Question

My code for custom button is:

public class GreyButton extends JLabel {

    private int     ButtonWidth,
                    ButtonHeight;
    String          ButtonText;

    public GreyButton(String BText, int BWidth, int BHeight) {
        super(BText);
        this.ButtonHeight   =   BHeight;
        this.ButtonWidth    =   BWidth;
        this.ButtonText     =   BText;
        setGreyButton();
    }

    private void setGreyButton() {
        this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(this.ButtonWidth, this.ButtonHeight));
        this.setBackground(Color.LIGHT_GRAY);
        this.setOpaque(false);
        this.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.BLACK, 2));
        this.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
        this.setHorizontalAlignment(SwingConstants.CENTER); //This line
    }

    @Override
    public void paint(Graphics g) {
        paintComponent(g);
    }

    @Override
    public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
        Graphics2D  Shape                   =   (Graphics2D) g;

        AlphaComposite newComposite         =   AlphaComposite.getInstance(AlphaComposite.SRC_OVER, 1.0f);
        Shape.setComposite(newComposite);

        Color[]         FillArray           =   {Color.WHITE, Color.GRAY};
        float[]         Distribution        =   {0.85f, 1.0f};
        GradientPaint   Fill                =   new GradientPaint(10, 8, Color.BLACK, 10, 72, Color.WHITE);         
        Paint           OldPaint            =   Shape.getPaint();

        Shape.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING, RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
        Shape.setPaint(Fill);
        Shape.fillRect(0, 0, ButtonWidth, ButtonHeight);
        Shape.setPaint(OldPaint);
        Shape.setFont(new Font("Monospace", Font.BOLD, 14));
        Shape.drawString(ButtonText, 0, 0); //This line
    }

}

This is to create a JLabel with custom 2D Graphics. The problem is that I am trying to center the text in the JLabel and this be should valid for any size the used in the constructor.

Currently, I need to calculate the values and set the second and third parameters of drawString accordingly.

Question: Is there a general way of centering a text on JLabel whose size may differ with each instance?

Answer 1

Don’t override the paint() method when doing custom painting. You would never override the method to invoke the paintCompnent() method.

If you are just trying to paint a custom background then I would think you would:

1. Paint your gradient background at the start of the paintComponent() method.

2. Then invoke super.paintComponent(g). The normal painting code will position the text based on the horizontal alignment property.