Switching between JPanels

Question

I\'m trying to make a game. There\'s several different screens in the game such as a main menu, and the actual game screen. Each of these is a separate jpanel extension. I have

Answer 1

If you are making a game, you make it in a separate thread different from the EDT. Most games show different screens by not changing panels but they use a single panel, on which they render according to GameState.

Here's an example.

public class MyGame extends JPanel implements Runnable {

    public static enum GameState {
        MENU, INTRO, LEVELS, END, TITLES
    }

    GameState state = GameState.MENU;

    public MyGame(){
        setDoubleBuffered(true);
        // Initialize the resources
        new Thread(this).start();
    }

    public void update(long elapsedTime){
        switch (state){
            case MENU:
                // Show the menu
                break;
            ....
        }
    }

    private void GameLoop(){
        // Game Loop goes here
    }

    public void run(){
        GameLoop();
    }

    public void paint(Graphics g){
        // switch and draw your game
    }

    public static void main(String[] args){
        JFrame f = new JFrame("MyGame");
        f.setSize(640, 480);
        f.add(new MyGame());
        f.setVisible(true);
    }

}

If one state ie., a menu completed, change the state variable. And first learn using a GameEngine before you make it on your own.