box.java

here is a project that really dsecribes the visualization of a animated box in regarding related to

package box;

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;

import javax.swing.*;

public class Box extends JButton implements ActionListener {

	// this stores the starting location of the box
	private Point startingPoint; 
	 
	Box (Rectangle bounds, Icon icon) {
		// set button's icon
		super(icon);
		
		// set x, y, w, h
		setBounds(bounds);
		
		// get starting x, y
		startingPoint = bounds.getLocation();	
	
		// add action listener
		addActionListener (this);
	}
	
	// move the box down
	public void moveDown () {
		this.setLocation( (int)getLocation().getX(), // same 'x'
					 	  (int)getLocation().getY() + 1); // increment 'y' coordinate			
	}
	
	public int getY () {
		// return the 'y' coordinate
		return (int) getLocation().getY();
	}
	
	// move the box to starting point
	public void moveToStart() {
		setLocation(startingPoint);
	}

	// implement ActionListener interface
	public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent ae){
		new BoxAnimationThread ();
	}				

	/**
	 * Inner class to animate the Box object
	 */
	class BoxAnimationThread implements Runnable {

		BoxAnimationThread (){
			// create a thread with this Runnable object
			Thread t = new Thread (this);
		
			// starts thread, calls the following 'run()' method
			t.start();			
		}
		
		/**
		 * Moves the box down until it reaches the 
		 * end of frame. Then resets to starting point
		 */
		public void run() {
			
			// check if within the bounds of frame
			while(getY()< AnimateBox.MAX_HEIGHT) {
				
				// call method of box to move down
				moveDown(); 
				
				try{
					Thread.sleep(5); // delay of 5 msec
				}catch(InterruptedException ie){}
			}
			
			// reset location of button to starting location
			moveToStart();
		}
	}
}