon(ImageIO.read(getClass().getResource("/clients.png")));
which will do two things, first, it will throw a IOException if the image can't be loaded for some reason and two, it won't return until the image is fully loaded, which is helpful.
See Reading/Loading an Image for more details

Adding images in java [duplicate]

I have 6 JButtons on my GUI all have images on it,
when I compile and run the code, all images on JButtons show up perfectly
but in runnable JAR file, images on JButtons are not showing up.. how do I fix this problem?
I used this method in my code to show icons on JButtons
ImageIcon SettingsIc = new ImageIcon("bin/images/settings.png");
jb1 = new JButton(SettingsIc);
jb1.setFocusPainted( false );
//jb1.setBorderPainted(false);
jb1.setContentAreaFilled(false);
This is how my GUI looks when I compile my code in Eclipse
This is how my GUI looks after executing Runnable JAR file

This (as pointed out by a number of people)
ImageIcon SettingsIc = new ImageIcon("bin/images/settings.png");
Suggests that you are trying to load the images from the bin/images off the file systems. This is a relative path from the execution point of your application.
ImageIcon won't complain if the file does not exist.
If possible, you are better off embedding the resources within your Jar file (it will make it easier to deploy) and use something like getClass().getResource("/bin/images/settings.png") to load the images.
If possible, you should try using ImageIO.read(URL) to load your images, it will throw an exception if the resource pointed to by the File/URL does not exist (or is invalid).

Just keep the jar and images in the same folder and
keep
ImageIcon icon = new ImageIcon("image.jpg");
in the code

Unable to get image icon in runnable jar

I wrote a method in order to get icon for my swing:
public Icon getIcon(String iconName) {
Icon icon = null;
if(iconName.equals("NEXT")){
icon = new ImageIcon( getClass().getResource("resources/img/next.png" ) );
}
return icon;
}
but
icon = new ImageIcon( getClass().getResource("resources/img/next.png" ) );
goes in null pointer
I created a source folder "resources" and a folder "img" inside it with "next.png" icon
Where's the problem?
Thanks

For this to work, the resources folder should be in the same folder as the folder corresponding to the package of this.getClass(). To start from the root of the classpath, use getClass().getResource("/resources/img/next.png"). (with a leading /)

so, I found the right method:
public static ImageIcon getImageIcon(String iconName) {
ImageIcon imageIcon = null;
if(iconName.equals("DOWNLOAD")){
imageIcon = new ImageIcon(ImagesLocation.class.getResource("/img/download.png"));
}
return imageIcon;
}
with a "resources" source folder at the same level of the project and with an img folder inside (package styled)
ImagesLocation is a generic class containing this method

For those in need of help that have come across this page in Google - I wrote an answer in another StackOverflow question giving the best way to handle images in JAVA apps so that you can easily access the images for all image method types in Java:
This IS the best way to handle all images and icons in a JAR App.
Once you've zipped up all of your images and icons into its own JAR file - Configure your build path by adding the images JAR file into your libraries tab so that its now included in your classpath.
Then simply use the following 3x lines of code at the start of your constuctor to access any image you need for anything including a SystemTray image which doesn't accept the simple ImageIcon's as its main icon (weird I know). The 3x lines are:
URL iconUrl = this.getClass().getResource("/image-iconb.png");
Toolkit tk = this.getToolkit();
someimgicon = tk.getImage(iconUrl);
(someimgicon is just a constructor declared Image variable)
Now you can set a window icon as simply as:
setIconImage(someimgicon);
and at the same time use the same variable when setting the System TrayIcon by declaring:
trayIcon = new TrayIcon(someimgicon, "SystemTray Demo", popupMenu);
The above allows you to declare Images or ImageIcons easily and centrally without running the risk of not keeping image resources in the right place. It keeps it nice and tidy, with the JAR containing all your images automatically compiled at run time and distribution of your program.
As a bonus, once the JAR is registered in your classpath - you can keep adding any other images into the same JAR at any time without any fuss too - Everything just works and the added images are instantly available to your app.
Much better in my view.