BasicStroke

BasicStroke is a fundamental class in the Java 2D API used for defining the shape and appearance of the outline of a shape. It is part of the java.awt package. When a shape is rendered with a stroke, the stroke is responsible for creating the actual visual representation of the shape's boundary.

A BasicStroke object is defined by several key properties: the width of the stroke, the join style, the cap style, and the dash array. The width determines the thickness of the line. The join style controls how corners are rendered, with options including MITER, ROUND, and BEVEL. The cap style dictates how the ends of a line segment are rendered, offering choices like CAP_BUTT, CAP_ROUND, and CAP_SQUARE. The dash array is an optional parameter that specifies a pattern of dashes and gaps to create dashed or dotted lines. For example, a dash array of {10f, 5f} would create a line with a 10-unit dash followed by a 5-unit gap, repeating.

Using BasicStroke is straightforward. An instance of BasicStroke is created with the desired parameters and then passed to the setStroke method of a Graphics2D object. Once the stroke is set, any subsequent calls to draw or drawString methods on that Graphics2D object will use the specified stroke for rendering. This allows for customization of line thickness, corner treatment, and line patterns in graphical applications.