Question

Is it possible to create buttons in shapes other than rectangles (or rounded rectangles). Could you, for instance, create a button in the shape of a state on a map? Would clicking anywhere in the shape cause a MouseEvent to be broadcast?

Answer 1

You can create such buttons by extending JButton and calling setContentAreaFilled(false);
in the constructor. Then you can paint whatever you like in the overridden paintComponent() method. Also you need to override the contains() method of JComponent to provide desired mouse hit-test. In this method you can call polygon’s (the one used for drawing the button) contains() method.