java - Trying to Overwrite/Replace JPanels -

in order display series of images, creating brand new jpanel in active listener method, , sending panel method add images. works great, except when hit "search" again , need whole new set of images. new panel, old panel exists underneath it, instead of new panel replacing old panel, stack.

i tried assigning blank panel spot @ beginning of active listener, doesn't seem work. panel.removeall() wouldn't work, i'm creating new imagespanel each time. have suggestions? thank you!

searchbutton.addactionlistener(new actionlistener() {         @override         public void actionperformed(actionevent e) {             string searchstring = searchtext.gettext();              if (searchdroplist.getselecteditem().equals(character)) {                   arraylist<character> characterdetails = wikidb.searchcharacter(searchstring);                  if (characterdetails.size() == 0) {                      //do other stuff                 } else {                      editcharacterbutton.setvisible(true);                      (int = 0; < characterdetails.size(); i++) {                         characterid = characterdetails.get(i).getcharacterid();                      }                      arraylist<string> characterimages = wikidb.searchimages(characterid);                      jpanel imagespanel = displayimages(characterimages, c);                       c.fill = gridbagconstraints.horizontal;                     c.gridx = 0;                     c.gridy = 6;                      rootpanel.add(imagespanel, c);                     rootpanel.repaint();                      setcontentpane(rootpanel);                     pack();                     setvisible(true);                     system.out.println("repainting.");                  }             }         }     });  private jpanel displayimages(arraylist<string> characterimages, gridbagconstraints c){     bufferedimage img1 = null;     jpanel imagespanel = new jpanel();     imagespanel.setlayout(new gridbaglayout());      (int x = 0; x < characterimages.size(); x++) {          string imageurl = characterimages.get(x);          try {             url url1 = new url(imageurl);              urlconnection conn1 = url1.openconnection();             conn1.setrequestproperty("user-agent", "mozilla/5.0 (windows nt 6.1; wow64) applewebkit/537.11 (khtml, gecko) chrome/23.0.1271.95 safari/537.11");             inputstream in1 = conn1.getinputstream();              img1 = imageio.read(in1);         } catch (ioexception ioe) {             ioe.printstacktrace();         }           if (img1 != null) {              //target size no bigger 100 x 100             int w;             int h;             if (img1.getwidth() > img1.getheight()) {                 //if source wider tall, make width 100,                 w = 100;                 //and scale height accordingly                 h = (int) ((double) img1.getheight() / img1.getwidth() * 100.0);             } else {                 //otherwise, vice versa (and if w == h, both 100)                 h = 100;                 int myh = img1.getheight();                 int myw = img1.getwidth();                 w = (int) ((double) img1.getwidth() / img1.getheight() * 100.0);                  w= w*3;                 h = h*3;             }              bufferedimage img2 = new bufferedimage(w, h, bufferedimage.type_int_rgb);             graphics2d g2 = img2.creategraphics();             g2.setrenderinghint(renderinghints.key_interpolation, renderinghints.value_interpolation_bilinear);             g2.drawimage(img1, 0, 0, w, h, null);             g2.dispose();              c.fill = gridbagconstraints.horizontal;             c.gridx = x%4;             c.gridy = x/4;              border b1 = new bevelborder(                     bevelborder.lowered, color.light_gray, color.dark_gray);             border b2 = new lineborder(color.gray, 12);             border btemp = new compoundborder(b1,b2);               jlabel cicon = new jlabel(new imageicon(img2));              cicon.setborder(btemp);             imagespanel.add(cicon, c);          }     }      return imagespanel;  } 

create 1 panel , use cardlayout cardlayout tutorial

it deck of cards. can add cards name, show last 1 , delete cards, if many images.

for further information check here: cardlayout doc