Which component to draw on?

[noodle_variation_187-X]

Hello forum,
I have read some tutorials on game programming and Java 2D, but I am still confused about the architecture of such programs. Some people draw on Canvas and add that to a JFrame, some draw directly on a JFrame and others on a JPanel inside a JFrame. Which option would you recommend and where are the advantages/disadvantages of every single approach? Thanks.

[PhHein]

Hi,
Canvas and JFrame doesn't work. Never mix lightweight and heavyweight components, i.e. Swing and AWT. I'd go for JPanels in JFrames. Read this tutorial: Lesson: Performing Custom Painting (The Java™ Tutorials > Creating a GUI With JFC/Swing)

[noodle_variation_187-X]

Thank you. Should the JFrame be extended in the game class (which is often done) or better used as a property?

[PhHein]

As a property. You're not modifying it's behaviour, you're only using it.

[Tolls]

It is almost never necessary to extend JFrame.
A JFrame is simply the top level container of a Swing app, all the bits of the GUI ending up in its base JPanel.
Extending JFrame to add things to it would by like extending ArrayList simply to populate it with values.

[noodle_variation_187-X]

Thanks to all of you. It's somehow annoying that so many bad code examples can be found on the internet. Apart from the Oracle docs, which Java coding websites are really reliable?

[noodle_variation_187-X]

But what about the BufferStrategy class? Isn't that a good reason to use Frame + Canvas for games?