Develop Reference

How do I create a new JFrame?

I'm a complete beginner to Java, and I'm finding some answers a bit too technical for me (even the most basic tutorials seem to give me syntax errors when I run the code). How, in really simple terms do I add a JButton to a JFrame? I've got as far as:
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
public class JF {
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame myFrame = new JFrame();
/*some pretty basic code to initialize the JFrame i.e.
myFrame.setSize(300, 200);
This is as far as I got
*/
}
}
I would seriously appreciate some help!

Creating a new JFrame
The way to create a new instance of a JFrame is pretty simple.
All you have to do is:
JFrame myFrame = new JFrame("Frame Title");
But now the Window is hidden, to see the Window you must use the setVisible(boolean flag) method. Like this:
myFrame.setVisible(true);
Adding Components
There are many ways to add a Component to a JFrame.
The simplest way is:
myFrame.getContentPane().add(new JButton());//in this case we are adding a Button
This will just add a new Component that will fill the JFrame().
If you do not want the Component to fill the screen then you should either make the ContentPane of the JFrame a new custom Container
myFrame.getContentPane() = new JPanel();
OR add a custom Container to the ContentPane and add everything else there.
JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
myFrame.getContentPane().add(mainPanel);
If you do not want to write the myFrame.getContentPane() every time then you could just keep an instance of the ContentPane.
JPanel pane = myFrame.getContentPane();
Basic Properties
The most basic properties of the JFrame are:
Size
Location
CloseOperation
You can either set the Size by using:
myFrame.setSize(new Dimension(300, 200));//in pixels
Or packing the JFrame after adding all the components (Better practice).
myFrame.pack();
You can set the Location by using:
myFrame.setLocation(new Point(100, 100));// starting from top left corner
Finally you can set the CloseOperation (what happens when X is pressed) by
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
There are 4 different actions that you can choose from:
DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE //Nothing happens
HIDE_ON_CLOSE //setVisible(false)
DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE //Closes JFrame, Application still runs
EXIT_ON_CLOSE //Closes Application
Using Event Dispatch Thread
You should initialize all GUI in Event Dispatch Thread, you can do this by simply doing:
class GUI implements Runnable {
public static void main(String[] args) {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new GUI());
}
#Override
public void run() {
JFrame myFrame = new JFrame("Frame Title");
myFrame.setLocation(new Point(100, 100));
myFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
mainPanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
myFrame.getContentPane().add(mainPanel);
mainPanel.add(new JButton("Button Text"), BorderLayout.CENTER);
myFrame.pack();
myFrame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
myFrame.setVisible(true);
}
}

//I hope this will help
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class JF extends JFrame
{
private JButton myButton;//Here you begin by declaring the button
public JF()//Here you create you constructor. Constructors are used for initializing variable
{
myButton = new JButton();//We initialize our variable
myButton.setText("My Button"); //And give it a name
JPanel panel1 = new JPanel();//In java panels are useful for holding content
panel1.add(myButton);//Here you put your button in the panel
add(panel1);//This make the panel visible together with its contents
setSize(300,400);//Set the size of your window
setVisible(true);//Make your window visible
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
JFrame frame = new JF();
frame.setTitle("My First Button");
frame.setLocation(400,200);
}
}

