title: How to make an image gallery with java
body: <p>For class I'm working on my first GUI application. It's just a simple image viewer with four buttons: Previous, Next, Stop, Play. Previous and Next work fine, but honestly I don't even know how to begin working on the slideshow part (Play &amp; Stop). I know there's a timer class that would probably be handy for controlling the speed as the images change...but I'm not sure what kind of logic is typically used to cycle through the images. Can anyone point me in the right direction, my brain is a little fried at this point :0</p>
  
  <p>I've included my code below. I'm new to this, so hopefully people won't be too critical of my technique. If it matters, I'm working in eclipse.</p>
  
  <h2>here's my code so far:</h2>
  
  <pre><code>import javax.swing.*;
  import java.awt.*;
  import java.awt.event.*;
  import java.util.TimerTask;
  
  
  public class ImageGallery extends JFrame
  {
      private ImageIcon myImage1 = new ImageIcon ("Chrysanthemum.jpg");
      private ImageIcon myImage2 = new ImageIcon ("Desert.jpg");
      private ImageIcon myImage3 = new ImageIcon ("Jellyfish.jpg");
      private ImageIcon myImage4 = new ImageIcon ("Penguins.jpg");
      JPanel ImageGallery = new JPanel();
      private ImageIcon[] myImages = new ImageIcon[4];
      private int curImageIndex=0;
  
      public ImageGallery ()
          {   
              ImageGallery.add(new JLabel (myImage1));
              myImages[0]=myImage1;
              myImages[1]=myImage2;
              myImages[2]=myImage3;
              myImages[3]=myImage4;
  
              add(ImageGallery, BorderLayout.NORTH);
  
              JButton PREVIOUS = new JButton ("Previous");
              JButton PLAY = new JButton ("Play");
              JButton STOP = new JButton ("Stop");
              JButton NEXT = new JButton ("Next");
  
              JPanel Menu = new JPanel();
              Menu.setLayout(new GridLayout(1,4));
              Menu.add(PREVIOUS);
              Menu.add(PLAY);
              Menu.add(STOP);
              Menu.add(NEXT);
  
              add(Menu, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
  
              //register listener
              PreviousButtonListener PreviousButton = new PreviousButtonListener ();
              PlayButtonListener PlayButton = new PlayButtonListener ();
              StopButtonListener StopButton = new StopButtonListener ();
              NextButtonListener NextButton = new NextButtonListener ();
  
              //add listeners to corresponding componenets 
              PREVIOUS.addActionListener(PreviousButton);
              PLAY.addActionListener(PlayButton);
              STOP.addActionListener(StopButton);
              NEXT.addActionListener(NextButton);
  
          }
  
      public static void main (String [] args)
          {
              ImageGallery frame = new ImageGallery();
  
              frame.setSize(490,430);
              frame.setVisible(true);
              frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
              frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
          }
  
  
  
      class PreviousButtonListener implements ActionListener 
      {
  
          public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
              {
                  if(curImageIndex&gt;0 &amp;&amp; curImageIndex &lt;= 3)
                      {   ImageGallery.remove(0);
                          curImageIndex=curImageIndex-1;
                          ImageIcon TheImage= myImages[curImageIndex];
                          ImageGallery.add(new JLabel (TheImage));
                          ImageGallery.validate();
                          ImageGallery.repaint(); 
                      }
                  else 
                      {   
                          ImageGallery.remove(0);
                          ImageGallery.add(new JLabel (myImage1));
                          curImageIndex=0;
                          ImageGallery.validate();
                          ImageGallery.repaint();
                      }
              }
      }
  
      class PlayButtonListener implements ActionListener 
      {
          public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
              {
                          // *need help here*//
  
              }
      }
  
      class StopButtonListener implements ActionListener 
      {
          public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
              {
                          // *need help here*//
              }
      }
  
      class NextButtonListener implements ActionListener 
      {
  
  
          public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
          {
  
              if(curImageIndex&gt;=0 &amp;&amp; curImageIndex &lt; 3)
                  {   ImageGallery.remove(0);
                      curImageIndex = curImageIndex + 1;
                      ImageIcon TheImage= myImages[curImageIndex];
                      ImageGallery.add(new JLabel (TheImage));
                      ImageGallery.validate();
                      ImageGallery.repaint(); 
                  }
              else 
                  {   
                      ImageGallery.remove(0);
                      ImageGallery.add(new JLabel (myImage4));
                      curImageIndex=3;
                      ImageGallery.validate();
                      ImageGallery.repaint();
                  }
  
          }
      }
  }
  </code></pre>