Swing Hacks

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Chapter 1, Basic JComponents

#2 Don’t Settle for Boring Text Labels

HACK

With the addition of this code to ImageTest’s main( ) method, the image-

based showcase program is complete. Figure 1-7 shows what the running

program looks like in the selected but disabled state.

H A C K

#2

Don’t Settle for Boring Text Labels Hack #2

JLabel is a Swing staple; but it’s easy to spruce up boring labels with drop

shadows, outlines, and even 3D text.

When you want to draw non-editable text, Swing provides only the JLabel.

You can change the font, size, color, and even add an icon. By using HTML

in your components

[Hack #52], you can even add things like underline and

bullets. This is fine for most jobs, but sometimes you need more. What if

you want a drop shadow or an embossed effect? The

JLabel is simply inade-

quate for richer interfaces. Fortunately, the Swing Team made it very easy to

extend the

JLabel and add these features yourself.

A great many text effects can be achieved with two simple features. First,

you can draw text multiple times, with each iteration slightly offset or in a

different color, to create effects like drop shadows and embossing. Second,

you can adjust the spacing between letters in a word (a feature known as

tracking in text-processing circles). Tracking is always specified in addition

to the default tracking specified by a font. Thus, a tracking of +1 would be

drawn as one extra pixel between ...