Menu, Layout, main program

Thanks, however, as always, I still have a qestion :)

The API says

"add

public Component add(Component comp)

Appends the specified component to the end of this container (...)"

I have created an example for testing purposes:

the menu:

import java.awt.BorderLayout;

import java.awt.Color;

import java.awt.Dimension;

import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;

import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

import javax.swing.BoxLayout;

import javax.swing.JButton;

import javax.swing.JComponent;

import javax.swing.JFrame;

import javax.swing.JPanel;

import javax.swing.UIManager;

public class Menu extends JComponent implements ActionListener {

private static final long serialVersionUID = 1;

private JButton menuEntry1;

public Menu() {

setLayout(new BorderLayout());

JPanel menuPanel = new JPanel();

menuPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(800, 200));

menuPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(menuPanel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));

menuEntry1 = new JButton("Start new game");

menuEntry1.addActionListener(this);

JButton menuEntry2 = new JButton("Help");

JButton menuEntry3 = new JButton("Exit");

menuPanel.add(menuEntry1);

menuPanel.add(menuEntry2);

menuPanel.add(menuEntry3);

JPanel bluePanel = new JPanel();

bluePanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(800, 100));

bluePanel.setBackground(Color.BLUE);

JPanel yellowPanel = new JPanel();

yellowPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(800, 100));

yellowPanel.setBackground(Color.YELLOW);

add(bluePanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);

add(menuPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);

add(yellowPanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_END);

}

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {

if (e.getSource() == menuEntry1) {

System.out.println("New game");

}

}

private static void createAndShowGUI() {

JFrame.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(false);

try {

UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());

} catch(Exception e) {

e.printStackTrace();

}

JFrame frame = new JFrame();

frame.setResizable(false);

frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

Menu newContentPane = new Menu();

newContentPane.setOpaque(true);

frame.setContentPane(newContentPane);

frame.pack();

frame.setVisible(true);

}

public static void main(String[] args) {

javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

public void run() {

createAndShowGUI();

}

});

}

}

and the GUI of the game:

import java.awt.BorderLayout;

import java.awt.Color;

import java.awt.Dimension;

import javax.swing.JButton;

import javax.swing.JComponent;

import javax.swing.JFrame;

import javax.swing.JPanel;

import javax.swing.JToolBar;

import javax.swing.UIManager;

public class MyGame extends JComponent {

private static final long serialVersionUID = 1;

public MyGame() {

setLayout(new BorderLayout());

Dimension dim_greenPanel = new Dimension(800, 600);

Dimension dim_grayPanel = new Dimension(20, 600);

Dimension dim_darkGrayPanel = new Dimension(800, 20);

Dimension dim_cyanPanel = new Dimension(20, 20);

Dimension dim_bluePanel = new Dimension(835, 40);

Dimension dim_magentaPanel = new Dimension(200, 660);

JToolBar toolbar = new JToolBar();

toolbar.setOpaque(true);

toolbar.setFloatable(false);

toolbar.setRollover(true);

JButton aButton = new JButton("Button");

toolbar.add(aButton);

JPanel bluePanel = new JPanel();

bluePanel.setPreferredSize(dim_bluePanel);

bluePanel.setBackground(Color.BLUE);

JPanel cyanPanel = new JPanel();

cyanPanel.setPreferredSize(dim_cyanPanel);

cyanPanel.setBackground(Color.CYAN);

JPanel darkGrayPanel = new JPanel();

darkGrayPanel.setPreferredSize(dim_darkGrayPanel);

darkGrayPanel.setBackground(Color.DARK_GRAY);

JPanel containerPanelNorth = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());

containerPanelNorth.add(bluePanel, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);

containerPanelNorth.add(cyanPanel, BorderLayout.LINE_START);

containerPanelNorth.add(darkGrayPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);

JPanel grayPanel = new JPanel();

grayPanel.setPreferredSize(dim_grayPanel);

grayPanel.setBackground(Color.GRAY);

JPanel greenPanel = new JPanel();

greenPanel.setPreferredSize(dim_greenPanel);

greenPanel.setBackground(Color.GREEN);

JPanel containerPanelCenter = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());

containerPanelCenter.add(containerPanelNorth, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);

containerPanelCenter.add(grayPanel, BorderLayout.LINE_START);

containerPanelCenter.add(greenPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);

containerPanelCenter.setOpaque(true);

JPanel magentaPanel = new JPanel();

magentaPanel.setPreferredSize(dim_magentaPanel);

magentaPanel.setBackground(Color.MAGENTA);

add(toolbar, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);

add(containerPanelCenter, BorderLayout.CENTER);

add(magentaPanel, BorderLayout.LINE_END);

}

private static void createAndShowGUI() {

JFrame.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(false);

try {

UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());

} catch(Exception e) {

e.printStackTrace();

}

JFrame frame = new JFrame();

frame.setResizable(false);

frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

MyGame newContentPane = new MyGame();

newContentPane.setOpaque(true);

frame.setContentPane(newContentPane);

frame.pack();

frame.setVisible(true);

}

public static void main(String[] args) {

javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

public void run() {

createAndShowGUI();

}

});

}

}

I am now unsure how I can come from the menu to the GUI of the game if the user clicks the button "Start new game". In which order do I have to add and remove the JPanels?

SFLa at 2007-7-11 15:30:51 >

> We can't answer that, you are designing the game you

> decide what you want to flip.

Solved it.

To go from Menu to MyGame (see code above) I simply call removeAll() and validate() in the actionPerformed method to remove all JPanels from Menu, then I am adding all the other JPanels from my other class MyGame and call validate() again. Seems to work :)

SFLa at 2007-7-11 15:30:51 >