Thread: Repainting an image

I have this class. Upon initialization, I see the image I want, but when I call load() a second or third time, the image doesn't refresh. How can I repaint the image?

public class ImgPanel extends JPanel {
  JLabel imgLbl;
 
  public ImgPanel(String initPath) {
    load( initPath);
    add( imgLbl );
  }
 
  public void load(String path) {
    BufferedImage img = ImageIO.read( new File( path ) );
    imgLbl = new JLabel(new ImageIcon( img ) );
//  repaint();  <-- no effect
//  imgLbl.repaint(); <-- no effect
  }
}

I'm also trying this way (same issue)

public class ImgPanel extends JPanel{
  BufferedImage img;
 
  public ImgPanel(String initPath) {
    load( initPath );
  }
 
  public void load(String path) {
    img = ImageIO.read(new File(path) );
    repaint();
  }
 
  protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
    super.paintComponent(g);
    g.drawImage(img, 0, 0, null);
  }
}

Comming from a C/C++ world, this is the hardest thing for me about Java. I haven't figured out what is a reference and what is a copy. Could you write a line or two of code to explain that?

I've tried to re-add the object, but that hasn't helped.

Got it, thanks.

This is what it looks like now:

public class ImgPanel extends JPanel {
  JLabel imgLbl;
 
  public ImgPanel(String initPath) {
    imgLbl = new JLabel(new ImageIcon());
    add( imgLbl );
    load( initPath );
  }
 
  public void load(String path) {
    BufferedImage img = ImageIO.read( new File( path ) );
    imgLbl.setIcon(new ImageIcon( img ) );
  }
}

This looks like an easy code to remember. Where exactly do you think you might send this information to? I was thinking of sending one like this to employer with information. It would be a neat look on their computer desktop. Thanks for the codes. I'll try it out too.