Thread: odd message from Component.getGraphics()

I was trying to get the Graphics object associated with a Canvas object, then use it's drawString method. I'm making a program that handles key events and then draws them on a Canvas object. One class takes care of the input, and the other the GUI. The class which takes care of the input should also draw on the canvas. I don't think I need to do it that way, but thought I'd see if its possible.

My problem is I can't understand the string the method returned, so I can't call its drawString method.


Thanks.
-Mel

I want to get the graphics object associated with the canvas object, then call its drawString() method. So if its named graph, I can call graph.drawString().

The thing about variables is that they are names that *your* code gives to things. The things themselves don't have names intrinsically. So if you want that graphics context to be called graph then you go right ahead and declare such a variable and assign (a reference) to it.

Graphics2D graph = (Graphics2D)comp.getGraphics();
// later...
graph.drawString(/*etc*/);

But, as copeg noted, this is altogether the wrong way to draw a string: use the component's paintComponent() method.

The problem with the paintComponent() is I can't use it in an if-else statement. The if-else statment checks what key was pressed, and ignores it if it is a certain key.

I think I found a workaround, might be messy code, but worth a test.