Make a JMenuBar "Global" - in every card/screen for CardLayout

[IOwnAndPwnU]

So basically, my JMenuBar has to appear everywhere in my applet (I have CardLayout, 3 cards/screens), in every screen and in the same location (looks nice, consistency). How would I go about doing this?

So, I was making a menu for my applet. I followed the exact instructions at:

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/components/menu.html

My initial approach was to place the entire menu code in the global part, but then my compiler said I needed { } around the entire menu code, which I added. Everything seemed to work fine...but then when I started adding stuff to the second and third screen (instructions and game, respectively), everything collapsed. It was as if the menu could only appear once. I tried making the menu "global" but I failed.

As of now, the code is dirty since I just copied and pasted the menu (code is below) into every screen. It works, but it's not efficient (as I can eliminate 150 lines).

The basic code of my applet is:

import javax.swing.*; 
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.applet.Applet;
import java.io.*;
import java.lang.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.awt.Insets;

public class Othello extends Applet implements ActionListener, MouseListener

JMenuBar menuBar; //Global variables
    JMenu menu, submenu;
    JMenuItem menuItem;

    Panel screens;
    Panel opening, instructions, game;
    CardLayout cdLayout = new CardLayout ();
    JTextArea textArea;

public void init ()
    {

        screens = new Panel ();
        screens.setLayout (cdLayout);
        opening ();
        instructions ();
        game ();
        resize (800, 680); //Resizes applet
        setLayout (new BorderLayout ());
        add ("Center", screens);

    }
 public void opening ()
    {
        resize (800, 680);

        opening = new Panel ();
        //Menu code (below, in another CODE box. I removed it so the length of this code is shorter.

       //Add widgets

opening.add (menuBar);

        opening.add (grid); //Add every other widgets (not in this code)
        screens.add ("1", opening);

    }

public void instructions ()
    {
        resize (800, 680);

        instructions = new Panel ();

//Menu

/Add widgets
        instructions.add (menuBar);

        screens.add ("2", instructions);
    }

public void game ()
    {
        resize (800, 680);

        game = new Panel ();

//Menu code

//Add widgets
grid.add (menuBar);
        grid.add (board); //my othello board

        game.add (grid);

        screens.add ("3", game);
    }

 public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent e)
    {
}

public void mousePressed (MouseEvent e)
    {
        saySomething ("Mouse pressed; # of clicks: "
                + e.getClickCount (), e);
    }


    public void mouseReleased (MouseEvent e)
    {
        saySomething ("Mouse released; # of clicks: "
                + e.getClickCount (), e);
    }


    public void mouseEntered (MouseEvent e)
    {
        saySomething ("Mouse entered", e);
    }


    public void mouseExited (MouseEvent e)
    {
        saySomething ("Mouse exited", e);
    }


    public void mouseClicked (MouseEvent e)
    {
        saySomething ("Mouse clicked (# of clicks: "
                + e.getClickCount () + ")", e);
    }


    void saySomething (String eventDescription, MouseEvent e)
    {
        textArea.append (eventDescription + " detected on "
                + e.getComponent ().getClass ().getName ()
                + "." + "\n");
    }



    //Method needed to display images, and produce an error if the image file is not found.
    protected static ImageIcon createImageIcon (String path)
    {
        java.net.URL imgURL = Othello.class.getResource (path);
        if (imgURL != null)
        {
            return new ImageIcon (imgURL);
        }
        else
        {
            System.err.println ("Couldn't find file: " + path);
            return null;
        }
    }
}

In case the menu code is relevant (used above three times):

//Create the menu bar.
        menuBar = new JMenuBar ();

        //Build a menu category. FILE
        menu = new JMenu ("File");
        menu.setFont (new Font ("Arial", Font.BOLD, 14));
        menu.setMnemonic (KeyEvent.VK_A);
        menu.getAccessibleContext ().setAccessibleDescription ("The only menu in this program that has menu items");
        menuBar.add (menu);

        //File --> New
        menuItem = new JMenuItem ("New", KeyEvent.VK_T);
        //Shortcut key
        menuItem.setAccelerator (KeyStroke.getKeyStroke (KeyEvent.VK_1, ActionEvent.ALT_MASK));
        menuItem.getAccessibleContext ().setAccessibleDescription ("This doesn't really do anything");
        menu.add (menuItem);

        //File --> Exit Game
        menuItem = new JMenuItem ("Exit Game", new ImageIcon ("images/middle.gif"));
        //Shortcut key
        menuItem.setAccelerator (KeyStroke.getKeyStroke (KeyEvent.VK_F4, ActionEvent.ALT_MASK));
        menuItem.setMnemonic (KeyEvent.VK_B);
        menu.add (menuItem);

        //Build a menu category. EDIT
        menu = new JMenu ("Edit");
        menu.setFont (new Font ("Arial", Font.BOLD, 14));
        menu.setMnemonic (KeyEvent.VK_A);
        menu.getAccessibleContext ().setAccessibleDescription ("The only menu in this program that has menu items");
        menuBar.add (menu);

