Class IconsFactory

java.lang.Object
com.jidesoft.icons.IconsFactory

public class IconsFactory extends Object
IconsFactory provides a consistent way to access icon resource in any application.

Any application usually need to access image files. One way to do it is to put those image files in the installation and access them use direct file access. However this is not a good way because you have to know the full path to the image file. So a better way that most Java applications take is to bundle the image files with in the jar and use class loader to load them.

For example, if a class Foo needs to access image files foo.gif and bar.png, we put the image files right below the source code under icons subfolder. See an example directory structure below.

 /src/com/jidesoft/Foo.java
                  /icons/foo.gif
                  /icons/bar.png
 
When you compile the java class, you copy those images to class output directory like this.
 /classes/com/jidesoft/Foo.class
                      /icons/foo.gif
                      /icons/bar.png
 
Notes: In IntelliJ IDEA's "Compile" tab of "Project Property" dialog, there is a way to set "Resource Pattern". Here is the setting on my computer - "?*.properties;?*.xml;?*.html;?*.tree;?*.gif;?*.png;?*.jpeg;?*.jpg;?*.vm;?*.xsd;?*.ilayout;?*.gz;?*.txt" for your reference. If so, all your images will get copies automatically to class output folder. Although I haven't tried, I believe most Java IDEs have the same or similar feature. This feature will make the usage of IconsFactory much easier.

If you setup directory structure as above, you can now use IconsFactory to access the images like this.


 ImageIcon icon = IconsFactory.get(Foo.class, "icons/foo.gif");
 
IconsFactory will cache the icon for you. So next time if you get the same icon, it will get from cache instead of reading from disk again.

There are a few methods on IconsFactory to create difference variation from the original icon. For example, getDisabledImageIcon(Class, String) will get the image icon with disabled effect.

We also suggest you to use the template below to create a number of IconsFactory classes in your application. The idea is that you should have one for each functional area so that all your image files can be grouped into each functional area. All images used in that functional area should be put under the folder where this IconsFactory is. Here is an template.


 class TemplateIconsFactory {
    public static class Group1 {
        public static final String IMAGE1 = "icons/image11.png";
        public static final String IMAGE2 = "icons/image12.png";
        public static final String IMAGE3 = "icons/image13.png";
    }
 

public static class Group2 { public static final String IMAGE1 = "icons/image21.png"; public static final String IMAGE2 = "icons/image22.png"; public static final String IMAGE3 = "icons/image23.png"; }

public static ImageIcon getImageIcon(String name) { if (name != null) return IconsFactory.getImageIcon(TemplateIconsFactory.class, name); else return null; }

public static void main(String[] argv) { IconsFactory.generateHTML(TemplateIconsFactory.class); } }

In your own IconsFactory, you can further divide images into different groups. The example above has two groups. There is also a convenient method getImageIcon() which takes just the icon name.

In the template, we defined the image names as constants. When you have a lot of images, it's hard to remember all of them when writing code. If using the IconsFactory above, you can use


 ImageIcon icon = TemplateIconsFactory.getImageIcon(TemplateIconsFactory.Group1.IMAGE1);
 
without saying the actual image file name. With the help of intelli-sense (or code completion) feature in most Java IDE, you will find it is much easier to find the icons you want. You can refer to JIDE Components Developer Guide to see a screenshot of what it looks like in IntelliJ IDEA.

You probably also notice this is a main() method in this template. You can run it. When you run, you will see a message printed out like this.


 "File is generated at "... some directory ...\com.jidesoft.icons.TemplateIconsFactory.html".
 Please copy it to the same directory as TemplateIconsFactory.java"
 
if you follow the instruction and copy the html file to the same location as the source code and open the html, you will see the all image files defined in this IconsFactory are listed nicely in the page.

By default, all image files are loaded using ImageIO. However if you set system property "jide.useImageIO" to "false", we will disable the usage of ImageIO and use Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().createImage method to create the image file.

  • Field Details

    • EMPTY_ICON

      public static ImageIcon EMPTY_ICON
  • Constructor Details

    • IconsFactory

      public IconsFactory()
  • Method Details

    • getImageIcon

      public static ImageIcon getImageIcon(Class<?> clazz, String fileName)
      Gets ImageIcon by passing class and a relative image file path.

      Please note, getImageIcon will print out error message to stderr if image is not found. The reason we did so is because we want you to make sure all image files are there in your application. If you ever see the error message, you should correct it before shipping the product. But if you just want to test if the image file is there, you don't want any error message print out. If so, you can use findImageIcon(Class, String) method. It will throw IOException when image is not found.

