PopupMenu and JEditorPane String to Image conversion

[ShadowWalker]

Hello all.
I am working on a simple online chat program. I have build the server services and generally everything works smoothly.
My chat GUI looks like the image above :



Now for the input area i use a JEditorPane as like the output message area. The reason of choosing JEditorPane is because i want to apply some CSS on future.(If you can to suggest anything better ok :) ).
Now under the input message area there are two JButtons. One for attachments and other one for emoticons. Now i am trying to make a Popup Menu with all my Emoticons Images when someone click the JButton(emoticons). I was thinking about a JList inside a popupMenu but that kind of thing is mostly impossible i guess. So If anyone has any idea of how can i implement this thing then i would like to hear it. (something like emoticons list i this Forum and if someone know a free good resources(gifs or images) will be nice too)

Also would be nice if someone can tell me a way to automaticaly convert String to images for example when someone type in inputJEditor something like this :) or this :( to convert it to emoticon image

[gimbal2]

I would focus on one thing at a time, and thus ask one question at a time. Now you run a great risk of this thread turning into a minefield of disjointed answers and suggestions because different people will zoom in on different questions.

[ShadowWalker]

Hmm i guess you have right..So i remove the Error message and the question about the error and i will make an onother post about that (maybe in advanced section)
if again my post has too many and different questions then i will try to edit again.

The main question actually is how to make a Menu with emoticons by pressing the emoticonsButton. I was thinking about a PopupMenu but i don't know how to implement it.

[gimbal2]

You know about the Swing tutorial I hope? It has an incredible amount of examples. There isn't a thing in the world that I wanted to do with Swing that I didn't figure out using it.

Lesson: Using Swing Components (The Javaâ„¢ Tutorials > Creating a GUI With JFC/Swing)

The custom combo box example (a combo box with a custom renderer) might be a way to go for example:

How to Use Combo Boxes (The Javaâ„¢ Tutorials > Creating a GUI With JFC/Swing > Using Swing Components)

[ShadowWalker]

Hmmm interesting..i havent thought about JComboBox...Thx for the advice i will check it right now! :)