JButtons not showing

I have googled this issue and apparently it is common, but I'm not sure how to fix it in my case... I think it has something to do with mixing Swing and Awt libraries... Anyway, I am trying to create a menu for a game and at the moment its just a black screen with a title and I am trying to show a 'start game' button. The button shows up only when I resize the window and hover over the area where it should be. Does anyone know how I can fix this???? Here is my code...

Code :

---

    public void menu(final MazeTeeter mazeteeter){
		Graphics g = canvas.getOffscreenGraphics();
		g.setColor(Color.BLACK);
		g.fillRect(0, 0, xcanvas, ycanvas);
		g.setColor(Color.WHITE);
		g.setFont(new Font("SANS_SERIF", Font.ITALIC,100));
		g.drawString("MazeTeeter", xcanvas/2 - 300, 200);
		canvas.drawOffscreen();
 
		class AddStartButtonListener implements ActionListener
		{ public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event){mazeteeter.runGame();}}
 
		button = new JButton("Start Game");
		ActionListener buttonListen = new AddStartButtonListener();
		button.addActionListener(buttonListen);
 
		panel = new JPanel();
		panel.add(button);
		panel.setBounds(xcanvas/2, ycanvas/2, 250, 100);
		jframe.add(panel);
 
	}

---

Not only does the button not show up until hovering over it, but the 'setBounds' method does nothing to the panel. It remains in its original position.... Any ideas?

What is canvas? What is that painting code supposed to be doing?
Recommended reading: Lesson: Performing Custom Painting (The Java™ Tutorials > Creating a GUI With JFC/Swing)

And your setBounds isn't doing anything because you're not using a null layout. More recommended reading: Lesson: Laying Out Components Within a Container (The Java™ Tutorials > Creating a GUI With JFC/Swing)