Chess Board Coordinates

Question

Im trying to create a chess program in Java. Right now, I have the board done together with the pieces present, which I can move with my mouse by dragging and dropping. What I need is to add coordinates to the squares at the sides, like on a real board. Doesn't have to be anything fancy, just a visual. Since I drew my board not with Graphics, I don't know how to draw on top of the board I have created :/ ``` import java.awt.*; import java.awt.event.*; import java.util.*; import javax.swing.*; public class ChessGame extends JFrame implements MouseListener, MouseMotionListener { JLayeredPane layeredPane; JPanel chessBoard; JLabel chessPiece; int xCoordinate; int yCoordinate; public ChessGame() { Dimension boardSize = new Dimension(600, 600); layeredPane = new JLayeredPane(); getContentPane().add(layeredPane); layeredPane.setPreferredSize(boardSize); layeredPane.addMouseListener(this); layeredPane.addMouseMotionListener(this); // adding chess board chessBoard = new JPanel(); layeredPane.…

Accepted Answer

- You should put your chessBoard JPanel into another BorderLayout-using JPanel.

- This container JPanel will hold a GridLayout using JPanel on the left and on the bottom.

- And these can hold JLabels which hold your row and column labels.

Edit

- On second thought, better for the container JPanel to use a GridBagLayout so that the side JPanels will size correctly.

Edit 2 For example:

```
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;

@SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class ChessGame2 extends JPanel {
   private static final int RANKS = 8;
   private static final int FILES = RANKS;
   private static final int SIDE = 80;
   private static final Dimension SQUARE_SIZE = new Dimension(SIDE, SIDE);
   private static final Color LIGHT_COLOR = new Color(238, 221, 187);
   private static final Color DARK_COLOR = new Color(204, 136, 68);
   private static final int GAP = 5;

private JPanel chessBoard = new JPanel(new GridLayout(RANKS, FILES));

public ChessGame2() {
      for (int rank = 0; rank < RANKS; rank++) {
         for (int file = 0; file < FILES; file++) {
            JPanel square = new JPanel();
            square.setPreferredSize(SQUARE_SIZE);
            Color bg = (rank % 2 == file % 2) ? LIGHT_COLOR : DARK_COLOR; 
            square.setBackground(bg);
            chessBoard.add(square);
         }
      }

setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
      GridBagConstraints gbc = new GridBagConstraints();
      gbc.gridx = 0;
      gbc.gridy = 1;
      gbc.gridwidth = 1;
      gbc.gridheight = 1;
      gbc.weightx = 0.0;
      gbc.weighty = 0.0;
      gbc.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
      gbc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.WEST;
      gbc.insets = new Insets(0, 2 * GAP, 0, 2 * GAP);
      add(createRankPanel(), gbc);

gbc.gridx = 2;
      gbc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.EAST;
      add(createRankPanel(), gbc);

gbc.gridx = 1;
      gbc.gridy = 0;
      gbc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.SOUTH;
      gbc.insets = new Insets(GAP, 0, GAP, 0);
      add(createFilePanel(), gbc);

gbc.gridy = 2;
      gbc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.NORTH;
      add(createFilePanel(), gbc);

gbc.gridx = 1;
      gbc.gridy = 1;
      gbc.anchor = GridBagConstraints.CENTER;
      gbc.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 0, 0);
      add(chessBoard, gbc);
   }

private JPanel createFilePanel() {
      JPanel filePanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1, 0));
      for (int i = 0; i < FILES; i++) {
         char fileChar = (char) ('A' + i);
         filePanel.add(new JLabel(String.valueOf(fileChar), SwingConstants.CENTER));
      }
      return filePanel;
   }

private JPanel createRankPanel() {
      JPanel rankPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0, 1));
      for (int i = 0; i < RANKS; i++) {
         int row = RANKS - i;
         rankPanel.add(new JLabel(String.valueOf(row)));
      }
      return rankPanel;
   }

private static void createAndShowGui() {
      ChessGame2 mainPanel = new ChessGame2();

JFrame frame = new JFrame("Chess Game");
      frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
      frame.getContentPane().add(mainPanel);
      frame.pack();
      frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
      frame.setVisible(true);
   }

public static void main(String[] args) {
      SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
         public void run() {
            createAndShowGui();
         }
      });
   }
}
```

Which displays as:

Chess Board Coordinates

Solution

Problem