Java SE (Java Platform, Standard Edition)

Hi all,
i'm new to the forum and i'll be granted if you kind gentlemen/women could use some advices for my gui home application.
My purpose is to display a static image in a container (i'd prefer to use javax.swing objects, but if you think that java.awt is more suitable for my app, please feel free to tell me about...). I used a modified code from one of the Java Tutorial's examples, tht actually is an applet and displays images as it is using the paint() method. I just can't realize how to set the GraphicContext in a JFrame or a JPanel to contain the image to display, without using applets. Following part of the code I use (a JButton will fire JApplet start, JApplet is another class file called Apple.java):

class DMToolz extends JFrame {
	private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
	private JPanel jContentPane = null;
	private JButton jButton = null;
	private JComboBox jComboBox = null;
	private JMenuItem jMenuItem = null;
	private JMenuBar jJMenuBar = null;
	private JMenu jMenu = null;
	private JMenu jMenu1 = null;
	public int w=10, h=10;
	public String filename;
	/**
	 * @throws HeadlessException
	 */
	public DMToolz() throws HeadlessException {
		// TODO Auto-generated constructor stub
		super();
		initialize();
	}

	public DMToolz(String arg0) throws HeadlessException {
		super(arg0);
		// TODO Auto-generated constructor stub
		initialize();
	}

	/**
	 * This method initializes jButton
	 *
	 * @return javax.swing.JButton
	 */
	private JButton getJButton() {
		if (jButton == null) {
			jButton = new JButton();
			jButton.setBounds(new Rectangle(723, 505, 103, 38));
			jButton.setText("UrcaMado'");
			jButton.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
				public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent e) {
/**************SCRIVERE QUI IL NOME DEL FILE CON L'IMMAGINE DA CARICARE*******************/
					filename = "reference table player2.gif";
			        java.net.URL imgURL = DMToolz.class.getResource("images/"+filename);
			        BufferedImage img = null;
			        try {
			        	img =  ImageIO.read(imgURL);
			            w = img.getWidth();
			            h = img.getHeight();
			            System.out.println("*DM* Immagine letta - W:"+w+" H:"+h);
			         } catch (Exception ex) {System.out.println("*DM* Immagine non letta");}
		         
			        JApplet a = new Apple();
			        a.setName(filename);
			        JFrame f = new JFrame ("UrcaBBestia!");
			        f.addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter() {
			            public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e) {System.exit(0);}
			        });
			        f.getContentPane().add(a);
			        f.setPreferredSize( new Dimension(w,h+30) );//30 � (circa) l'altezza della barra del titolo del frame
			       	f.pack();
					f.setVisible(true);			        

				}
			});
		}
		return jButton;
	}

public class Apple extends JApplet {
    /**
	 * 
	 */
	private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
    final static Color bg = Color.white;
    final static Color fg = Color.black;
    final static Color red = Color.red;
    final static Color white = Color.white;

    public void init() {
        //Initialize drawing colors
        setBackground(bg);
        setForeground(fg);
    }

    public void paint(Graphics g) {
        Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D) g;
        g2.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING, RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
       
        try {
        	String filename = this.getName(); //uso il nome dell'applet come riferimento al nome del file da caricare
        	java.net.URL imgURL = DMToolz.class.getResource("images/"+filename);
        	BufferedImage img =  ImageIO.read(imgURL);
        	if (img.equals(null)) {System.out.println("IMG null!");System.exit(0);}
            System.out.println("IMG letta");
            int w = img.getWidth();
            int h = img.getHeight();
            resize(w,h);
            g2.drawImage(img, 
    				0,0,Color.LIGHT_GRAY,
    				null);// no ImageObserver
         } catch (Exception ex) {ex.printStackTrace();
        						System.out.println("Immagine non letta.");System.exit(0);}

        

    }

}//end class

Please never mind about some italian text, used as reminder....
Thanks in advance.