using color in Java

If what I'm asking is too much for the amount of points I put in the question then let me know.

guidway

I can increase points if that isn't enough.

Yes UIManager is the way to go.

eg. to set label foreground colour:

UIManager.put("Label.foreground", new ColorUIResource(0x00, 0x7f, 0x7f));

thanks objects,

I thought this was the best way. The problem is that I can't find all the components that can be set with it. Is there a list of all the UIManager keys that can be set? That's really what I need. I'm having trouble also understanding how it will recognize the color change for other interfaces I create. Is there something I have to do to make other interfaces see the change? I'm increasing point to 100 because I'll probably have more questions to ask than this. Thanks for the response,

guidway

The UIManager keys depend on the particular L&F you are using.

What do you mean by other interfaces.

That's what I was looking for. Thanks objects! Now the question about the interfaces. Here's what I meant. I create this interface that allows users to change colors for any component. Now when I exit out of this GUI, and go to another part of my program (project)and open up another GUI I want this same component color changes to be part of it also. What I'm asking is "Is there any specific things I need to do to make the computer recognize the settings once they're changed in UIManager. Or does UIManager automatically update all other interfaces in my project? At one point, I was uing SwingUtilities.UpdateComponentTreeUI(this) to update look and feel settings after I had changed them. Is this code relevant for this or is there other code I need to use to view the changes to the color? Again, I'm not familiar with doing this so I really need it broken down so I can understand all that is involved in the process. I'm pretty much "in the dark" at the moment as to how all this works with the color and all. I do appreciate the time and the more I understand about all this the more points I'll add. This has been bothering me for a while now because I kind of understand some of it but I want a full understanding of UIManager and what needs to be done to make it work completely like it should be used. Thanks again,

guidway

Any changes you make are only valid for the current execution and are lost when you exit and start another app.
To do what you require your best bet would be to store your defaults in a properties file and load them upon startup. Then when a value is changed you'll need to update the properties file.

A little misunderstanding. I know what you are referring to. That's not what I meant. I'm not exiting my application, I'm just going to another part of it. In other words I'm closing that GUI window and clicking on something else on my main menu of my project. I'm still in the project and it is still in execution, but what I'm trying to figure out is does it know how to automatically update the colors in my other GUI's I've created or do I have to tell it to update them manually. This is confusing to me. I understand about setting it up in UIManager (using the put statement, but what happens after that? Do I have to tell it to refresh the changes or something? Or does it automatically do it for me?

guidway

I'll check any more responses in the morning. It's 12 A.M. over here and I have to work in the morning so I'll check back then. Thanks for the help.

guidway

When a component is created it uses the existing values stored in UIManager.
If you changes the values in UIManager after the GUI has been created and want the changes to take effect for existing components you need to call updateComponentTreeUI() for the changes to take effect.

objects,

thanks again for the help. I might have more questions in the next few weeks related to this, but I'll go ahead and close it for the sake of cleanup. Thanks again,

guidway

No worries, thanks for the points :)

http://www.objects.com.au/staff/mick
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