Question

While using the Nimbus L&F feel in Java, I am having problems with changing the background color for a JButton more than once. In the code below, I have a simple Swing application that displays a JButton and attempts to change the color once per second. However, only the first color is being applied. Can anyone provide any suggestions on how to make this change more than once? I’m running java 6.29.

public class NimbusTest3 extends JFrame {
    private javax.swing.JButton button;

    public NimbusTest3(){
        button = new javax.swing.JButton();
        button.setText("Text");
        this.add(button, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        this.pack();

        Timer t = new Timer(1000, new ActionListener() {
            Random r = new Random();
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                UIDefaults buttonDefaults = UIManager.getLookAndFeelDefaults();
                Color c = new Color(r.nextInt(
                        256), r.nextInt(256), r.nextInt(256));
                System.out.println(c);
                buttonDefaults.put("Button.background", c);
                button.putClientProperty("Nimbus.Overrides", buttonDefaults);
                button.putClientProperty("Nimbus.Overrides.InheritDefaults", false);
                SwingUtilities.updateComponentTreeUI(button);
                button.repaint();
            }
        });
        t.start();
    }

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        try {
            for (LookAndFeelInfo info : UIManager.getInstalledLookAndFeels()) {
                if ("Nimbus".equals(info.getName())) {
                    UIManager.setLookAndFeel(info.getClassName());
                    break;
                }
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            return;
        } 

        java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                new NimbusTest3().setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }
}

Answer 1

• for Nimbus you have to call SwingUtilities.updateComponentTreeUI(myButton); after any of changes for Nimbus Defaults

• more infos about that in this thread about Background and JPanel

• read Nimbus Look and Feel

EDIT :

I agreed not possible to change that direct way (maybe there is another dirty hacks) is possible that with very complicated way (development of Nimbus L&F ended somewhere on first half), another (similair) issue is in my question about Font

import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.util.Random;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.LookAndFeel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.Timer;
import javax.swing.UIDefaults;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import javax.swing.UIManager.LookAndFeelInfo;
import javax.swing.UnsupportedLookAndFeelException;

public class NimbusTest3 extends JFrame {

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
    private javax.swing.JButton button;

    public NimbusTest3() {
        button = new javax.swing.JButton();
        button.setText("Text");
        add(button);
        setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        this.pack();
        Timer t = new Timer(1000, new ActionListener() {

            private Random r = new Random();

            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                Color c = new Color(r.nextInt(256), r.nextInt(256), r.nextInt(256));
                try {
                    LookAndFeel lnf = UIManager.getLookAndFeel().getClass().newInstance();
                    UIDefaults uiDefaults = lnf.getDefaults();
                    uiDefaults.put("nimbusBase", c);
                    UIManager.getLookAndFeel().uninitialize();
                    UIManager.setLookAndFeel(lnf);
                } catch (InstantiationException ex) {
                } catch (IllegalAccessException ex) {
                } catch (UnsupportedLookAndFeelException ex) {
                }
                UIDefaults defaults = UIManager.getDefaults();
                defaults.put("Button.background", c);
                SwingUtilities.updateComponentTreeUI(button);
            }
        });
        t.start();
    }

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        try {
            for (LookAndFeelInfo info : UIManager.getInstalledLookAndFeels()) {
                if ("Nimbus".equals(info.getName())) {
                    UIManager.setLookAndFeel(info.getClassName());
                    break;
                }
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            return;
        }

        java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                new NimbusTest3().setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }
}