Is this possible to do with images in java?

Question

Hi.

Is there any way I can print/show images on top of each other. The picture on top will always be positioned a little lower so that the one under will show partially. How can I decide which image is on top of what image? What layout lets me do this kind of positioning?

Is there any way that I can make a border appear on the image when I click it, and then move to (doesnt have to be animated, can be a "jump") where I click next inside the JFrame.

I've been trying to do this whole day now (I'm pretty new to swing), before I carry on I'd like to know if I'm trying something impossible.

So far I've been printing the images right on to the JFrame as JPanels... Inside the JPanel I add in the paintComponent(Graphics g) method: g.drawImage

Answer 1

Look into Root Panes. You may be able to do something with the Layered Pane or the Glass Pane. I would try the Layered Pane first.

Answer 2

Sounds like a Swing tutorial is in order.

What you're describing shouldn't be very hard. Instead of painting the images directly, load them up in ImageIcons, and pass those to JLabels. That way you can manipulate your images as JComponents, using layout managers, or direct coordinates by setting the layout to null. You can set the Z-Order with setComponentZOrder regardless of the layout you choose. You can draw borders by adding swing borders (see BorderFactory) to the JLabels. You can handle the manipulation with MouseListeners.