Question

Basically, I’m trying to move a JButton (or even a JLabel) inside a frame using the arrow keys.
I’ve successfully figured out the part to detect the arrow key presses. Now all i want to do is to change the position of the button (or label) depending on the key pressed.

E.G. when I press the “UP” key, the button/label should move up by say 5 pixels. I couldn’t find the property to change the position of the button.

Do I need to put button/label inside the panel or something like that?

Please help, its not a homework, just curious 🙂

Answer 1

How I would do it is to use the Graphics instead of a Panel. So the bit of code that draws it could be:

    public class panel extends JPanel{
public int X = 50; //Starting x
public int Y = 50; //Starting y
public panel(){

}
public void paintComponent(Graphics g){
    super.paintComponent(g);
    this.setBackground(Color.WHITE);
    g.drawString("Hello this will be moved", X, Y);//<--- This draws the text
}

}

This bit of code will draw the text and repeatedly draw it. All you have to do is in the Key Listener or what ever was used, do;

  X++;

or:

  Y++;

That will add 1 everytime. So when you press the key it is moved one x pixel or y pixel or back or forth, depending on the ++ or –. Then add this to the JFrame and it will draw it on screen.