Thread: repaint not updating screen

Thank you for your response. I'm sorry to be so dull (at least I'm feeling that way right now), but I tried what's below and a few other configurations and am still having the same trouble. Is this what you meant, or did I miss the boat entirely?

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener; 
 
public class HelloMyFriends extends JApplet implements ActionListener 
{ 
	 Container con = getContentPane();
     JLabel header;
	 JTextField enterFriends;
	 JButton btnFriend;
	 double myCommunity; 
 
 	final int NUM_RANGES = 7;
 	int[] costRangeLimit = {1,5,25,50,200};
 	String[] status = {"you have a friend", "a good group", "It's a party", "That's a big party", "Now it's a community"};
 	String strNumFriends;
 	int numFriends;    	
 	int sub = NUM_RANGES-1;
 
 	JLabel friendStatus = new JLabel("Yes, you have a friend");
 
     public void init()  
     { 
    	 con.setLayout(new FlowLayout()); 
    	 header = new JLabel("How many friends do you have?");
         btnFriend = new JButton("Update friends");
		 enterFriends = new JTextField ("1",6);
		  con.add(header);
		  con.add(enterFriends);
		  con.add(btnFriend); 
 
          btnFriend.addActionListener(this); 
         } 
         public void paint(Graphics g) 
         { 
        	 super.paint(g);
 
        	 } 
 
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)  
         {  if (e.getSource()==btnFriend)
              {
                  con.add(friendStatus);
                  con.repaint();
                  con.setLayout(getLayout());
              }
 
          else if (e.getSource()!=btnFriend)  
          	 { 
             }
              repaint();
         }        
        public void stop()
        	{
        	repaint();
        	}
}

I thought I was using

con.setLayout(new FlowLayout());

for that?...

a-ha! I was forgetting about

 con.revalidate();

Thank you so much!