Applet Background Color

[Joel Christophel]

Okay, when I use the setBackground() method to change the color of the background, nothing happens. Instead, my background is transparent. Why is this happening?

Here's my code:

// ****************************************************************
//   Shapes.java
//
//   The program will draw two filled rectangles and two
//   filled ovals.
// ****************************************************************

import javax.swing.JApplet;
import java.awt.*;

public class Shapes2 extends JApplet
{
    public void paint (Graphics page)
    {
 // Declare size constants
 final int MAX_SIZE = 300;
 final int PAGE_WIDTH = 600;
 final int PAGE_HEIGHT = 400;

 // Declare variables
 int x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, x4, y4;    // x and y coordinates of upper left-corner of each shape
 int width1, height1, width2, height2, width3, height3, width4, height4; // width and height of each shape 

 // Set the background color (or not...)
 setBackground (Color.yellow);

 // Assign the corner points and width and height
 x1 = 0;
 y1 = 0;
 x2 = 15;
 y2 = 15;
 x3 = 90;
 y3 = 90;
 x4 = 200;
 y4 = 200;
 
 width1 = 100;
 height1 =100;
 width2 = 80;
 height2 = 80;
 width3 = 50;
 height3 = 50;
 width4 = 35;
 height4 = 50;
 
 // Draw the rectangles
 page.setColor (Color.pink);
 page.fillRect(x1, y1, width1, height1);
 page.setColor (Color.blue);
 page.fillOval(x2, y2, width2, height2);
 page.setColor (Color.orange);
 page.fillRect(x3, y3, width3, height3);
 page.setColor (Color.green);
 page.fillOval(x4, y4, width4, height4);
 
    }
}

[Darryl Burke]

Read the API for JApplet, particularly the second paragraph of the class description. Then observe that there is a "See Also" link. Click that link and go through the API documentation for the interface.

After that, go through the tutorial on Performing Custom Painting where you wilkl learn the correct way to do this in Swing.