setting contents visible/invisible

[Saulo Menezes]

Hi everyone!
I am a novice in Java and I would really need your help, as I am struggling with the code. I have created an Applet that displays information about a fictitious company but I would like this info to change, depending on which button the user presses. All the components (info) in the Applet are part of a paint method: lines, strings and images mainly.
Which kind of procedure would I need to allow this to occur? Could I have two or more paint methods working based on each button that will be pressed? I mean once the Applet is loaded a paint method would be called, if a button is pressed that paint would not be valid anymore and another would be called and so on and so forth.
If this is possible, could you give me a hint on how to do it? I would be grateful.
Yours,
Saulo

[Dirk Schreckmann]

Welcome to JavaRanch, Saulo!
To better help others here to help you, post some code that you've been working. Explain what it does, or what you wish it did and why. Also explain how you think you might be able to change it to do what you want.
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[Saulo Menezes]

Following is the code to my Applet. What I intend to do is to make components from the painting method to be painted only if a certain variable is true.
In this way I intend display info - images, strings, ect - only if a certain button is clicked, which would allow me to control what is going to be displayed on my Applet.
To test it I tried this code but now that I have added the booleans b1, b2, b3, b4 and their parameters the images simply vanished... Would somebody be able to explain me why this is happening and give me a hint of how I can solve this problem? Many thanks!
Saulo

 import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class Webtest extends Applet implements ActionListener, MouseListener
{
Image img;
Image img2;
Image img3;
Image img4;
Image img5;
private Button home;
private Button company;
private Button products;
private Button contact;
AudioClip sound;
Panel panel;
private boolean buttonClicked = false;
private boolean b1, b2, b3, b4;
public void init() {
setBackground(new Color(0, 128, 128));// defining colour
panel = new Panel();
this.add(panel);
panel.setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 1,5,5));
panel.add(home = new Button("home"));
home.addActionListener(this);
panel.add(company = new Button("company"));
company.addActionListener(this);
panel.add(products = new Button("products"));
products.addActionListener(this);
panel.add(contact = new Button("contact"));
contact.addActionListener(this);
validate();
img=getImage(getDocumentBase(), "logo.gif");
img2=getImage(getDocumentBase(), "facade2.jpg");
img3=getImage(getDocumentBase(), "square.gif");
img4=getImage (getDocumentBase(), "quote2.gif");
img5=getImage (getDocumentBase(), "quote3.gif");
AudioClip sound = getAudioClip (getDocumentBase(), "music.wav");
sound.play();
addMouseListener(this);
}
public void paint (Graphics g)
{
if (b1) {g.drawImage (img, 0,0, this);}
else if (b2) {g.drawImage (img2, 325, 90, this);}
else if (b3) {g.drawImage (img3, 50, 220, this);}
else if (b4) {g.drawImage (img4, 50, 320, this);}
g.drawImage (img5, 550, 180, this);
g. setColor (Color.white);
g.drawLine (10, 90,300, 90);
g.drawString ("Welcome to our site!! Here you will find the best", 10,110);
g.drawString ("products and prices in furniture for your office.", 10, 125);
g.drawString ("Our computer desks are produced based on what", 10, 140);
g.drawString ("you expect from it: innovation and practicality.", 10, 155);
g.drawString ("What are you waiting for? Contact us right away.", 10, 170);
g.drawLine (10, 190, 300, 190);
g.drawString ("Facade of our headquarters - Swindon", 320, 385);
g.drawLine (550, 160, 740, 160);
g.drawLine (550, 288, 740, 288);
}
public void mouseEntered (MouseEvent me)
{
if (!buttonClicked) {showStatus("You're now on Furniture.com. The best place to buy furniture for your office");}}
public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent me)
{}
public void mousePressed(MouseEvent me)
{}
public void mouseReleased (MouseEvent me)
{}
public void mouseExited (MouseEvent me)
{}
public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent e)// what each button will do and display
{
buttonClicked = true;
if (e.getSource()==company) {
b2 =true;
b1=false;
b3=false;
b4=false;
showStatus ("Discover what Furniture.com has to offer you");}
else if (e.getSource()==products) {
b3 =true;
b1=false;
b2=false;
b4=false;
showStatus( "Check our list of products to choose what fits you best");}
else if (e.getSource()==contact) {
b4=true;
b3=false;
b2=false;
b1=false;
showStatus ("Did you like what you saw? Contact us then.");}
else if (e.getSource()==home) {
b1 = true;
b2=false;
b3=false;
b4=false;
showStatus ("You're now on Furniture.com. The best place to buy furniture for your office");}
}
} 

[Manfred Leonhardt]

Hi Saulo,
One way to do it would be to have some integer value that your paint method can use.

public class MultiplePaints
{
int paintNumber = 0;
public void paint1( Graphics g )
{
}
public void paint2( Graphics g )
{
}
public void paint( Graphics g )
{
// Make sure components get drawn first.
super.paint( g );
switch( paintNumber )
{
case 1:
paint1( g );
break;
case 2:
paint2( g );
break;
default:
// Perform default stuff here.
}
}
public void init()
{
// Layout with button here.
}
}

You could have your button actionListener set the paintNumber.
Regards,
Manfred.

[Saulo Menezes]

Thanks a lot for the help, Manfred. This will be really useful for me.
Saulo