How can I get an Image and then Use it to make an ImageIcon in Java GUI

Question

I am trying to make a card game and Am running into an issue with my getImage() function. I have an String Array of the Cards ex:

private static String[] hearts = {"ah.gif","2h.gif","3h.gif","4h.gif","5h.gif","6h.gif","7h.gif","8h.gif","9h.gif","th.gif","jh.gif","qh.gif","kh.gif"};

My getImage() looks like this:

public String getImage(Card card){

    if (0 == suit){
        img = hearts[rank];
    }
    else if (1 == suit){
        img = spades[rank];
    }
    else if (2 == suit){
        img = diamond[rank];
    }
    else if (3 == suit){
        img = clubs[rank];
    }

However, because it is stored as a string, I get an error when I try to use the img as an ImgIcon Ex:

    ImageIcon image = (card.getImage(card));
    JLabel label = new JLabel(image);

Any Ideas? Thanks

Answer 1

Create an array of ImageIcons and use the String array and a for loop to create the Icon array. Simple. :)

// in declaration section  
private ImageIcon heartsIcons = new ImageIcon[hearts.length];  

  // in code section
  try {
     for (int i = 0; i < hearts.length; i++) {
        // you may need different code to get the Image file vs. resource.
        BufferedImage img = ImageIO.read(getClass().getResource(hearts[i]));
        heartsIcons[i] = new ImageIcon(img);
     }
  } catch (IOException e) {
     e.printStackTrace();
  }