Creating custom JButton from images containing transparent pixels

Question

Read edit 2 for what I\'m actually missing to make it work

I\'m currently trying to create some custom JButtons using images created in photoshop that have an

Answer 1

If you want to have shape-specific click points, you're better off using Shape and their contains method. If you want, you can create a shape when creating your custom button class as part of it, and implement a contains method by wrapping around the shape's contains method.

As for the custom JButton, create a class that extends JButton, like this:

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class CustomButton extends JButton{

    /** Filename of the image to be used as the button's icon. */
    private String fileName;
    /** The width of the button */
    private int width;
    /** The height of the button. */
    private int height;

 public CustomButton(String fileName, int width, int height){
    this.fileName = fileName;
    this.width = width;
    this.height = height;
    createButton();
}

/**
 * Creates the button according to the fields set by the constructor.
 */
private void createButton(){
    this.setIcon(getImageIcon(filename));
    this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(width, height));
    this.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(width, height));
    this.setFocusPainted(false);
    this.setRolloverEnabled(false);
    this.setOpaque(false);
    this.setContentAreaFilled(false);
    this.setBorderPainted(false);
    this.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(0,0,0,0)); 
  }
}

Here's how you can load the ImageIcon, if you want to do it like this.

  public ImageIcon getImageIcon(String fileName){
    String imageDirectory = "images/"; //relative to classpath
    URL imgURL = getClass().getResource(imageDirectory + fileName);
    return new ImageIcon(imgURL);
  }

This will give you a button that will at least look like your image. I asked a similar question regarding Image-based events on click, and Shapes helped wonders. I guess it comes down to how complex your button images are. Here's reference anyway:
How can you detect a mouse-click event on an Image object in Java?

PS: Maybe look into generating shapes from images, that go around all the pixels that aren't transparent. No idea if this is possible, but it would mean that a button would only be "pressed" if the user clicks on the image part of it. Just a thought.