Here is the code.

But first: It is intended that this panel would display a the bottom of
a dialog and contain a Cancel button and possibly another button which
I call the ActionButton. Below this is an area for a message. The
message displays for 2 seconds before reverting to some default
message. I have already designed several dialogs with a similar scheme
so I thought it a good idea to standardize it into my own component.

Regards,

Fred.

package com.dbuddies.mqface;

import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.beans.*;
import java.io.Serializable;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;

public class DCancelPanel extends JPanel implements Serializable
{
   private class Hint
   {
       private class Runner implements Runnable
       {
           private int    interval = 0;
           private String message  = "";

           private Runner()
           {
               super();
           }

           private void set(String stringIn, int intIn)
           {
               message  = stringIn;
               interval = intIn < 0 ? 0 : intIn;
           }

           public synchronized void run()
           {
               String previous = jLabelHint.getText();

               jLabelHint.setForeground(Color.RED);
               jLabelHint.setText(message);
               Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().beep();

               try
               {
                   thread.sleep(interval);
               }
               catch (InterruptedException ie){}

               jLabelHint.setForeground(Color.BLACK);
               jLabelHint.setText(previous);
           }
       }

       Runner runner = null;
       Thread thread = null;

       private Hint()
       {
           super();

           runner = new Runner();
           thread = new Thread(runner);
       }

       private void flashHint(String stringIn, int intIn)
       {
           runner.set(stringIn, intIn);

           if (thread.isAlive())
               thread.interrupt();

           runner.set(stringIn, intIn);
           thread = new Thread(runner);
           thread.start();
       }
   }

   private PropertyChangeSupport propertySupport;

   private JButton jButtonCancel    = new JButton();
   private JButton jButtonAction    = null;
   private JPanel  jPanelInnerTop   = new JPanel();
   private JPanel  jPanelInnerBot   = new JPanel();
   private JLabel  jLabelHint       = new JLabel();
   private Hint    hinter           = null;

   public DCancelPanel()
   {
       super();

       propertySupport = new PropertyChangeSupport(this);

       this.initComponents();

       hinter = new Hint();
   }

   public void setActionButtonText(String stringIn)
   {
       jButtonAction = new JButton();
       jButtonAction.setText(stringIn);

       jPanelInnerTop.remove(jButtonCancel);
       jPanelInnerTop.add(jButtonAction);
       jPanelInnerTop.add(jButtonCancel);

   }

   public JButton getButtonCancel()
   {
       return jButtonCancel;
   }

   public void setCancelButtonText(String stringIn)
   {
       jButtonCancel.setText(stringIn);
   }

   public void setHintText(String stringIn)
   {
       jLabelHint.setText(stringIn);
   }

   public void flashHint(String stringIn)
   {
       hinter.flashHint(stringIn, 2000);
   }

   public void addPropertyChangeListener(PropertyChangeListener
listener)
   {
       propertySupport.addPropertyChangeListener(listener);
   }

   public void removePropertyChangeListener(PropertyChangeListener
listener)
   {
       propertySupport.removePropertyChangeListener(listener);
   }

   private void initComponents()
   {
       this.setLayout(new javax.swing.BoxLayout(this,
javax.swing.BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));

       jPanelInnerTop.setLayout(new
java.awt.FlowLayout(java.awt.FlowLayout.RIGHT, 10, 10));
       jPanelInnerBot.setLayout(new
java.awt.FlowLayout(java.awt.FlowLayout.LEFT, 5, 5));

       jButtonCancel.setText("Cancel");

       jPanelInnerTop.add(jButtonCancel);
       jPanelInnerBot.add(jLabelHint);

       this.add(jPanelInnerTop);
       this.add(jPanelInnerBot);

       jPanelInnerBot.setBackground(Color.WHITE);
       jLabelHint.setText("");
   }
}