Sams Teach Yourself Java 2 in 24 Hours

By Rogers Cadenhead

• Table of Contents
  • Copyright
  • About the Author
  • About the Technical Editor
  • Acknowledgments
  • We Want to Hear from You!
  • Reader Services
  • Introduction
  • Hour 1. Becoming a Programmer
  • Hour 2. Writing Your First Program
  • Hour 3. Vacationing in Java
  • Hour 4. Understanding How Java Programs Work
  • Part II: Learning the Basics of Programming
  • Hour 5. Storing and Changing Information in a Program
  • Hour 6. Using Strings to Communicate
  • Hour 7. Using Conditional Tests to Make Decisions
  • Hour 8. Repeating an Action with Loops
  • Part III: Working with Information in New Ways
  • Hour 9. Storing Information with Arrays
  • Hour 10. Creating Your First Object
  • Hour 11. Describing What Your Object Is Like
  • Hour 12. Making the Most of Existing Objects
  • Part IV: Programming a Graphical User Interface
  • Hour 13. Building a Simple User Interface
  • Hour 14. Laying Out a User Interface
  • Hour 15. Responding to User Input
  • Hour 16. Building a Complex User Interface
  • Part V: Creating Multimedia Programs
  • Hour 17. Creating Interactive Web Programs
  • Hour 18. Handling Errors in a Program
  • Hour 19. Creating a Threaded Program
  • Hour 20. Reading and Writing Files
  • Part VI: Creating Multimedia Programs
  • Hour 21. Using Fonts and Color
    • Using the Font Class
    • Using the Color Class
    • Other Ways to Choose Colors
    • Workshop: Displaying a Danger Message
    • Summary
    • Q&A
    • Quiz
    • Activities
  • Hour 22. Playing Sound Files
  • Hour 23. Working with Graphics
  • Hour 24. Creating Animation
  • Part VII: Appendixes
  • Appendix A. Tackling New Features of Java 2 Version 1.4
  • Appendix B. Using the Java 2 Software Development Kit
  • Appendix C. Programming with the Java 2 Software Development Kit
  • Appendix D. Using Sun ONE Studio
  • Appendix E. Where to Go from Here: Java Resources
  • Appendix F. This Book's Web Site

Using the Color Class

The simplest way to use a color in a Java program is to use one of the constant variables from the Color class. You can use the following constants: black, blue, cyan, darkGray, gray, green, lightGray, magenta, orange, pink, red, white, and yellow.

In an applet, you can set the background color of the applet window using these constants. The following is an example:

setBackground(Color.orange); 

When you want to display text of a certain color or draw other graphics in different colors, you have to use a method that sets up the current color. You can do this from within the paintComponent() method of a container by using a setColor() method, as in the following:

public void paintComponent(Graphics comp) { 
    Graphics2D comp2D = (Graphics2D)comp; 
    comp2D.setColor(Color.orange); 
    comp2D.drawString("Go, Buccaneers!", 5, 50); 
} 

Unlike the setBackground() method, which can be called directly on a container such as a panel or applet, the setColor() method must be used on an object that can handle a color change. The preceding example shows the setColor() method of the comp2D object being used to change the current color of the container window.

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