      We used this method to create all the icons we used in JIDE's code. If you ever want to use your own icon instead of JIDE's default icon, you just need to put it onto UIManager. For example, AutoFilterTableHeader uses an icon on the table header. This is how it was called.
      IconsFactory.getImageIcon(AutoFilterTableHeader.class, "icons/filterYes_over.png")

      The key for this icon is "com.jidesoft.grid.AutoFilterTableHeader:icons/filterYes_over.png". So you can call the code below to register your own icon.

      UIManager.put("com.jidesoft.grid.AutoFilterTableHeader:icons/filterYes_over.png", your_new_icon);

      If you don't know what key to use, just put a breakpoint at this method, run it to inspect the id variable below.

      Parameters:
      clazz - the Classinvalid input: '<'?>
      fileName - relative file name
      Returns:
      the ImageIcon
    • findImageIcon

      public static ImageIcon findImageIcon(Class<?> clazz, String fileName) throws IOException
      Gets ImageIcon by passing class and a relative image file path.
      Parameters:
      clazz - the Classinvalid input: '<'?>
      fileName - relative file name
      Returns:
      the ImageIcon
      Throws:
      IOException - when image file is not found.
    • getDisabledImageIcon

      public static ImageIcon getDisabledImageIcon(Class<?> clazz, String fileName)
      Gets a disabled version of ImageIcon by passing class and a relative image file path.
      Parameters:
      clazz - the Classinvalid input: '<'?>
      fileName - relative file name
      Returns:
      the ImageIcon
    • getBrighterImageIcon

      public static ImageIcon getBrighterImageIcon(Class<?> clazz, String fileName)
      Gets a brighter ImageIcon by passing class and a relative image file path.
      Parameters:
      clazz - the Classinvalid input: '<'?>
      fileName - relative file name
      Returns:
      the ImageIcon
    • getBrighterImageIcon

      public static ImageIcon getBrighterImageIcon(Class<?> clazz, String fileName, int percent)
      Gets a brighter ImageIcon by passing class, a relative image file path and a percentage of brightness.
      Parameters:
      clazz - the Classinvalid input: '<'?>
      fileName - relative file name
      percent - percentage of brightness
      Returns:
      the ImageIcon
    • getTintedImageIcon

      public static ImageIcon getTintedImageIcon(Class<?> clazz, String fileName, Color color)
      Gets a tinted ImageIcon by passing class, a relative image file path and a color.
      Parameters:
      clazz - the Classinvalid input: '<'?>
      fileName - relative file name
      color - the color
      Returns:
      the ImageIcon
    • createGrayImage

      public static ImageIcon createGrayImage(Image image)
      Creates a gray version from an input image. Usually gray icon indicates disabled. If input image is null, a blank ImageIcon will be returned.
      Parameters:
      image - image
      Returns:
      gray version of the image
    • createGrayImage

      public static ImageIcon createGrayImage(Component c, Icon icon)
      Creates a gray version from an input image. Usually gray icon indicates disabled. If input icon is null, a blank ImageIcon will be returned.
      Parameters:
      c - The component to get properties useful for painting, e.g. the foreground or background color.
      icon - icon
      Returns:
      gray version of the image
    • createBrighterImage

      public static ImageIcon createBrighterImage(Image image)
      Creates a brighter image from an input image. If input image is null, a blank ImageIcon will be returned.
      Parameters:
      image - image
      Returns:
      dimmed version of the image
    • createBrighterImage

      public static ImageIcon createBrighterImage(Image image, int percent)
      Creates a brighter image from an input image with a given percentage of brightness. If input image is null, a blank ImageIcon will be returned.
      Parameters:
      image - image
      percent - percentage of brightness
      Returns:
      dimmed version of the image
    • createBrighterImage

      public static ImageIcon createBrighterImage(Component c, Icon icon)
      Creates a gray version from an input image. Usually gray icon indicates disabled. If input icon is null, a blank ImageIcon will be returned.
      Parameters:
      c - The component to get properties useful for painting, e.g. the foreground or background color.
      icon - icon
      Returns:
      gray version of the image
    • createBrighterImage

      public static ImageIcon createBrighterImage(Component c, Icon icon, int percent)
      Creates a gray version from an input image with a given percentage of brightness. Usually gray icon indicates disabled. If input icon is null, a blank ImageIcon will be returned.
      Parameters:
      c - The component to get properties useful for painting, e.g. the foreground or background color.
      icon - icon
      percent - percentage of brightness
      Returns:
      gray version of the image
    • createBrighterImage

