Add icons to JButton using custom font from AwesomeFont and unicode characters in Java Swing?

Question

I have a JButton and I want to add an icon to it. I would like to use the font based icons from FontAwesome which provides a TrueType font file. The icon I am trying to add is the play button icon. The play button icon in the css file for FontAwesome is \f04b which I beleive translates to \uf04b in Java.

This is how I am loading the font in the constructor of by IconButton base class.

public class IconButton extends JButton {
  public IconButton() {
    try {
      InputStream in = this.getClass().getResourceAsStream("/fontawesome-webfont.ttf");
      Font ttfBase = Font.createFont(Font.TRUETYPE_FONT, in);
      Font ttfReal = ttfBase.deriveFont(Font.BOLD, 24);
      setFont(ttfReal);
    } catch (FontFormatException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
  }
}

In the implementing class StartButton this is how I am setting the text.

public class StartButton extends IconButton {
  public StartButton() {
    setText(String.valueOf('\u0f4b'));
    setForeground(Color.BLACK);
  }
}

This is what I get. Nothing.

JButton

Any help is much appreciated.

EDIT: See answer below.

That first code wold not compile (`createFont` throws exceptions that are neither caught nor declared), and it seems terrible design of the two classes shown ( 1. the first class could create the Font once and cache it as a static attribute 2. if it defined a constructor based around a String for the text, calling the super constructor, it could avoid the second class completely). Alternately A. since `IconButton` sets a `Font` and `StartButton` sets a foreground color, use a standard `JButton` and hand each one to a method to configure the look. B. Use a new PLAF or adjust the `UIManager` — Andrew Thompson, Mar 10 '12 at 03:39
The code wasn't pulled verbatim from the application in order to reduce noise, but for completeness sake I've updated it to include the try/catch. I would also add that I agree it should only create the Font once. Good suggestion. I'll have to look into PLAF and the UIManger. — rmontgomery429, Mar 11 '12 at 04:41
*"The code wasn't pulled verbatim from the application"* Probably better to describe it in words or pseudo-code (clearly marked as such) rather than Java code in that case. Good call on updating it. :) — Andrew Thompson, Mar 11 '12 at 06:05

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 09 '12 at 19:40

12

I think I solved this actually. The correct character is \uf04b not \u0f4b. Whoops! :)

This is working for me now.

JButton with Play Icon

answered Mar 09 '12 at 19:40

rmontgomery429

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score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 17 '16 at 18:00

2

Try jIconFont (Swing or JavaFX) at http://jiconfont.github.io/

Example:

Icon icon = IconFontSwing.buildIcon(FontAwesome.FLOPPY_O, 15);

JButton button = new JButton(icon);

answered Feb 17 '16 at 18:00

Carlos Eduardo

740
6
10

1

Please don't copy and paste the exact same answer to multiple questions – Andy Feb 17 '16 at 18:05
My apologies. How should I proceed when the answer to multiple questions is exactly the same? – Carlos Eduardo Feb 17 '16 at 20:09

Add icons to JButton using custom font from AwesomeFont and unicode characters in Java Swing?

2 Answers2

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