Controlling mouse events in my GUI

Question

I've developed a game GUI with the JMonkeyengine

package adventure;

import java.applet.Applet;
import java.applet.AudioClip;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Image;
import java.awt.TextArea;
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.URL;

import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

import com.jme3.app.SimpleApplication;
import com.jme3.asset.plugins.ZipLocator;
import com.jme3.bullet.BulletAppState;
import com.jme3.bullet.collision.shapes.CapsuleCollisionShape;
import com.jme3.bullet.collision.shapes.CollisionShape;
import com.jme3.bullet.control.CharacterControl;
import com.jme3.bullet.control.RigidBodyControl;
import com.jme3.bullet.util.CollisionShapeFactory;
import com.jme3.input.KeyInput;
import com.jme3.input.controls.ActionListener;
import com.jme3.input.controls.KeyTrigger;
import com.jme3.light.AmbientLight;
import com.jme3.light.DirectionalLight;
import com.jme3.math.ColorRGBA;
import com.jme3.math.Vector3f;
import com.jme3.scene.Node;
import com.jme3.scene.Spatial;
import com.jme3.system.AppSettings;
import com.jme3.system.JmeCanvasContext;

/**
 * Example 9 - How to make walls and floors solid. This collision code uses
 * Physics and a custom Action Listener.
 * 
 * @author normen, with edits by Zathras
 */
public class TownView extends SimpleApplication implements ActionListener,
        Playable {

    private Spatial sceneModel;
    private BulletAppState bulletAppState;
    private RigidBodyControl landscape;
    private CharacterControl player;
    private Vector3f walkDirection = new Vector3f();
    private boolean left = false, right = false, up = false, down = false;

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                AppSettings settings = new AppSettings(true);
                settings.setWidth(850);
                settings.setHeight(440);

                TownView canvasApplication = new TownView();
                canvasApplication.setSettings(settings);
                canvasApplication.createCanvas(); // create canvas!
                JmeCanvasContext ctx = (JmeCanvasContext) canvasApplication
                        .getContext();
                ctx.setSystemListener(canvasApplication);
                Dimension dim = new Dimension(640, 480);
                ctx.getCanvas().setPreferredSize(dim);

                JFrame window = new JFrame("Swing Application");
                window.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

                JPanel panel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout()); // a panel
                World world = new DungeonWorld(canvasApplication);
                Person me = new Person(world, "You", null);
                PlaceView placeview = new PlaceView(me);
                Commands commands = new Commands(me);
                TextArea textarea = new TextArea("", 10, 60,
                        TextArea.SCROLLBARS_VERTICAL_ONLY);
                textarea.append("You are in a dungeon. The horrible shrieks of the undead chill your bones.\n");
                textarea.setEditable(false);
                panel.add("West", ctx.getCanvas());
                panel.add("East", commands);
                panel.add("South", textarea);
                window.add(panel);
                window.pack();
                window.setVisible(true);
                canvasApplication.startCanvas();

            }
        });
    }

    public void simpleInitApp() {
        /** Set up Physics */
        bulletAppState = new BulletAppState();
        stateManager.attach(bulletAppState);
        // bulletAppState.getPhysicsSpace().enableDebug(assetManager);

        // We re-use the flyby camera for rotation, while positioning is handled
        // by physics
        viewPort.setBackgroundColor(new ColorRGBA(0.7f, 0.8f, 1f, 1f));
        flyCam.setMoveSpeed(100);
        setUpKeys();
        setUpLight();

        // We load the scene from the zip file and adjust its size.
        assetManager.registerLocator("town.zip", ZipLocator.class);
        sceneModel = assetManager.loadModel("main.scene");
        sceneModel.setLocalScale(2f);

        // We set up collision detection for the scene by creating a
        // compound collision shape and a static RigidBodyControl with mass
        // zero.
        CollisionShape sceneShape = CollisionShapeFactory
                .createMeshShape((Node) sceneModel);
        landscape = new RigidBodyControl(sceneShape, 0);
        sceneModel.addControl(landscape);

        // We set up collision detection for the player by creating
        // a capsule collision shape and a CharacterControl.
        // The CharacterControl offers extra settings for
        // size, stepheight, jumping, falling, and gravity.
        // We also put the player in its starting position.
        CapsuleCollisionShape capsuleShape = new CapsuleCollisionShape(1.5f,
                6f, 1);
        player = new CharacterControl(capsuleShape, 0.05f);
        player.setJumpSpeed(20);
        player.setFallSpeed(30);
        player.setGravity(30);
        player.setPhysicsLocation(new Vector3f(0, 10, 0));

