Eclipse ADT Applet blank screen

Question

I'm trying to show some images on my applet and have them move around but whenever I run my project through the applet all I get is a blank/black screen. I can change the color of the background, but I can't see any of my images. Also, the applet isn't initialized when I try to start the applet. Here's the code:

package test;

import java.applet.Applet;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Frame;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Image;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyListener;
import java.net.URL;

public class MCTaRE extends Applet implements Runnable, KeyListener {

    private Character character;
    private Image image, robot;
    private Graphics graphics;
    private URL base;

    @Override
    public void init() {
        setSize(800, 480);
        setBackground(Color.BLACK);
        setFocusable(true);
        Frame frame = (Frame) this.getParent().getParent();
        frame.setTitle("Test");

        robot = getImage(base, "data/character.png");
    }

    @Override
    public void start() {
        Thread thread = new Thread(this);
        thread.start();

        character = new Character();
    }

    @Override
    public void stop() {

    }

    @Override
    public void run() {
        while (true) {
            repaint();
            try {
                Thread.sleep(17);
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void update(Graphics g) {
        if (image == null) {
            image = createImage(this.getWidth(), this.getHeight());
            graphics = image.getGraphics();
        }

        // graphics.setColor(getBackground());
        graphics.fillRect(0, 0, getWidth(), getHeight());
        // graphics.setColor(getForeground());
        paint(graphics);

        g.drawImage(image, 0, 0, this);

    }

    @Override
    public void paint(Graphics g) {
        g.drawImage(robot, character.getInitX() - 61,
                character.getInitY() - 63, this);
    }

    public void KeyPressed(KeyEvent e) {
        switch (e.getKeyCode()) {
        case KeyEvent.VK_SPACE:
            System.out.println("Space");
            break;
        }
    }

    public void KeyReleased(KeyEvent e) {

    }

    public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e) {

    }

}

package test;

public class Character {
    private int initX = 100;
    private int initY;

    private int speedX = 0;

    public void update(){
        //if (key listener is at the top){
                moveLeft();
    //}
                //else {
                    stop();
                //}

        initY = 200;
    }

    public int getInitX() {
        return initX;
    }

    public int getInitY() {
        return initY;
    }

    public int getSpeedX() {
        return speedX;
    }

    public void setInitX(int initX) {
        this.initX = initX;
    }

    public void setInitY(int initY) {
        this.initY = initY;
    }

    public void setSpeedX(int speedX) {
        this.speedX = speedX;
    }

    public void moveLeft(){
        speedX = -5;
    }

    public void stop(){
        speedX = 0;
    }
}

Any help would be greatly appreciated I need to make this work. I can try to use an AVD but I think that would complicate things even more. And a JApplet isn't an option.

Answer 1

"but I can't see any of my images."

You have a few options loading the images.

I like to use getClass().getResource("/path/to/image") as it load from the class path, which is used from embedded resources.

try {
    robot = ImageIO.read(getClass().getResource("/data/character.png"));
} catch (IOException ex) {
    ex. printStackTrace();
}

You could do the same thing using ImageIcon.getImage where you can avoid the try/catch but I prefer the former, so you can get exception if path is incorrect

robot = new ImageIcon(getClass().getResource("/data/character.png")).getImage();

For Applet, you can use getCodeBase() as seen here

try {
    URL url = new URL(getCodeBase(), "data/character.png");
    robot = ImageIO.read(url);
} catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

NOTE: All three options will work with your code (just tested all), given your file structure is as follows, with data in the src

ProjectRoot
         src
             data
                 character.png
             test
                 MCTaRE.java

---

Side Note

• You are not calling super.paint in your paint method, which will leave you with paint artifacts. So call it

  @Override
  public void paint(Graphics g) {
      super.paint(g);
  

• Why code an Applet in the first place. If it must be an Applet, why AWT Applet and not Swing JApplet. If this is a class assignment, have your professor read Why CS teachers should stop teaching Java applets

• If you want to ditch the zero (AWT) and get with the hero (Swing), read more at Creating GUI with Swing