"maybe i could do for example when the button is clicked (if panel color is red print out red , else if panel is green print out green) would that be good"
You can just check if (panel.getBackground() == Color.RED)
, for example
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class ColorClick {
public static void main(String[] args) {
final JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout()) {
{
setBackground(Color.RED);
}
@Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return new Dimension(200, 200);
}
};
JButton button = new JButton("Change Color");
button.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if (panel.getBackground() == Color.RED) {
System.out.println("RED");
panel.setBackground(Color.GREEN);
} else if (panel.getBackground() == Color.GREEN) {
System.out.println("GREEN");
panel.setBackground(Color.RED);
}
}
});
panel.add(button);
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, panel);
}
}