How can I do full screen in Java on OSX

Question

I\'ve been trying and failing to use the java full screen mode on the primary display of an OSX system. Whatever I\'ve tried I can\'t seem to get rid of the \'apple\' menu

Answer 1

Thats a bit pedantic, the answer is to follow the tutorial completely, which has the essentials and is somewhat more expansive than would fit in a post. The above sample does not work because it is missing a validate(); and some content. I suspect the Java Tutorial will not disappear any time soon. Below is a modified version

package test;

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;

public class FullScreenFrame extends JFrame implements KeyListener {

    public FullScreenFrame () {
        addKeyListener(this);
        setUndecorated(true);
        GraphicsDevice gd = GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment().getDefaultScreenDevice();

    if (gd.isFullScreenSupported()) {
        try {
            this.getContentPane().addKeyListener(this);
            this.getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());
            this.getContentPane().add("Center", new JLabel("Full Screen, back to normal in 10 seconds"));
            gd.setFullScreenWindow(this);
            validate();
            try {
                Thread.sleep(10000);
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        } finally {
            gd.setFullScreenWindow(null);
        }
    } else {
        System.err.println("Full screen not supported");
    }

}

public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e) {
    System.out.println("keyTyped:" +  e.getKeyChar() + "source:"  + e.getSource() );
}
public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) {
    System.out.println("keyPressed:" + e.getKeyChar() + "source:"  + e.getSource() );
}
public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e) {
    System.out.println("keyReleased:" + e.getKeyChar() + "source:"  + e.getSource() );
       setVisible(false);
        dispose();
    }

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

Answer 2

On OS X (10.7 and higher), it is better to use the native fullscreen mode available. You should use:

com.apple.eawt.FullScreenUtilities.setWindowCanFullScreen(window,true);
com.apple.eawt.Application.getApplication().requestToggleFullScreen(window);

where window is the window (JFrame, etc) that you want to take fullscreen

Answer 3

I think your problem is here:

try {
        gd.setFullScreenWindow(this);
}
finally {
        gd.setFullScreenWindow(null);
}

finally blocks are always executed, so what happens here is that you window becomes full screen for a brief instant (if that) and then relinquishes the screen immediately.

Also, setVisible(true) is not necessary when you have previously called setFullScreenWindow(this), according to the Javadocs.

So I would change the constructor to this:

public FullScreenFrame() {
    addKeyListener(this);

    GraphicsDevice gd =
            GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment().getDefaultScreenDevice();

    if (gd.isFullScreenSupported()) {
        setUndecorated(true);
        gd.setFullScreenWindow(this);
    } else {
        System.err.println("Full screen not supported");
        setSize(100, 100); // just something to let you see the window
        setVisible(true);
    }
}