Can I make a component transparent without hiding it?

Question

I need to make a component transparent, so there's nothing to see, but it still takes its place (unlike with setVisible(false)).

With CSS terminology, I need visibility:hidden rather than display:none.

Ideally, it should work for any component, including containers and their children. So I don't think, subclassing and overriding paint or alike is the way to go.

• Replacing by other component and delegating could do, will it?
• Or is there a simpler way?

Answer 1

setVisible() hides a component while it still occupies its space unlike setHidden() which shrinks the component away`. See:

Form hi = new Form("Visible", BoxLayout.y());

Button r1 = new Button("Regular");
Button invisible = new Button("Invisible");
invisible.setVisible(false);
Button r2 = new Button("Regular");

Button r3 = new Button("Regular");
Button hidden = new Button("Hidden");
hidden.setHidden(true);
Button r4 = new Button("Regular");

hi.add(BoxLayout.encloseX(r1, invisible, r2));
hi.add(BoxLayout.encloseX(r3, hidden, r4));

hi.show();