        //Edit --> Maximize Window
        menuItem = new JMenuItem ("Maximize Window", KeyEvent.VK_T);
        //Shortcut key
        menuItem.setAccelerator (KeyStroke.getKeyStroke (KeyEvent.VK_1, ActionEvent.ALT_MASK));
        menuItem.getAccessibleContext ().setAccessibleDescription ("This doesn't really do anything");
        menu.add (menuItem);

        //Edit --> Minimize Window
        menuItem = new JMenuItem ("Minimize Window", new ImageIcon ("images/middle.gif"));
        //Shortcut key
        menuItem.setAccelerator (KeyStroke.getKeyStroke (KeyEvent.VK_1, ActionEvent.ALT_MASK));
        menuItem.setMnemonic (KeyEvent.VK_B);
        menu.add (menuItem);

        //Build a menu category. HELP
        menu = new JMenu ("Help");
        menu.setFont (new Font ("Arial", Font.BOLD, 14));
        menu.setMnemonic (KeyEvent.VK_A);
        menu.getAccessibleContext ().setAccessibleDescription ("The only menu in this program that has menu items");
        menuBar.add (menu);

        //Help --> Instructions
        menuItem = new JMenuItem ("Instructions", KeyEvent.VK_T);
        //Shortcut key
        menuItem.setAccelerator (KeyStroke.getKeyStroke (KeyEvent.VK_1, ActionEvent.ALT_MASK));
        menuItem.getAccessibleContext ().setAccessibleDescription ("This doesn't really do anything");
        menu.add (menuItem);

        //Help --> Strategies
        menuItem = new JMenuItem ("Strategies", new ImageIcon ("images/middle.gif"));
        //Shortcut key
        menuItem.setAccelerator (KeyStroke.getKeyStroke (KeyEvent.VK_1, ActionEvent.ALT_MASK));
        menuItem.setMnemonic (KeyEvent.VK_B);
        menu.add (menuItem);

        //Help --> About
        menuItem = new JMenuItem ("About", new ImageIcon ("images/middle.gif"));
        //Shortcut key
        menuItem.setAccelerator (KeyStroke.getKeyStroke (KeyEvent.VK_2, ActionEvent.ALT_MASK));
        menuItem.setMnemonic (KeyEvent.VK_B);
        menu.add (menuItem);

        //Build a menu category. EXIT
        menu = new JMenu ("Exit");
        menu.setFont (new Font ("Arial", Font.BOLD, 14));
        menu.setMnemonic (KeyEvent.VK_A);
        menu.getAccessibleContext ().setAccessibleDescription ("The only menu in this program that has menu items");
        menuBar.add (menu);




        //a submenu
        //Exit --> Exit Game?
        //menu.addSeparator ();
        submenu = new JMenu ("Exit Game?");
        submenu.setMnemonic (KeyEvent.VK_S);

        //Exit --> Exit Game? --> No
        menuItem = new JMenuItem ("No");
        submenu.add (menuItem);
        menu.add (submenu);

        //Exit --> Exit Game? --> Yes
        menuItem = new JMenuItem ("Yes");
        submenu.add (menuItem);
        menu.add (submenu);

        /*menuItem = new JMenuItem (new ImageIcon ("images/middle.gif"));
        menuItem.setMnemonic (KeyEvent.VK_D);
        menu.add (menuItem);*/

Compiler: Ready to Program v1.7.1
Java: 1.4.2

Thank you

[masijade]

add the JMenubar to the JApplet, not to "screens".

[IOwnAndPwnU]

How would I go about adding a JMenuBar to the JApplet. And I think I am using Applet, not JApplet.

public class Othello extends Applet implements ActionListener, MouseListener

But I did try some ways.

I made a method:

public void setJMenuBar(JMenuBar menuBar)
{
//Menu code here.
}

    public void opening ()
{
public JMenuBar getJMenuBar()} //Put this code in every screen

But I failed (I tried variations of the above code as well).

To be honest, I have no idea how to add it. Some code would be helpful.

Thank you

[masijade]

Then use JApplet and simply do setMenuBar(menubar), JApplets own setMenuBar, not yours.

Edit: You don't want to mix AWT and Swing, anyway, and Applet is awt, JApplet is Swing, and since the rest is swing ....

[IOwnAndPwnU]

I get the following error after I change this line:

public class Othello extends [B]JApplet [/B]implements ActionListener, MouseListener // Changed to JApplet from Applet

java.lang.Error: Do not use Othello.setLayout() use Othello.getContentPane().setLayout() instead
at javax.swing.JApplet.createRootPaneException(Unknown Source)
at javax.swing.JApplet.setLayout(Unknown Source)
at Othello.init(Othello.java:65)
at ready.AppletRunner.run(AppletRunner.java:209)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

Isn't there anyway to do this without changing to JApplet?

[BestJewSinceJC]

No, there isn't. Just follow the directions, it told you what to do. And AFAIK you cannot add the same Swing component to multiple containers. It can only be added somewhere once.