      public static ImageIcon createBrighterImage(ImageIcon icon)
      Creates a brighten version from an input ImageIcon. If input icon is null, a blank ImageIcon will be returned.
      Parameters:
      icon - image
      Returns:
      dimmed version of the image
    • createBrighterImage

      public static ImageIcon createBrighterImage(ImageIcon icon, int percent)
      Creates a brighter image from an input image with a given percentage of brightness. If input image is null, a blank ImageIcon will be returned.
      Parameters:
      icon - image
      percent - percentage of brightness
      Returns:
      dimmed version of the image
    • createTintedImage

      public static ImageIcon createTintedImage(ImageIcon icon, Color color)
      Creates a tinted image from an input image with a given color. If input image is null, a blank ImageIcon will be returned.
      Parameters:
      icon - image
      color - the color
      Returns:
      a tinted version of the image
    • createNegativeImage

      public static ImageIcon createNegativeImage(Image image)
      Creates a gray version from an input image. Usually gray icon indicates disabled. If input image is null, a blank ImageIcon will be returned.
      Parameters:
      image - image
      Returns:
      gray version of the image
    • createMaskImage

      public static ImageIcon createMaskImage(Component c, Icon icon, Color oldColor, Color newColor)
      Creates a version from an input image which replaces one color with another color.
      Parameters:
      c - The component to get properties useful for painting, e.g. the foreground or background color.
      icon - icon
      oldColor - the old color to be replaced.
      newColor - the new color that will replace the old color.
      Returns:
      the image after replacing the color.
    • createRotatedImage

      public static ImageIcon createRotatedImage(Component c, Icon icon, double rotatedAngle)
      Creates a rotated version of the input image.
      Parameters:
      c - The component to get properties useful for painting, e.g. the foreground or background color.
      icon - the image to be rotated.
      rotatedAngle - the rotated angle, in degree, clockwise. It could be any double but we will mod it with 360 before using it.
      Returns:
      the image after rotating.
    • createNegativeImage

      public static ImageIcon createNegativeImage(Component c, Icon icon)
      Creates a negative version from an input black image which basically replaces black pixel with white pixel.
      Parameters:
      c - The component to get properties useful for painting, e.g. the foreground or background color.
      icon - icon
      Returns:
      the negative version of the image
    • generateHTML

      public static void generateHTML(Class<?> clazz)
      Generates HTML that lists all icons in IconsFactory.
      Parameters:
      clazz - the IconsFactory class
    • getIcon

      public static ImageIcon getIcon(Component c, ImageIcon icon, int x, int y, int width, int height)
      Gets part of the image from input image icon. It basically takes a snapshot of the input image at {x, y} location and the size is width x height.
      Parameters:
      c - the component where the returned icon will be used. The component is used as the ImageObserver. It could be null.
      icon - the original icon. This is the larger icon where a sub-image will be created using this method.
      x - the x location of the sub-image, relative to the original icon.
      y - the y location of the sub-image, relative to the original icon.
      width - the width of the sub-image. It should be less than the width of the original icon.
      height - the height of the sub-image. It should be less than the height of the original icon.
      Returns:
      an new image icon that was part of the input image icon.
    • getIcon

      public static ImageIcon getIcon(Component c, ImageIcon icon, int x, int y, int width, int height, int destWidth, int destHeight)
      Gets part of the image from input image icon. It basically takes a snapshot of the input image at {x, y} location and the size is width x height, then resize it to a size of destWidth x destHeight.
      Parameters:
      c - the component where the returned icon will be used. The component is used as the ImageObserver. It could be null.
      icon - the original icon. This is the larger icon where a sub-image will be created using this method.
      x - the x location of the sub-image, relative to the original icon.
      y - the y location of the sub-image, relative to the original icon.
      width - the width of the sub-image. It should be less than the width of the original icon.
      height - the height of the sub-image. It should be less than the height of the original icon.
      destWidth - the width of the returned icon. The sub-image will be resize if the destWidth is not the same as the width.
      destHeight - the height of the returned icon. The sub-image will be resize if the destHeight is not the same as the height.
      Returns:
      an new image icon that was part of the input image icon.
    • getIcon

