JPanel setBackground(Color.BLACK) does nothing

Question

I have the folowing custom JPanel and I have aded it to my frame using Netbeans GUI builder but the background won't change! I can see the circle, drawing with g.fillOval(). What's wrong?

public class Board extends JPanel{

    private Player player;

    public Board(){
        setOpaque(false);
        setBackground(Color.BLACK);  
    }

    public void paintComponent(Graphics g){  
        super.paintComponent(g);
        g.setColor(Color.red);
        g.fillOval(player.getxCenter(), player.getyCenter(), player.getRadius(), player.getRadius());
    }

    public void updatePlayer(Player player){
        this.player=player;
    }
}

Answer 1

If your panel is 'not opaque' (transparent) you wont see your background color.

Answer 2

You have to call the super.paintComponent(); as well, to allow the Java API draw the original background. The super refers to the original JPanel code.

public void paintComponent(Graphics g){
    super.paintComponent(g);

    g.setColor(Color.red);
    g.fillOval(player.getxCenter(), player.getyCenter(), player.getRadius(), player.getRadius());
}

Answer 3

I just tried a bare-bones implementation and it just works:

public class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
            JFrame frame = new JFrame("Hello");
            frame.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 200));
            frame.add(new Board());
            frame.pack();
            frame.setVisible(true);
    }
}

public class Board extends JPanel {

    private Player player = new Player();

    public Board(){
        setBackground(Color.BLACK);
    }

    public void paintComponent(Graphics g){  
        super.paintComponent(g);
        g.setColor(Color.red);
        g.fillOval(player.getCenter().x, player.getCenter().y,
             player.getRadius(), player.getRadius());
    } 
}

public class Player {

    private Point center = new Point(50, 50);

    public Point getCenter() {
        return center;
    }

    private int radius = 10;

    public int getRadius() {
        return radius;
    }
}

Answer 4

You need to create a new Jpanel object in the Board constructor. for example

public Board(){
    JPanel pane = new JPanel();
    pane.setBackground(Color.ORANGE);// sets the background to orange
} 

Answer 5

setOpaque(false); 

CHANGED to

setOpaque(true);

Answer 6

In order to completely set the background to a given color :

1) set first the background color

2) call method "Clear(0,0,this.getWidth(),this.getHeight())" (width and height of the component paint area)

I think it is the basic procedure to set the background... I've had the same problem.

Another usefull hint : if you want to draw BUT NOT in a specific zone (something like a mask or a "hole"), call the setClip() method of the graphics with the "hole" shape (any shape) and then call the Clear() method (background should previously be set to the "hole" color).

You can make more complicated clip zones by calling method clip() (any times you want) AFTER calling method setClip() to have intersections of clipping shapes.

I didn't find any method for unions or inversions of clip zones, only intersections, too bad...

Hope it helps