JLabel wont appear in front of background image

[Andolph23]

I made a panel with a picture as the background but I can't make a label or button show up in front of the background image. Thanks in advance for the help

[camickr]

If you need more help post your SSCCE.

[Andolph23]

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.*;
import java.net.URL;
import java.awt.Component;

public class China extends JFrame
{

    Image img;

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        new China();
    }

    public China()
    {
        // Window and Picture Setup
        this.setSize(415,335);
        this.setTitle("China Restaraunt");
        this.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        JPanel panel = new PicturePanel();


         Toolkit kit = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit();
        img = kit.getImage("C:\\Users\\Andy\\Pictures\\Mountain.jpg");
        img = img.getScaledInstance(400, -1, Image.SCALE_SMOOTH);
        this.repaint();
        JLabel label1 = new JLabel("Test label");

        panel.add(label1);
        this.add(panel);
        this.setVisible(true);

    }

    private class PicturePanel extends JPanel
    {
        public void paint(Graphics g)
        {
            g.drawImage(img,0,0,this);
        }
    }
}

If you run this code you can see that I have a picture set as the background but the label i made won't show up.

Moderator Edit: Code tags added to aid readability

[Fubarable]

Note changes in code. Also note that code has not been compiled nor tested.

public class China extends JFrame
{

    Image img;

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        new China();
    }

    public China()
    {
        // Window and Picture Setup
        this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(415,335)); // **** note change
        this.setTitle("China Restaraunt");
        this.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        JPanel panel = new PicturePanel();


        Toolkit kit = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit();
        img = kit.getImage("C:\\Users\\Andy\\Pictures\\Mountain.jpg");
        img = img.getScaledInstance(400, -1, Image.SCALE_SMOOTH);
        // this.repaint(); // **** no need for this
        JLabel label1 = new JLabel("Test label");

        panel.add(label1);
        add(panel);
        pack();  // **** added
        setVisible(true);

    }

    private class PicturePanel extends JPanel
    {
        // **** this method should be paintComponent, not paint
        public void paintComponent(Graphics g)
        {
            //  **** don't forget to call the super method first
            super.paintComponent(g)
            g.drawImage(img,0,0,this);
        }
    }
}

[Andolph23]

Thanks so much. It worked exactly how i wanted it to, but if you could explain some things so that I understand the changes better that would be great. For one, why did you use the setPreferredSize method instead of just setSize? Also, how is the paintComponent method ever called if it's not used in the China class? I thought that when i used this.paint(), it was calling the paint method but with it gone I don't see how this works.

[camickr]

Swing tutorial

why did you use the setPreferredSize method instead of just setSize?

Read the section from the Swing tutorial on "Using Layout Managers" to understand how layout managers work.

, how is the paintComponent method ever called

Read the section from the Swing tutorial on "Custom Painting" for an explanation and examples (especially the part on "A Closer Look at the Paint Mechanism).

Download a keep a reference to the tutorial.