Java – Implementing Double Buffering in Java

doublebufferedgraphicsjava

I have a simple Java JFrame canvas. I am updating what is on the screen every half second or so, and have flickering. I want to implement double buffering to eliminate the flickering, but I am fairly new to Java and am unfamiliar with how to do so. I have found some examples, but not sure how to implement their methods into mine.

Below is the basic setup of how I have things now. This is not my exact code- just an example of the basic setup.

Thanks for any push in the right direction!

public class myCanvas extends Canvas{
    //variables
    Color rectColor=Color.red;

    public myCanvas()
    {
    }

    public void paint(Graphics graphics)
    {
        //initial setup, such as
        graphics.setColor(rectColor);
        graphics.fillRect(X,Y,W,H);
    }
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        myCanvas canvas = new myCanvas();
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("GUI");
        frame.setSize(frameWidth,frameHeight);
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.getContentPane().add(canvas);
        frame.setVisible(true);
        while(true){
            rectColor=Color.green;
            canvas.validate();
            canvas.repaint();
            Thread.sleep(500);
        }
    }
}

Best Answer

First of all, you should avoid mixing heavy- and lightweight components (AWT and SWING), mostly because they use very different methods of drawing to the display (read here if you want to know more).

So instead of the Canvas, you could use a JPanel. This also gives you a potential solution, because JPanel has a method setDoubleBuffered(boolean), more specifically, this is implemented in the JComponent class.

I believe it would be sufficient to just replace

public class myCanvas extends Canvas

public class myCanvas extends JPanel

. Although I haven't tested this, I hope it helps you!

EDIT: Also, of course, when setting up your frame and canvas in the main method, you'd have to place the method call

canvas.setDoubleBuffered(true);

somewhere.

Related Solutions

Java – What are the differences between a HashMap and a Hashtable in Java

There are several differences between HashMap and Hashtable in Java:

Hashtable is synchronized, whereas HashMap is not. This makes HashMap better for non-threaded applications, as unsynchronized Objects typically perform better than synchronized ones.
Hashtable does not allow null keys or values. HashMap allows one null key and any number of null values.
One of HashMap's subclasses is LinkedHashMap, so in the event that you'd want predictable iteration order (which is insertion order by default), you could easily swap out the HashMap for a LinkedHashMap. This wouldn't be as easy if you were using Hashtable.

Since synchronization is not an issue for you, I'd recommend HashMap. If synchronization becomes an issue, you may also look at ConcurrentHashMap.

Java – Is Java “pass-by-reference” or “pass-by-value”

Java is always pass-by-value. Unfortunately, when we deal with objects we are really dealing with object-handles called references which are passed-by-value as well. This terminology and semantics easily confuse many beginners.

It goes like this:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Dog aDog = new Dog("Max");
    Dog oldDog = aDog;

    // we pass the object to foo
    foo(aDog);
    // aDog variable is still pointing to the "Max" dog when foo(...) returns
    aDog.getName().equals("Max"); // true
    aDog.getName().equals("Fifi"); // false
    aDog == oldDog; // true
}

public static void foo(Dog d) {
    d.getName().equals("Max"); // true
    // change d inside of foo() to point to a new Dog instance "Fifi"
    d = new Dog("Fifi");
    d.getName().equals("Fifi"); // true
}

In the example above aDog.getName() will still return "Max". The value aDog within main is not changed in the function foo with the Dog "Fifi" as the object reference is passed by value. If it were passed by reference, then the aDog.getName() in main would return "Fifi" after the call to foo.

Likewise:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Dog aDog = new Dog("Max");
    Dog oldDog = aDog;

    foo(aDog);
    // when foo(...) returns, the name of the dog has been changed to "Fifi"
    aDog.getName().equals("Fifi"); // true
    // but it is still the same dog:
    aDog == oldDog; // true
}

public static void foo(Dog d) {
    d.getName().equals("Max"); // true
    // this changes the name of d to be "Fifi"
    d.setName("Fifi");
}

In the above example, Fifi is the dog's name after call to foo(aDog) because the object's name was set inside of foo(...). Any operations that foo performs on d are such that, for all practical purposes, they are performed on aDog, but it is not possible to change the value of the variable aDog itself.

For more information on pass by reference and pass by value, consult the following SO answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/430958/6005228. This explains more thoroughly the semantics and history behind the two and also explains why Java and many other modern languages appear to do both in certain cases.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Java – What are the differences between a HashMap and a Hashtable in Java

Java – Is Java “pass-by-reference” or “pass-by-value”

Related Topic