How to add ImageIcon to JToolBar

I would use one Action. this is the AbstractActionconstructor

• public AbstractAction(String name, Icon icon)- Create an action with the specified name and small icon.

  Parameters:
  name - the action name (Action.NAME); the icon with a value of null
  will be ignored - the small icon of the action (Action.SMALL_ICON); a null value will be ignored

The benefit of using an Actionis that it can be reused for a component with a similar purpose. So, say, you want to have an icon button in the toolbar that opens a file, and also have an icon button JMenuItemin JMenuthat that also opens a file. They can share the same action, and thus the same icon, action command, and action to perform.

Action action = new AbstractAction("someActionCommand", someIcon) {
    @Override
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
        // do something.
    }
};

toolbar.add(action);

The code above will automatically show you the icon, but not the String. It JMenuItemwill place both the string and the icon in it.

Then just add Actionto the toolbar.

See more in " How to Use Actions"

To answer your real question, as @MadProgrammer pointed out, you should load your images as embedded resources , using

 ImageIcon icon = new ImageIcon(MyClass.class.getResource("/resources/images/image.png"));

in a /resources/imagesdirectory src, and getResource()returns a URL. After building, the IDE should copy the files to your classpath.

 ProjectRoot
           src
               resources
                       images
                             image.png

You will find that when using files from the file system, it will not be available after deployment

Here is an example where the same action is shared JMenuItemwith JToolBarthe button. Note that after JToolBar all I had to do was add it Action, I didn't need to create a button for it. This JToolBarautomatically makes it a button with no action command

I use "open.gif" in the following file structure and use

ImageIcon icon = new ImageIcon(
            ActionTest.class.getResource("/resources/image/open.gif"));

this is the result

Here is the code. enjoy your meal!

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import javax.swing.AbstractAction;
import javax.swing.Action;
import javax.swing.Box;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JMenu;
import javax.swing.JMenuBar;
import javax.swing.JMenuItem;
import javax.swing.JToolBar;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.border.LineBorder;

public class ActionTest {

    public ActionTest() {
        ImageIcon openIcon = new ImageIcon(
                ActionTest.class.getResource("/resources/image/open.gif"));
        ImageIcon saveIcon = new ImageIcon(
                ActionTest.class.getResource("/resources/image/save.gif"));
        ImageIcon newIcon = new ImageIcon(
                ActionTest.class.getResource("/resources/image/new.gif"));

        Action openAction = new AbstractAction("Open", openIcon) {
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                System.out.println("Open File");
            }
        };
        Action saveAction = new AbstractAction("Save", saveIcon) {
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                System.out.println("Save File");
            }
        };
        Action newAction = new AbstractAction("New", newIcon) {
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                System.out.println("New File");
            }
        };

        JMenuItem openMenuItem = new JMenuItem(openAction);
        JMenuItem saveMenuItem = new JMenuItem(saveAction);
        JMenuItem newMenuItem = new JMenuItem(newAction);

        JMenuBar menuBar = new JMenuBar();
        JMenu fileMenu = new JMenu("File");
        fileMenu.add(openMenuItem);
        fileMenu.add(saveMenuItem);
        fileMenu.add(newMenuItem);
        menuBar.add(fileMenu);

        JToolBar toolBar = new JToolBar();
        toolBar.add(Box.createHorizontalGlue());
        toolBar.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.LIGHT_GRAY, 1));
        toolBar.add(newAction);
        toolBar.add(openAction);
        toolBar.add(saveAction);

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Toolbar and Menu Test");
        frame.setJMenuBar(menuBar);
        frame.add(toolBar, BorderLayout.PAGE_START);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
        frame.setVisible(true);

    }

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