Java: component to display images from a byte array

In some situation there might be the need of displaying images received through a byte array (e.g. the image is sent using a socket). The solution is pretty simple. With the following code you can easily create a Component which can display images (e.g. JPEG, GIF) from a byte array. Then you just need to add this component to your GUI.

class ImageComponent extends JPanel
{
    public ImageComponent() {}
        
    public ImageComponent (byte[] image)
    {
        ByteArrayInputStream bis = new ByteArrayInputStream (image);
        try {
            _image = ImageIO.read (bis);
        }
        catch (IOException ex){}
    }
        
    //This method replaces the image displayed by the component
    //with a new one passed in the image byte array.
    public void updateImage (byte[] image)
    {
        ByteArrayInputStream bis = new ByteArrayInputStream (image);
        try {
            _image = ImageIO.read (bis);
        }
        catch (IOException ex){}
        repaint();
    }
        
    public void paint(Graphics g)
    {
        g.drawImage(_image, 0, 0, null);
    }
        
    public Dimension getPreferredSize()
    {
        if (_image == null) {
            return new Dimension (320, 240);
        } else {
            return new Dimension (_image.getWidth (null), _image.getHeight (null));
        }
    }
        
    BufferedImage _image;
}