Media: Graphics, Audio,Video - Java - page 472

See Also

To draw formatted text—as in a word processor—requires considerably more complexity.
You'll find an example in the online source under the JabberPoint program (see
ShowView.java ). This program also implements the Model-View-Controller pattern.

Drawing a Drop Shadow

Problem

You want to draw text or graphical objects with a “drop shadow” effect, as in Figure 12-3 .

Figure 12-3. Drop shadow text

Solution

Draw the component twice, with the darker shadow behind and the “real” color, slightly off-
set, in front.

Discussion

Program DropShadow in Example 12-2 does just this. It also uses a Font object from
java.awt to exercise some control over the typeface.

Example 12-2. DropShadow.java
public public class extends JComponent {

/** The text to draw */
protected

class DropShadow DropShadow extends

protected String theLabel ;
/** The name of the font */
protected

protected String fontName ;