Thread: Funny output

For learning purposes, I made a driver program for a
Counter class. All it does is increments and decrements
by integer. I decided to turn the driver into a GUI. But,
I'm having output problems. For some reason, the first
time I run the program, everything is fine, but when I
run it again and again, most of the time the components
(label and buttons) are invisible until I scroll my mouse
over them. It intermittently works fine. Everything looks
good to me, so I have no idea why everything disappears
when I run it, but sometimes doesn't.

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
 
// class extends JFrame to make a GUI and creates a Counter
// object from the Counter class
public class Lab2 extends JFrame {
 
	private Counter aCounter = new Counter(); // counter object used by this class
 
	private JLabel counterLabel = new JLabel("0"); // label that displays the count
 
	private JButton incrementButton = new JButton("+"); // button to incrememnt the count
	private JButton decrementButton = new JButton("-"); // button to decrememnt the count
	private JButton resetButton     = new JButton("Reset"); // button to set the count to 0
 
	                                            // action listener objects to pass through 
															  // addActionListener methods of each Button
	private IncrementButtonHandler ibHandler = new IncrementButtonHandler();
	private DecrementButtonHandler dbHandler = new DecrementButtonHandler();
	private ResetButtonHandler     rbHandler = new ResetButtonHandler();
 
	private Container c = getContentPane(); // container to hold contents of the content pane
 
	private Dimension size; // dimension to hold the preferred size of each component
 
	private Font labelFont = new Font(Font.SANS_SERIF, Font.BOLD, 100); // label font object
	private Font buttonFont = new Font(Font.MONOSPACED, Font.BOLD, 25); // + and - font object
 
	private static final int WIDTH  = 140; // width of the window
   private static final int HEIGHT = 205; // height of the window
 
	// default constructor that calls methods to set up the frame
	public Lab2()
	{
		setFrameProperties();
		setComponentProperties();
		addComponents();
		addListeners();		
	}
 
	// method to set the properties of the components
	public void setComponentProperties()
	{
		counterLabel.setFont(labelFont);
		size = counterLabel.getPreferredSize();
		counterLabel.setBounds(40, 10, size.width, size.height);
 
		decrementButton.setFont(buttonFont);
		size = decrementButton.getPreferredSize();
		decrementButton.setBounds(10, 125, size.width, size.height);
 
		incrementButton.setFont(buttonFont);
		size = incrementButton.getPreferredSize();
		incrementButton.setBounds(75, 125, size.width, size.height);
 
		size = resetButton.getPreferredSize();
		resetButton.setBounds(35, 5, size.width, size.height);
	}
 
	// method to initialize the frame properties
	public void setFrameProperties()
	{	
		setVisible(true);
		setTitle("Counter");
		setSize(WIDTH, HEIGHT);
		setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
		setResizable(false);
		setLocationRelativeTo(null);
	}
 
	// method to add the components in the content pane
	public void addComponents()
	{	
		c.setLayout(null);
		c.add(counterLabel);
		c.add(incrementButton);
		c.add(decrementButton);
		c.add(resetButton);
	}
 
	// method to add the listeners to the buttons
	public void addListeners() 
	{
		incrementButton.addActionListener(ibHandler);
		decrementButton.addActionListener(dbHandler);
		resetButton.addActionListener(rbHandler);
	}
 
	// action listener for the incrementButton
	public class IncrementButtonHandler implements ActionListener
	{
		public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) 
		{	
			aCounter.incrementCount();
 
			counterLabel.setText(Integer.toString(aCounter.getCount()));
 
			size = counterLabel.getPreferredSize();
 
			if (aCounter.getCount() < 10)
				counterLabel.setBounds(40, 10, size.width, size.height);
			else 
				counterLabel.setBounds(10, 10, size.width, size.height);
		}
	}
 
	// action listener for the decrementButton
	public class DecrementButtonHandler implements ActionListener
	{
		public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
		{
			aCounter.decrementCount();
 
			counterLabel.setText(Integer.toString(aCounter.getCount()));
 
			size = counterLabel.getPreferredSize();
 
			if (aCounter.getCount() < 10)
				counterLabel.setBounds(40, 10, size.width, size.height);
			else 
				counterLabel.setBounds(10, 10, size.width, size.height);
		}	
	}
 
	// action listener for the resetButton
	public class ResetButtonHandler implements ActionListener
	{
		public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) 
		{	
			aCounter.resetCount();
			counterLabel.setText(Integer.toString(aCounter.getCount()));
 
			counterLabel.setBounds(40, 10, size.width, size.height);
		}	
	}
 
	// main method instantiates the GUI
	public static void main(String[] args)
	{
		Lab2 lab2GUI = new Lab2();
	}
}

Here is the Counter class

public class Counter
{
 
	private int count = 0; // instance variable that holds the count 
 
	// mutator methods
 
	// sets the count to zero
	public void resetCount()
	{
		count = 0;
	}
 
	// increases the count by 1
	public void incrementCount()
	{
		++count;
	}
 
	// decreases the count by 1 but not below zero
	public void decrementCount()
	{
		if (count > 0)
			--count;
	}
 
	// accessor methods
 
	// returns the current count of the object
	public int getCount()
	{
		return count;
	}
 
	// prints the count
	public void printCount()
	{
		System.out.print(count);
	}
}

You are better off not adding components after a container (eg your JFrame) is realized (eg is visible). In other words, move you setVisible(true) call to after the component additions and layout changes, and then call pack() just prior to setVisible.