// Set up an hour-glass cursor when the cursor is over myComponent.
// You could use any of the predefined Cursors such as
// WAIT_CURSOR, HAND_CURSOR, DEFAULT_CURSOR, MOVE_CURSOR, CROSSHAIR_CURSOR.
// TEXT_CURSOR or the various resize cursors.

import java.awt.Cursor;
//...
myComponent.setCursor( Cursor.getPredefinedCursor ( Cursor.WAIT_CURSOR ) );

Normally you just select from one of the pre-dedefined cursors, but you can create a custom cursor with Toolkit.createCustomCursor().

createCustomCursor wants an Image. You can create it in the usual way from a *.png or *.gif file, by fishing it out of a resource. You can also create it with the low-level line and bit drawing tools. It won’t take a *.ico, *.ani or *.bmp file directly. You will have to convert them with utility like IconXP.

Cursor is used more generally for anything that marks a place, e.g. you could call the current seek position in a file a cursor, though in recent times, the term is used exclusively for the mouse cursor.

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