How to set Icon to a JLabel from an image from a folder?

Question

I am trying to set an icon to a JLabel from a folder of images whenever an item is selected from a JComboBox. The name of items in the JComboBox and name of the images in the folder are same. So whenever an item is selected from the JComboBox, the corresponding image with the same name should be set as an icon to the JLabel. I am trying to do something like this.

private void cmb_movieselectPopupMenuWillBecomeInvisible(javax.swing.event.PopupMenuEvent evt){                                                             
        updateLabel(cmb_moviename.getSelectedItem().toString());
}





protected void updateLabel(String name) {
        ImageIcon icon = createImageIcon("C:\\Users\\xerof_000\\Pictures\\tmspictures\\" + name + ".jpg");
        if(icon != null){
            Image img = icon.getImage(); 
            Image newimg = img.getScaledInstance(lbl_pic.getWidth(), lbl_pic.getHeight(),  java.awt.Image.SCALE_SMOOTH);
            icon = new ImageIcon(newimg);
            lbl_pic.setIcon(icon);
            lbl_pic.setText(null);
        }
        else{
            lbl_pic.setText("Image not found");
            lbl_pic.setIcon(null);
        }
    }





protected static ImageIcon createImageIcon(String path) {
        URL imgURL;
        imgURL = NowShowing.class.getResource(path);
        if (imgURL != null) {
            return new ImageIcon(imgURL);
        } else {
            return null;
        }
    }

I thought the problem is in "C:\Users\xerof_000\Pictures\tmspictures\" I tried using "C:/Users/xerof_000/Pictures/tmspictures/" but even that did not work. And whatever I do it only shows "Image not found" on the JLabel.

Answer 1

This is my directory structure :

                                packageexample
                                      |
                   -------------------------------------------
                   |                  |                      |
                build(folder)     src(folder)           manifest.txt
                   |                  |
             swing(package)       ComboExample.java
                   |
            imagetest(subpackage)
                   |
     ComboExample.class + related .class files

This is the content of the ComboExample.java file :

package swing.imagetest;    

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.net.*;
import javax.swing.*;
    
public class ComboExample {

    private String[] data = new String[]{
                                            "geek0",
                                            "geek1",
                                            "geek2",
                                            "geek3",
                                            "geek4"
                                        };
    private String MESSAGE = "No Image to display yet...";
    private JLabel imageLabel;
    private JComboBox cBox;
    private ActionListener comboActions = 
                            new ActionListener() {
        @Override
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
            JComboBox combo = (JComboBox) ae.getSource();
            ImageIcon image = new ImageIcon(
                        getClass().getResource(
                            "/" + combo.getSelectedItem() + ".gif"));
            if (image != null) {
                imageLabel.setIcon(image);
                imageLabel.setText("");
            } else {
                imageLabel.setText(MESSAGE);
            }
        }    
    };

    private void displayGUI() {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Combo Example");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);

        JPanel contentPane = new JPanel();
        imageLabel = new JLabel(MESSAGE, JLabel.CENTER);
        cBox = new JComboBox(data);
        cBox.addActionListener(comboActions);

        contentPane.add(imageLabel);
        contentPane.add(cBox);

        frame.setContentPane(contentPane);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String... args) {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                new ComboExample().displayGUI();
            }
        });
    }
}

NOW THE COMPILATION :

To compile I did this :

Gagandeep Bali@LAPTOP ~/c/Mine/JAVA/J2SE/src/packageexample
$ javac -d build src/*.java

Contents of Manifest File :

JAR File creation :

Gagandeep Bali@LAPTOP ~/c/Mine/JAVA/J2SE/src/packageexample
$ cd build

Gagandeep Bali@LAPTOP ~/c/Mine/JAVA/J2SE/src/packageexample/build
$ jar -cfm imagecombo.jar ../manifest.txt *

Now take this JAR File to any location having these images (, , , and ), and run the JAR File, and see the results :-)

Answer 2

As discussed in How to Use Icons, the getResource() method expects to find the image in your program's JAR file. You'll need to move the image into your project. IconDemo is a complete example.