        // We attach the scene and the player to the rootNode and the physics
        // space,
        // to make them appear in the game world.
        rootNode.attachChild(sceneModel);
        bulletAppState.getPhysicsSpace().add(landscape);
        bulletAppState.getPhysicsSpace().add(player);
    }

    private void setUpLight() {
        // We add light so we see the scene
        AmbientLight al = new AmbientLight();
        al.setColor(ColorRGBA.White.mult(1.3f));
        rootNode.addLight(al);

        DirectionalLight dl = new DirectionalLight();
        dl.setColor(ColorRGBA.White);
        dl.setDirection(new Vector3f(2.8f, -2.8f, -2.8f).normalizeLocal());
        rootNode.addLight(dl);
    }

    /**
     * We over-write some navigational key mappings here, so we can add
     * physics-controlled walking and jumping:
     */
    private void setUpKeys() {
        inputManager.addMapping("Left", new KeyTrigger(KeyInput.KEY_A));
        inputManager.addMapping("Right", new KeyTrigger(KeyInput.KEY_D));
        inputManager.addMapping("Up", new KeyTrigger(KeyInput.KEY_W));
        inputManager.addMapping("Down", new KeyTrigger(KeyInput.KEY_S));
        inputManager.addMapping("Jump", new KeyTrigger(KeyInput.KEY_SPACE));
        inputManager.addListener(this, "Left");
        inputManager.addListener(this, "Right");
        inputManager.addListener(this, "Up");
        inputManager.addListener(this, "Down");
        inputManager.addListener(this, "Jump");
    }

    /**
     * These are our custom actions triggered by key presses. We do not walk
     * yet, we just keep track of the direction the user pressed.
     */
    public void onAction(String binding, boolean value, float tpf) {
        if (binding.equals("Left")) {
            left = value;
        } else if (binding.equals("Right")) {
            right = value;
        } else if (binding.equals("Up")) {
            up = value;
        } else if (binding.equals("Down")) {
            down = value;
        } else if (binding.equals("Jump")) {
            player.jump();
        }
    }

    /**
     * This is the main event loop--walking happens here. We check in which
     * direction the player is walking by interpreting the camera direction
     * forward (camDir) and to the side (camLeft). The setWalkDirection()
     * command is what lets a physics-controlled player walk. We also make sure
     * here that the camera moves with player.
     */
    @Override
    public void simpleUpdate(float tpf) {
        Vector3f camDir = cam.getDirection().clone().multLocal(0.6f);
        Vector3f camLeft = cam.getLeft().clone().multLocal(0.4f);
        walkDirection.set(0, 0, 0);
        if (left) {
            walkDirection.addLocal(camLeft);
        }
        if (right) {
            walkDirection.addLocal(camLeft.negate());
        }
        if (up) {
            walkDirection.addLocal(camDir);
        }
        if (down) {
            walkDirection.addLocal(camDir.negate());
        }
        player.setWalkDirection(walkDirection);
        cam.setLocation(player.getPhysicsLocation());
    }

    // Load an image from the net, making sure it has already been
    // loaded when the method returns
    public Image loadPicture(String imageName) {
        Image im = null;

        // Load the image from the net
        try {
            URL imageSource = new URL(
                    "http://www.student.nada.kth.se/~d99-nro/" + imageName);

        } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
        }

        return im;
    }

    // Load and play a sound from /usr/local/hacks/sounds/

    public void playSound(String name) {
        URL u = null;

        try {
            u = new URL("file:" + "/usr/local/hacks/sounds/" + name + ".au");
        } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
        }

        AudioClip a = Applet.newAudioClip(u);
        a.play();
    }

}

Now I only want mouse and clicks to register with the canvas on the cursor in over the canvas, so that I can use the buttons for North, West, East and the list panels. Can you help me how to achieve this? The way it is now is that the mouse and keyboard events are registered with the canvas even though the cursor is outside the canvas, which makes closing the windows with Alt+F4 the only way of closing the windows and I'm unable to use my buttons for direction.

Answer 1

public void simpleInitApp() {
    flyCam.setDragToRotate(true);
    ...

Just read it in the manual and it worked.