Thread: Combining Shapes + Text

I have a question regarding combining shapes.

I currently had a simple class (below):

import java.awt.geom.Ellipse2D.Double;
import java.awt.Rectangle;
import java.awt.geom.Area;
 
public class Island extends HashiSymbol
{
	int value;
 
    public Island(int x,int y,int valuec) 
    {
    	super(x,y);
    	value = valuec;
    }
 
    public Area getShape()
    {
    	Area ret = new Area();
    	Rectangle rect = new Rectangle(x,y,30,30);
    	ret.add(new Area(rect));
    	Double circ = new Double(x,y,30,30);
    	ret.exclusiveOr(new Area(circ));
    	return ret;
    }
}

I have several graphical objects that extend HashiSymbol, which is another class I made that I will probably make extend Area (Area (Java Platform SE 6)) later on. Each of these objects present themselves differently, but they will all be painted to the main component. Because of stylistic reasons, I provided a method that returns the Shape (Shape (Java Platform SE 6)) of the object to be painted by my Graphics2D (Graphics2D (Java Platform SE 6)) object in my paintComponent method. Since these Shapes can contain several different shapes, I used the Area class to combine Shapes to create one paintable Shape.

The Island object should contain 3 different "shapes":
1) A rectangle border (mainly to show bounds)
2) A circle border
3) A single number between 1 and 8 in the center of the circle border

I have the first two in the above code, but I cannot figure out how to represent Text as a Shape that I can add to Area. Does anyone know how to do this? Simply painting a String to the main component is not desired, as the text should be part of the Island object and not an individual component. Any suggestions or help is appreciated.

Instead of having each Object return a Shape that is then drawn, why not give each Object a draw(Graphics2D g) method, then let each of them draw itself? Then in your paintComponent(Graphics g) method, simply call the draw method of each Object?

Originally Posted by KevinWorkman

Instead of having each Object return a Shape that is then drawn, why not give each Object a draw(Graphics2D g) method, then let each of them draw itself? Then in your paintComponent(Graphics g) method, simply call the draw method of each Object?

I'm going to think that over and get back to you. After I get all the actual graphical displaying and other things down, I will be adding mouse listeners that alter the design of the objects based on what the user determines. It will be important to know what object was pressed by the user and change it accordingly. I was using Shapes because I could call the .contains() method to determine if a mouse event occurred in a given object. I'm not sure of any drawback that could occur by using a draw method instead of a getShape() method, but I'll think it over and give it a try if nothing sounds like a problem.

Incidentally, does anyone know of any path-creating algorithm that I can use/modify? The goal of this will be to have an X number of "Islands" and have them all connected by lines. Not necessarily directly connected, but linked at least. The total path will be bounded in the window and the lines are either horizontal or vertical with no lines overlapping each other and dead ends are acceptable. I'm considering drawing out the path and then determining where the Islands should be based on where the lines change directions, meet, or lead to dead ends. Anyone have any other ideas that could work?

Originally Posted by aussiemcgr

I'm going to think that over and get back to you. After I get all the actual graphical displaying and other things down, I will be adding mouse listeners that alter the design of the objects based on what the user determines. It will be important to know what object was pressed by the user and change it accordingly. I was using Shapes because I could call the .contains() method to determine if a mouse event occurred in a given object. I'm not sure of any drawback that could occur by using a draw method instead of a getShape() method, but I'll think it over and give it a try if nothing sounds like a problem.

Well, you could give each Object a contains() method as well.

Originally Posted by aussiemcgr

Incidentally, does anyone know of any path-creating algorithm that I can use/modify? The goal of this will be to have an X number of "Islands" and have them all connected by lines. Not necessarily directly connected, but linked at least. The total path will be bounded in the window and the lines are either horizontal or vertical with no lines overlapping each other and dead ends are acceptable. I'm considering drawing out the path and then determining where the Islands should be based on where the lines change directions, meet, or lead to dead ends. Anyone have any other ideas that could work?

Path2D (Java Platform SE 6)

Originally Posted by KevinWorkman

Well, you could give each Object a contains() method as well.

I was attempting to avoid that since I'm lazy. Obviously if there was no other way of dealing with this other than using a drawing method, I could do that (it's only a handful of lines anyway). My hope was that it would just be generally neater to have the object as an object instead of just a bunch of seemingly randomly drawn lines.

Path2D (Java Platform SE 6)

The Path2D is a path Shape, not an actual pathing algorithm. I'm trying to figure out a way to effectively draw out a maze of lines.

I agree with Kevin's suggestion...delegate the drawing to each object you want to draw. You could theoretically create an interface that has 2 methods: a draw and contains. This will abstract the drawing and selection routines away from the actual drawer component and give you a lot more flexibility in what you draw (for example rendering images, drawing text, etc...).

That being said, to answer your original question you can get a Shape of text using the following (presuming the variable g is a Graphics2D instance):

Font font = g.getFont();
TextLayout layout = new TextLayout("2", font, g.getFontRenderContext());
Shape s = layout.getOutline(g2.getTransform());

I'm trying to figure out a way to effectively draw out a maze of lines.

Create a graph data structure, then traverse the graph and (if needed) drawing lines between.