      public static ImageIcon getIcon(Component c, ImageIcon icon, int x, int y, int width, int height, int imageType)
      Gets part of the image from input image icon. It basically takes a snapshot of the input image at {x, y} location and the size is width x height.
      Parameters:
      c - the component where the returned icon will be used. The component is used as the ImageObserver. It could be null.
      icon - the original icon. This is the larger icon where a small icon will be created using this method.
      x - the x location of the smaller icon, relative to the original icon.
      y - the y location of the smaller icon, relative to the original icon.
      width - the width of the smaller icon. It should be less than the width of the original icon.
      height - the height of the smaller icon. It should be less than the height of the original icon.
      imageType - image type is defined in BufferedImage, such as BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB etc.
      Returns:
      an new image icon that was part of the input image icon.
    • getIcon

      public static ImageIcon getIcon(Component c, ImageIcon icon, int x, int y, int width, int height, int imageType, int destWidth, int destHeight)
      Gets part of the image from input image icon. It basically takes a snapshot of the input image at {x, y} location and the size is width x height, then resize it to a size of destWidth x destHeight. if the original icon is null or the specified location is outside the original icon, EMPTY_ICON will be returned.
      Parameters:
      c - the component where the returned icon will be used. The component is used as the ImageObserver. It could be null.
      icon - the original icon. This is the larger icon where a sub-image will be created using this method.
      x - the x location of the sub-image, relative to the original icon.
      y - the y location of the sub-image, relative to the original icon.
      width - the width of the sub-image. It should be less than the width of the original icon.
      height - the height of the sub-image. It should be less than the height of the original icon.
      imageType - image type is defined in BufferedImage, such as BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB etc.
      destWidth - the width of the returned icon. The sub-image will be resize if the destWidth is not the same as the width.
      destHeight - the height of the returned icon. The sub-image will be resize if the destHeight is not the same as the height.
      Returns:
      an new image icon that was part of the input image icon.
    • getOverlayIcon

      public static ImageIcon getOverlayIcon(Component c, ImageIcon icon, ImageIcon overlayIcon, int location)
      Gets a new icon with the overlayIcon paints over the original icon.
      Parameters:
      c - the component where the returned icon will be used. The component is used as the ImageObserver. It could be null.
      icon - the original icon
      overlayIcon - the overlay icon.
      location - the location as defined in SwingConstants - CENTER, NORTH, SOUTH, WEST, EAST, NORTH_EAST, NORTH_WEST, SOUTH_WEST and SOUTH_EAST.
      Returns:
      the new icon.
    • getOverlayIcon

      public static ImageIcon getOverlayIcon(Component c, ImageIcon icon, ImageIcon overlayIcon, int location, Insets insets)
      Gets a new icon with the overlayIcon paints over the original icon.
      Parameters:
      c - the component where the returned icon will be used. The component is used as the ImageObserver. It could be null.
      icon - the original icon
      overlayIcon - the overlay icon.
      location - the location as defined in SwingConstants - CENTER, NORTH, SOUTH, WEST, EAST, NORTH_EAST, NORTH_WEST, SOUTH_WEST and SOUTH_EAST.
      insets - the insets to the border. This parameter has no effect if the location is CENTER. For example, if the location is WEST, insets.left will be the gap of the left side of the original icon and the left side of the overlay icon.
      Returns:
      the new icon.
    • getOverlayIcon

      public static ImageIcon getOverlayIcon(Component c, ImageIcon icon, ImageIcon overlayIcon, int x, int y)
      Gets a new icon with the overlayIcon paints over the original icon.
      Parameters:
      c - the component where the returned icon will be used. The component is used as the ImageObserver. It could be null.
      icon - the original icon
      overlayIcon - the overlay icon.
      x - the x location relative to the original icon where the overlayIcon will be pained.
      y - the y location relative to the original icon where the overlayIcon will be pained.
      Returns:
      the overlay icon
    • getCombinedIcon

      public static ImageIcon getCombinedIcon(Component c, ImageIcon icon1, ImageIcon icon2, int orientation, int gap)
      Gets a new icon with the icon2 painting right or down to the icon1.
      Parameters:
      c - the component where the returned icon will be used. The component is used as the ImageObserver. It could be null
      icon1 - the left side or up side icon
      icon2 - the right side or down side icon
      orientation - the orientation as defined in SwingConstants - HORIZONTAL, VERTICAL
      gap - the gap between the two icons
      Returns:
      the new icon.
    • getScaledImage

      public static ImageIcon getScaledImage(Component c, ImageIcon icon, int w, int h)
      Gets a scaled version of the existing icon.
      Parameters:
      c - the component where the returned icon will be used. The component is used as the ImageObserver. It could be null.
      icon - the original icon
      w - the new width
      h - the new height
      Returns:
      the scaled icon
    • writeGifToFile

