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I am trying to create a simple menu for a small project using a JSpinner and JOptionPane. I created my desired output, but when I interact with the window or even hover over the buttons in the box, it creates visual artifacts over and over again (see images below):

JOptionPane before mouse hover

JOptionPane after mouse hover

I did some researching and thought it might be due to JOptionPane not being thread safe, but could not get anything to work.

Overall, my specific question is how do I prevent Java from repainting these visual artifacts over my JOptionPane window?

For reference, please see the method I am using to show this menu:

import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.SpinnerNumberModel;
import javax.swing.JSpinner;

public class Battleship
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        SpinnerNumberModel battleshipRange = new SpinnerNumberModel(1, 1, 5, 1);
        JSpinner rangeSpinner = new JSpinner(battleshipRange);
        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, rangeSpinner, "Battleship Number", JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE);
    }
}

I am running this code on BlueJ and am using Windows 10 Pro.

Thank you in advance and apologies if this is a beginner question. I am still fairly new to programming.

EDIT: Updated code to give complete source of problem, but it disappeared. I will keep an eye on it to see where the source of the error first occurred.

Phillip
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    Posting 4 lines of code doesn't help us. Post a proper [mcve] that demonstrates the problem. That is according to your description of the problem all you need is an option panel with a spinner and of course a main() method to display the option pane. Chances are while creating the example you will find the problem. – camickr May 09 '17 at 03:17
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    I restructured my code to provide a proper example, but now the error is gone. Even restarting my program made the problem disappear. I'll keep my eye on it as I develop my program to see if the problem crops up again. Thank you for your feedback. It helped me narrow this problem down and will help me ask better questions in the future. – Phillip May 09 '17 at 03:38

1 Answers1

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After completing my project, I finally found why visual artifacts would pop up in all buttons/radio buttons/etc. in my game.

In the GridWorld source code, under the "GridPanel.java" script, the original programmers created a method called "setToolTipsEnabled(boolean flag)". Its function is to pop up a message box next to the cursor when it is hovering over the grid when the game stops running.

When extending GridWorld to create my project, the method reaches past the grid structure and attempts to create a tool tip underneath anything the cursor hovers over. Thus, creating visual artifacts on buttons/radio buttons/etc.

To fix this, I made sure this method was always set to false as I did not need tool tips for my game anyway. This method was implemented in the "GridPanel.java" and "GUIController.java" scripts (in the GridWorld code). I changed following methods to fix this problem:

GridPanel.java

/**
 * Construct a new GridPanel object with no grid. The view will be
 * empty.
 */
public GridPanel(DisplayMap map, ResourceBundle res)
{
    displayMap = map;
    resources = res;
    // Phillip Sturtevant: Commented out to prevent visual artifacts
    //setToolTipsEnabled(true);
}

GUIController.java

/**
 * Stops any existing timer currently carrying out steps.
 * Phillip Sturtevant Note: keep tool tips hidden to prevent visual artifacts
 */
public void stop()
{
    display.setToolTipsEnabled(false); // hide tool tips while stopped
    timer.stop();
    running = false;
}

Alternatively, the method calls could be omitted entirely, but I commented them out in case I needed them in the future.

For reference, the method below sets the tool tips visibility in GridWorld (located in "GridPanel.java"):

/**
 * Enables/disables showing of tooltip giving information about the
 * occupant beneath the mouse.
 * @param flag true/false to enable/disable tool tips
 */
public void setToolTipsEnabled(boolean flag)
{
    if ("hide".equals(System.getProperty("gridworld.gui.tooltips")))
        flag = false;
    if (flag)
        ToolTipManager.sharedInstance().registerComponent(this);
    else
        ToolTipManager.sharedInstance().unregisterComponent(this);
    toolTipsEnabled = flag;
}
Phillip
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