What is the preferred way of adding images to an application

[pigsie]

Hi

I am currently building an application which requires a background
image. To acheive this I have used an ImageIcon. Is this the standard
way of adding images to an application or is there a problem with this
approach. What is the most efficient way to add images to
appliactions?

Also I need to be able to add other components - images, buttons and
labels ontop of this background is this possible with an imageIcon?

Thanks in advance

 

[OttSens]

Image i=(Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit()).getImage("./pic/abc.gif"
MediaTracker mt=new MediaTracker(someComponent);
mt.addImage(i,0);
try{
mt.waitForAll();
}catch(Exception e)
{System.out.println("an error occured loading image"}
Graphics g=someComponent.getGraphics();
g.drawImage(i,0,0,someComponent);

HINT: If you are going to use this as an app background and there is going to be any updating of the image then use double buffering(updating to an offscreen image and redrawing to application from that) or images will flicker and performance will not be good.