My main point was that anyone wanting to help you would have a lot better
chance if they could see some code; I didn't necessarily mean that *I* could
solve your problem effortlessly if you only provided some code. You've now
provided a little bit of the code. I don't see a problem in what you have
provided but I also don't have the time to ask for and review your entire
program.

I think I'll step aside and let others jump in.

Just a few thoughts of a general nature though....

1. The preferred newsgroup for GUI questions for Java programs is
comp.lang.java.gui. You might get a better answer there since all the
questions are GUI-oriented.

2. When trying something new - and modal dialogs in full screen mode would
appear to be a technique you haven't tried before - I often find that it
helps to put together a small prototype to try the new technique before
implementing it in your "real" program. Why not try knocking together a very
simple version of what you are trying to do and then get the basic bugs out
of it, then imitate what you have learned in the real program. For instance,
if you display a trivial modal dialog over a very simple full screen frame,
you will learn a lot about what happens with painting without having to
worry about all of the details handled by your program.

Lastly, a design question that you might want to ask yourself. What does
full screen mode really mean to you? How many pixels are you going to
actually have to work with (length X width)? What happens when your program
runs on a screen that has a higher or lower resolution? For instance, if you
write your application to use 1280 X 1024, what happens to the poor schmoe
whose computer is running 1024 x 768 when he tries to run your program?
Unless you plan on forcibly resetting the user's screen resolution via your
program, you might want to rethink the idea of writing a program that relies
on a specific screen size.

My two cents worth....

Rhino