Do I actually call the paintComponent method I make when creating a rectangle in Java?

Question

This is my current RectangleComponent class and I add it to a panel in my main JFrame but it never appears. I thought it wasn\'t drawing so I decided to call the paintComponent

Answer 1

Your code is a bit creative, a bit crazy, and with logic that is very hard to follow. The most unusual aspect is that it has two JFrames, one called "frame", and one the GameFrame object itself, both of which get components added, but only one of which shows. You also have many methods that return void (which if over-used increases code smell) and only add to making the code more confusing.

For example,

public GameFrame(char x) {

  // here you set up the "frame" JFrame
  frame.setSize(1024, 768);
  frame.setTitle("Game");
  frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
  frame.setVisible(true);
  FlowLayout layout = new FlowLayout();
  createPanels(x);
  healthPanel.setLayout(layout);
  buttonPanel.setLayout(layout);
  mainPanel.setLayout(layout);

  // here you add content to the frame JFrame, and pack it
  frame.getContentPane().add(mainPanel);
  frame.pack();
  repaint();  // and then call repaint on the "this" JFrame?
}

public RectangleComponent getLife() {
  return life;
}

private void createHealth() {
  life = new RectangleComponent(green, healthPanel);
  death = new RectangleComponent(red, healthPanel);
}

private void createPanels(char x) {
  add(healthPanel); // now you add content to the "this" JFrame
  pack();  // and pack it
  createBar(x);
  createHealth();
  mainPanel.add(buttonPanel);
  mainPanel.add(healthPanel); // and then re-add a JPanel into a second JPanel?
  healthPanel.add(death);
  healthPanel.add(life);
  buttonPanel.add(bar.getSpell1());
  buttonPanel.add(bar.getSpell2());
  buttonPanel.add(bar.getSpell3());
  add(mainPanel); // and then re -add the mainPanel into the "this" JFrame???
}

This is all very confusing, and not likely going to work.

Then there's your trying to call paintComponent directly and calling getGraphics on a JComponent, both of which should not be done. You will want to go through the graphics tutorials to see how to do this correctly.

I recommend that you consider re-writing this, and first and foremost, using only one JFrame, and organizing your code better.