JTextArea image

[colin shuker]

Hi, I'm trying to put an Image in a JTextArea, I've managed to do so using:

chatArea = new JTextArea("")
{
     {setOpaque(false);}

     public void paintComponent (Graphics g)
     {
         g.drawImage(chatImage, 0, 0, null,this);
               
         super.paintComponent(g);
      }
};

But the problem is, my JTextArea is in a ScrollPane, so when I scroll down, the image scrolls with the text.
The effect I would like is the image to not move, while the text scrolls over it.

I think this is possible, but I don't know how to do it.
I considered adding the image to ScrollPane as I have above, then making the JTextArea transparent, but I couldn't get it to work.

Any thought? Thanks

[Campbell Ritchie]

You can't add images to scroll panes (at least I think you can't). You have to add Components to scroll panes, then stick the image on the component. Then you might make it transparent.

[colin shuker]

I've tried a few things, starting with a JPanel, with an image, then a JScrollPane on top of that, which contains the JTextArea.
The image shows, but the also covers the text, so its not quite right, and I'm not really sure what I'm doing.

Any help is appreciated, thanks

[Michael Dunn]

make the textArea opaque(false)
use the image/paintComponent method for a JViewport
set this as the viewport of the scrollpane
set the viewportView as the textArea

[colin shuker]

Thanks, but I'm not quite sure how I have to set it up, I haven't used ViewPort before.

I basically have this code

JViewport jvp = new JViewport()
{
    public void paint(Graphics g)
    {
        Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D) g.create();
        g2.drawImage(chatImage, 0, 0, null);
        super.paint(g2); 
        g2.dispose();
    }
};


chatArea = new JTextArea("");
chatArea.setOpaque(false);
chatArea.setForeground(Color.YELLOW);
chatArea.setLineWrap(true);
chatArea.setWrapStyleWord(true);


JScrollPane jsp = new JScrollPane(chatArea,
    JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS,
    JScrollPane.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_NEVER);



jsp.setViewportView(chatArea);
jsp.setViewport(jvp);

But it doesnt do anything, any ideas?

[Rob Spoor]

Don't use setViewPortView, but add the text area directly to the JViewPort.

[colin shuker]

Thanks, its slightly better, I can see the text and its on a grey background instead of white, but there is no image yet.

My code is:

JViewport jvp = new JViewport()  
{
    public void paint(Graphics g)  
    {  
        g.drawImage(chatImage, 0, 0, null);  
        super.paint(g);   
        g.dispose();  
    }  
};  
  
 
chatArea = new JTextArea("");  
chatArea.setOpaque(false);  
chatArea.setForeground(Color.YELLOW);  
chatArea.setLineWrap(true);  
chatArea.setWrapStyleWord(true);  
  
 
JScrollPane jsp = new JScrollPane(chatArea,  
    JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS,  
    JScrollPane.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_NEVER);  


jvp.setView(chatArea); // ALSO TRIED  jvp.add(chatArea);
jsp.setViewport(jvp);  

Thanks

[Michael Dunn]

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.table.*;
class Testing
{
  Image img;
  public void buildGUI()
  {
    try{img = javax.imageio.ImageIO.read(new java.net.URL(getClass().getResource("Test.gif"), "Test.gif"));}
    catch(Exception e){}//handled in paintComponent()
    JViewport jvp = new JViewport()
    {
       public void paintComponent(Graphics g)
       {
         super.paintComponent(g);
         if(img != null) g.drawImage(img, 0,0,this.getWidth(),this.getHeight(),this);
       }
    };

    JTextArea ta = new JTextArea(50,50);
    ta.setOpaque(false);
    JScrollPane sp = new JScrollPane();
    sp.setViewport(jvp);
    sp.setViewportView(ta);
    JFrame f = new JFrame();
    f.getContentPane().add(sp);
    f.setSize(200,200);
    f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
    f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    f.setVisible(true);
  }
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
    SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable(){
      public void run(){
        new Testing().buildGUI();
      }
    });
  }
}

[colin shuker]

Excellent, thanks.

I got it working now, I don't fully understand it yet, but I can play around with it.

Thanks again.

[Rob Spoor]

colin shuker wrote:

    public void paint(Graphics g)  
    {  
        g.drawImage(chatImage, 0, 0, null);  
        super.paint(g);   
        g.dispose();  
    }  
};  

super.paint(g) (and super.paintComponent(g)) clears all previous drawing, then starts all over. So you should move your drawImage call to after the super.paint(g). Also, do NOT dispose this Graphics object - it's still needed for drawing the rest of the GUI. The Swing API will dispose it when needed.

Finally, override paintComponent instead of paint like Michael has shown. Just keep the method protected.