Question:
I have developed a custom AWT component that can be placed at any level in a component hierarchy. How can it determine the top level Frame in the hierarchy?

Answer:
When using components derived from JComponent, it is possible to usegetTopLevelAncestor() to determine the topmost enclosing container inthe component hierarchy. Depending on what you want to do,getRootPane() may be more appropriate. It returns the RootPane of thecontaining JFrame. The SwingUtilities class also contains a getRoot()method which you can use to get the root component in the componenttree. This method will work with AWT as well as Swing classes.

However, when dealing with AWT components strictly derived fromComponent, and using JDK 1.1 without Swing, you have to walk theWindow hierarchy with getParent. The following convenience methodwill return the topmost component of a window hierarchy.

public static Component getRootWindow(Component component) {       Component last;       do {         last = component;         component = component.Parent();       } while(component != null);       if(last instanceof Window)         return last;       else         return null;}