Java - ImageIcon won't show image

Question

searchIcon = new ImageIcon( \"searchIcon.png\" );

searchIconLabel = new JLabel();
searchIconLabel.setIcon(searchIcon);

....

searchHorizontalPanel.add( searchIconLabel         


        

Answer 1

I went through the debugger and searchIcon is showing the width and height to be -1. Does this mean the image is not being loaded?

Yes.

Read the JLabel API and you will find a link to the Swing tutorial on "How to Use Lables" which has a working example.

You will also find a section on "How to Use Icons" which shows all the different ways to specify the icon location correctly.

Answer 2

Your image file needs to be in the same directory as you are running the application from.

If its actually in the same directory as the class making the call then you can use:

searchIcon = new ImageIcon( getClass().getResource("searchIcon.png") );

If it is in some arbitrary location then you will need to specify the full path.