Question

I’m developing an simple art program in Java and I was curious if it was possible to create an gray empty space around the canvas like is most art programs(Meaning, an empty space that isn’t locked down and is scrollable). Is this possible and how could I go about doing this?

Example:

Answer 1

Have you considered using a Line Border within the JPanel.

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
class Testing
{
  public void buildGUI()
  {
    JFrame f = new JFrame();

    JPanel o_panel = new JPanel();
    JPanel panel = new JPanel();
    panel.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(500,500));
    panel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500,500));
    panel.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(500,500));
    panel.setBackground(Color.RED);
    panel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.GRAY,25));

    o_panel.add(panel);

    f.getContentPane().add(o_panel);
    f.pack();
    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();
      }
    });
  }
}