Java Nimbus LAF with transparent text fields

I ran into this same issue last week using JTextPane. The setOpaque() method works as expected when using any look and feel other than nimbus. Apparently, the nimbus look and feel changes the behaviour we have come to expect with setOpaque() for many Components. Depending on how you look at it, it can be considered a bug. Check the comments on this sun bugid:

nimbus opaque bug

The workaround that worked for me was:

myPane.setOpaque(false); // added by OP
myPane.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder());
myPane.setBackground(new Color(0,0,0,0));

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Note from OP: I also had to ensure setOpaque(false) for JTextField so that the parent background was painted - just wanted to mention this for others who follow in case they had experimented with setOpaque(true), as I had.