      public static void writeGifToFile(Component c, File file) throws FileNotFoundException
      Writes a GIF image of the supplied component to the given file. In particular, you can use this method to take a 'screen shot' of a Chart component as a GIF Image.
      Parameters:
      c - the component to save as an image
      file - the file to save it to
      Throws:
      FileNotFoundException - if the file exists but is a directory rather than a regular file, does not exist but cannot be created, or cannot be opened for any other reason
    • writeJpegToFile

      public static void writeJpegToFile(Component c, File file) throws FileNotFoundException
      Writes a JPEG image of the supplied component to the given file. In particular, you can use this method to take a 'screen shot' of a Chart component as a JPEG Image.
      Parameters:
      c - the component to save as an image
      file - the file to save it to
      Throws:
      FileNotFoundException - if the file exists but is a directory rather than a regular file, does not exist but cannot be created, or cannot be opened for any other reason
    • writePngToFile

      public static void writePngToFile(Component c, File file) throws FileNotFoundException
      Writes a PNG image of the supplied component to the given file. In particular, you can use this method to take a 'screen shot' of a Chart component as a PNG Image.
      Parameters:
      c - the component to save as an image
      file - the file to save it to
      Throws:
      FileNotFoundException - if the file exists but is a directory rather than a regular file, does not exist but cannot be created, or cannot be opened for any other reason
    • writeToStream

      public static void writeToStream(Component c, OutputStream stream)
      Paints the component as a PNG image to the supplied output stream
      Parameters:
      c - the component to capture as a PNG image
      stream - the stream to write the PNG data to
    • createImage

      public static BufferedImage createImage(Component component)
      Creates a buffered image of type TYPE_INT_RGB from the supplied component.
      Parameters:
      component - the component to draw
      Returns:
      an image of the component
    • createImage

      public static BufferedImage createImage(Component component, Rectangle bounds, int imageType)
      Creates a buffered image (of the specified type) from the supplied component.
      Parameters:
      component - the component to draw
      bounds - the area relative to the component where the image will be created.
      imageType - the type of buffered image to draw
      Returns:
      an image of the component
    • createImage

      public static BufferedImage createImage(Component component, int imageType)
      Creates a buffered image (of the specified type) from the supplied component.
      Parameters:
      component - the component to draw
      imageType - the type of buffered image to draw
      Returns:
      an image of the component
    • createImage

      public static BufferedImage createImage(Component component, Rectangle bounds, int imageType, int scale)
      Creates a buffered image (of the specified type) from the supplied component.

      This method will consider the scale factor for hi-def display such as retina display. If the scale factor is 2, the returned image size will double the size of the bounds. When you paint the returned image, you should call g.scale(0.5, 0.5) or SystemInfo.endScale(g, SystemInfo.getDisplayScale()) to paint the image to its normal size. For performance consideration, you may want to keep the return value of SystemInfo.getDisplayScale() instead of calling it all the time.

      Parameters:
      component - the component to draw
      bounds - the area relative to the component where the image will be created.
      imageType - the type of buffered image to draw
      scale - the scale factor of the display
      Returns:
      an image of the component
    • createThumbnailImage

      public static Image createThumbnailImage(Component component, int width, int height)
      Creates a thumbnail from the supplied component (such as a chart). If you want to display the thumbnail as a component you can pass the created ImageIcon as a parameter to the constructor of a JLabel.
      Parameters:
      component - the component from which we would like to generate a thumbnail
      width - the width of the thumbnail
      height - the height of the thumbnail
      Returns:
      a thumbnail Image of the supplied component
    • createThumbnail

      public static ImageIcon createThumbnail(Component component, int width, int height)
      Creates a thumbnail from the supplied component (such as a chart). If you want to display the thumbnail as a component you can pass the created ImageIcon as a parameter to the constructor of a JLabel.
      Parameters:
      component - the component from which we would like to generate a thumbnail
      width - the width of the thumbnail
      height - the height of the thumbnail
      Returns:
      an ImageIcon of the supplied component
    • createTexture

      public static TexturePaint createTexture(JComponent observer, String fileName)
      Utility method to create a texture paint from a graphics file
      Parameters:
      observer - the observer to be informed when the texture image has been drawn
      fileName - the name of a file on the classpath, e.g., com/mycompany/project/images/widget.gif
      Returns:
      a TexturePaint instance
    • createImage

      public static Image createImage(String path)
      Creates an image from a file on the classpath
      Parameters:
      path - the path to the file
      Returns:
      an Image object