How do I create this special menu bar with Java Swing?

Question

I am trying to implement this type of menu using Swing. Is there any off-the-shelf solution (free and/or commercial) yet?

Rubino

Answer 1

Assuming you want that image on the menu, why not something like this?

BufferedImage image = ImageIO.read(url);

yourJMenu.setHorizontalTextPosition(SwingConstants.CENTER);
yourJMenu.setVerticalTextPosition(SwingConstants.BOTTOM);

yourJMenu.setIcon(new ImageIcon(image));

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EDIT : Seems you're asking to start from scratch.

Please refer to: How to Use Menus before reading this answer.

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EDIT 2 : Here is an SSCCE,

import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.net.URL;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JMenu;
import javax.swing.JMenuBar;
import javax.swing.JMenuItem;
import javax.swing.SwingConstants;

public class MenuTest {

    public static void main(String[] argv) throws Exception {
        // Create the menu bar
        JMenuBar menuBar = new JMenuBar();

        String imageURL = "http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/" +
            "drone360/wp-content/themes/discoverblog/images/" +
            "gear_icon.png";

        // Create a menu
        JMenu menu = new JMenu("Menu");
        BufferedImage image = ImageIO.read(new URL(imageURL));
        menu.setHorizontalTextPosition(SwingConstants.CENTER);
        menu.setVerticalTextPosition(SwingConstants.BOTTOM);
        menu.setIcon(new ImageIcon(image));
        menuBar.add(menu);

        // Create a menu item
        JMenuItem item = new JMenuItem("Test Item");

        menu.add(item);

        JFrame frame = new JFrame();
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        frame.setJMenuBar(menuBar);
        frame.setSize(500, 550);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }
}

Resource courtesy : http://pscode.org/media/

Kayseri

Hi Sanjay, what I need is some kind of drop down button but with the exact look and feel as in the screenshot (text under icon). – Rubino

Images are mostly Application Resources, they should be accessed by the way of a URL instead of the File, so IMHO, writing ImageIO.read(url); would be a much WISER approach :-) – Cinerarium

Answer 2

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.JMenu;
import javax.swing.JMenuItem;
import javax.swing.JCheckBoxMenuItem;
import javax.swing.JRadioButtonMenuItem;
import javax.swing.ButtonGroup;
import javax.swing.JMenuBar;
import javax.swing.KeyStroke;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JFrame;

/* MenuLookDemo.java requires images/middle.gif. */
/*
 * This class exists solely to show you what menus look like.
 * It has no menu-related event handling.
 */
public class MenuLookDemo {
    JTextArea output;
    JScrollPane scrollPane;
    public JMenuBar createMenuBar() {
        JMenuBar menuBar;
        JMenu menu, submenu;
        JMenuItem menuItem;
        JRadioButtonMenuItemMenuItem;
        JCheckBoxMenuItem cbMenuItem;
        //Create the menu bar.
        menuBar = new JMenuBar();
        //Build the first menu.
        menu = new JMenu("A Menu");
        menu.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_A);
        menu.getAccessibleContext().setAccessibleDescription("The only menu in this program that has menu items");
        menuBar.add(menu);
        //a group of JMenuItems
        menuItem = new JMenuItem("Av text-only menu item", KeyEvent.VK_T);
        //menuItem.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_T); //used constructor instead
        menuItem.setAccelerator(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_1, ActionEvent.ALT_MASK));
        menuItem.getAccessibleContext().setAccessibleDescription("This doesn't really do anything");
        menu.add(menuItem);
        ImageIcon icon = createImageIcon("middle.gif");
        menuItem = new JMenuItem("Both text and icon", icon);
        menuItem.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_B);
        menu.add(menuItem);
        menuItem = new JMenuItem(icon);
        menuItem.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_D);
        menu.add(menuItem);
        //a group of radio button menu items
        menu.addSeparator();
        ButtonGroup group = new ButtonGroup();
        rbMenuItem = new JRadioButtonMenuItem("A radio button menu item");
        rbMenuItem.setSelected(true);
        rbMenuItem.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_R);
        group.add(rbMenuItem);
        menu.add(rbMenuItem);
        rbMenuItem = new JRadioButtonMenuItem("Another one");
        rbMenuItem.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_O);
        group.add(rbMenuItem);
        menu.add(rbMenuItem);
        //a group of check box menu items
        menu.addSeparator();
        cbMenuItem = new JCheckBoxMenuItem("A check box menu item");
        cbMenuItem.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_C);
        menu.add(cbMenuItem);
        cbMenuItem = new JCheckBoxMenuItem("Another one");
        cbMenuItem.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_H);
        menu.add(cbMenuItem);
        //a submenu
        menu.addSeparator();
        submenu = new JMenu("A submenu");
        submenu.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_S);
        menuItem = new JMenuItem("An item in the submenu");
        menuItem.setAccelerator(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_2, ActionEvent.ALT_MASK));
        submenu.add(menuItem);
        menuItem = new JMenuItem("Another item");
        submenu.add(menuItem);
        menu.add(submenu);
        //Build second menu in the menu bar.
        menu = new JMenu("Another Menu");
        menu.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_N);
        menu.getAccessibleContext().setAccessibleDescription("This menu does nothing");
        menuBar.add(menu);
        return menuBar;
    }
    public Container createContentPane() {
        //Create the content-pane-to-be.
        JPanel contentPane = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
        contentPane.setOpaque(true);
        //Create a scrolled text area.
        output = new JTextArea(5, 30);
        output.setEditable(false);
        scrollPane = new JScrollPane(output);
        //Add the text area to the content pane.
        contentPane.add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        return contentPane;
    }
    /** Returns an ImageIcon, or null if the path was invalid. */
    protected static ImageIcon createImageIcon(String path) {
        java.net.URL imgURL = MenuLookDemo.class.getResource(path);
        if (imgURL != null) {
            return new ImageIcon(imgURL);
        } else {
            System.err.println("Couldn't find file: " + path);
            return null;
        }
    }
    /**
     * Create the GUI and show it.  For thread safety,
     * this method should be invoked from the
    * event-dispatching thread.
     */
     private static void createAndShowGUI() {
         //Create and set up the window.
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("MenuLookDemo");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        //Create and set up the content pane.
        MenuLookDemo demo = new MenuLookDemo();
        frame.setJMenuBar(demo.createMenuBar());
        frame.setContentPane(demo.createContentPane());
        //Display the window.
        frame.setSize(450, 260);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        //Schedule a job for the event-dispatching thread:
        //creating and showing this application's GUI.
        javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                createAndShowGUI();
            }
        });
    }
}

Terceira

please edit your answer and format the code to make it readable (there's a question mark button at the trailing top corner of the input box that references the tag help) – Determinative

Select your code and click on the {} button to format code. – Synchromesh