Thread: Trying to add a button to my Title Screen...

Alright, so I'm not too terribly fluent in Java.

I've been working on a small game to help me pick up the language, and I've been (for some time now) trying to figure out how to implement a title screen. I've tackled numerous issues with it this far and, well, feel proud of myself for that. xD But I can't seem to figure out this small thing.

I'm trying to place buttons onto my canvas. However, when I launch the game and it goes to the title screen, the buttons are no where to be seen. Changing the JFrame to allow re-sizing reveals that the buttons are being displayed under everything else on my canvas. Which, I'm going to assume, has something, if not everything, to do with my render methods.

The title screen is composed of two images being repeated painted to the canvas via a render method. So those images are being repainted over and over again, which means, while I have the sequence of the code correct, the repainting is simply covering up the buttons. P

So my question is this; How might I go about displaying the buttons ABOVE those rendering images? Or can I at all? And, if I can't, how can I paint the images statically so that they don't keep repainting?

If this has already been asked, then I apologize, and I thank you for taking the time to read this.

Yeah...

This is what I'm trying to do:

import java.applet.*;
import java.awt.*;
 
public class Component extends Applet implements Runnable{
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
 
    public static int winDimX = 800;
    public static int winDimY = 600;
 
    public static int winDimXDef = 800;
    public static int winDimYDef = 600;
 
    public static Dimension size = new Dimension(winDimX, winDimY);
 
    public static Font titleFont = new Font("Fixedsys",Font.TRUETYPE_FONT,10);
 
    public static String windowTitle = "Blockles";
 
    public static boolean isRunning = false;
    public static boolean threadActive = false;
 
    public static boolean isOnTitle = false;
    public static boolean isRunningTitle = false;
 
    private Image mainTitle;
 
    public static titleScreen title;
 
    public Component(){
    	setPreferredSize(size);
    	//Left Empty for SSCCE
    }
 
    @Override
    public void start(){
    	//Left Empty for SSCCE
    }
 
    public void startTitle(){
        requestFocus();
 
        isRunningTitle = true;
 
        if(!threadActive){
            new Thread(this).start();
            threadActive = true;
        }
    }
 
    @Override
    public void stop(){
        isRunning = false;
        isRunningTitle = false;
    }
 
    //Program execution path begins here
    public static void main(String[] args){
        //Calls Title Screen Constructor
        title = new titleScreen();
    }
 
    //Methods removed for SSCCE
 
    public void renderTitle(){
        Graphics g = mainTitle.getGraphics();
 
        //Drawing Title Screen
        title.render(g);
 
        g = getGraphics();
 
        g.drawImage(mainTitle, 0, 0, size.width, size.height, 0, 0, size.width, size.height, null);
 
        g.dispose();
    }
 
    @Override
    public void run(){
        mainTitle = createVolatileImage(size.width, size.height);
 
        //WHILE loop removed for SSCCE
 
        while(isRunningTitle){
            renderTitle();
 
            try{
                Thread.sleep(5);              
            } catch(Exception e) {
                System.err.println("Exception occurred while attempting Thread.sleep! \n" + e + "\n");
            }                        
        } 
    }
}

And then the actual title screen class:

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
 
public class titleScreen{
 
    public static BufferedImage titleBackground;
    public static BufferedImage titleLogo;
 
    public static Font titleFont = new Font("Verdana",Font.BOLD,16);
 
    public static JFrame frame;
 
    public titleScreen(){
    	Component component = new Component();
 
        //This I/O Code removed for purposes of SSCCE
 
        frame = new JFrame();
        frame.setResizable(true);
        frame.add(component);
        frame.pack();
 
        frame.setTitle(Component.windowTitle);
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setVisible(true);
 
        JButton startButton = new JButton("Start");//The JButton name.
        startButton.setBounds(10, 10, 100, 40);
        frame.add(startButton);//Add the button to the JFrame.
 
        component.startTitle();
    }
 
    public void render(Graphics g){
        g.drawImage(titleScreen.titleBackground, 0, 0, Component.winDimXDef, Component.winDimYDef, null);
        g.drawImage(titleScreen.titleLogo, 14, 0, Component.winDimXDef - 25, Component.winDimYDef - 420, null);
 
        g.setFont(titleFont);
        g.setColor(Color.WHITE);
        g.drawString("Copyright © 2013 Jacob Keep. Please do not reproduce. :(", (Component.size.width / 2) - 395, Component.size.height - 6);
    }
 
    //This method removed for purposes of SSCCE
}

As you can see, if you drag the frame's edges and make them larger, you can see the button underneath. (I wasn't going to worry about doing setBounds until after I got the layering right.)

I see many problems with your code including

• using static variables where not needed,
• Getting the Graphics object by calling getGraphics() on a component rather than drawing in a JComponent's paintComponent method
• Mixing AWT with Swing components
• Mixing applets with JFrames
• Using absolute positioning rather than layout managers
• Giving your class the same name as a core Java class, Component

I suggest you read the Oracle Swing tutorial drawing section, and that you scrap this code above and re-start from a pre-thought out plan rather than by free association,...

Okay.. well I am a beginner, so, I suppose that's to be expected. :3 (That's what I get for listening to YouTube.)

So, yeah, I will do that.

One thing I do want to ask, though, is how are you seeing my code in the first place? o_0 I submitted it, and it said it would be approved for viewing by a moderator. And, I still don't see the post myself.. strange.