Java GUI - JButton opens another frame from another class

i'm having trouble to get the 2nd frame to display the GUI Components. i've opened the frame using the JButton from the 1st frame.
Here's the screen shot
This is the first frame - ClientModule.java
2nd frame - ClientMenu.java
Here's the codes i've tried
ClientModule.java
import java.net.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
public class ClientModule extends JFrame implements Runnable{
private JPanel panel;
private JFrame frame;
private JLabel titleLbl, userLbl, passLbl, hostLbl, portLbl, ipLbl;
private JTextField userTxt, hostTxt, portTxt, ipTxt;
private JPasswordField passTxt;
private JButton loginBtn;
public static void main(String[] args)
{
new ClientModule().run();
}
public ClientModule()
{
frame = new JFrame("DMS(Drawing Message System)");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setResizable(false);
panel = new JPanel();
panel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500,500));
panel.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
titleLbl = new JLabel("LogIn to Drawing Message System(DMS)");
titleLbl.setFont(new Font("Rockwell Condensed",Font.BOLD,28));
userLbl = new JLabel("Username:");
passLbl = new JLabel("Password:");
hostLbl = new JLabel("Hostname:");
portLbl = new JLabel("Port No.:");
ipLbl = new JLabel("IP Address:");
userTxt = new JTextField();
userTxt.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100,30));
passTxt = new JPasswordField();
passTxt.setEchoChar('*');
passTxt.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100,30));
portTxt = new JTextField();
portTxt.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100,30));
ipTxt = new JTextField();
ipTxt.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100,30));
hostTxt = new JTextField();
hostTxt.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100,30));
loginBtn = new JButton("Login!");
loginBtn.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(90,30));
loginBtn.addActionListener(new LoginBtnListener());
panel.add(titleLbl);
panel.add(userLbl);
panel.add(userTxt);
panel.add(passLbl);
panel.add(passTxt);
panel.add(hostLbl);
panel.add(hostTxt);
panel.add(portLbl);
panel.add(portTxt);
panel.add(ipLbl);
panel.add(ipTxt);
panel.add(loginBtn);
frame.add(panel);
}
private class LoginBtnListener implements ActionListener
{
#SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent action)
{
//thinking this frame will close after ClientMenu's frame is open
ClientModule client = new ClientModule();
client.setVisible(false);
ClientMenu menu = new ClientMenu();
menu.setVisible(true);
}
}
public void run()
{
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}
ClientMenu.java
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
public class ClientMenu extends JFrame{
JFrame frame;
JPanel panel;
JLabel titleLbl;
JButton sendBtn,receiveBtn,logoutBtn;
public ClientMenu()
{
frame = new JFrame("Drawing Message System(DMS)");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setResizable(false);
panel = new JPanel();
panel.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
panel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500,500));
titleLbl = new JLabel("Main Menu");
titleLbl.setFont(new Font("Rockwell Condensed",Font.BOLD,28));
sendBtn = new JButton("Send a Drawing");
sendBtn.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100,30));
receiveBtn = new JButton("Receive a Drawing");
receiveBtn.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100,30));
logoutBtn = new JButton("Logout");
logoutBtn.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100,30));
logoutBtn.addActionListener(new LogoutBtnListener());
panel.add(titleLbl);
panel.add(sendBtn);
panel.add(receiveBtn);
panel.add(logoutBtn);
frame.add(panel);
}
private class LogoutBtnListener implements ActionListener
{
//#SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent action)
{
ClientModule client = new ClientModule();
client.setVisible(true);
ClientMenu menu = new ClientMenu();
menu.setVisible(false);
}
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
new ClientMenu().run();
}
public void run()
{
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}
I'm not sure if i'm missing something, or coded something wrong, or something else. I've already searched and tried..
any help and understanding is appreciated (:

I managed to get the second frame displayed (including its contents) by adding a call to the run() method:
ClientMenu menu = new ClientMenu();
menu.setVisible(true);
menu.run();
That being said, there are quite some problems with your code:
You have a main method in each of your classes. You should have only 1 main method per application. Since ClientModule seems to be the first Frame you want to have opened, your might want to keep the main method there and remove the one in the other class.
You have a run() method in each class. Personally, I tend to avoid naming methods like this, since it might cause confusion with the run() method which needs to be overridden when dealing with threads. You are clearly attempting to do some multi threading in your ClientModule, but will not work. Please look into this concurrency tutorial to better understand threads. You should also understand that you should never call run() yourself. The tutorial should make that clear.
Swing applications are started a little bit differently that other applications. Please refer to this tutorial for more information.
You have both your classes extend JFrame but then, provide your own. This results in other JFrames being created, which is what happened in my case (I get 2 JFrames per instantiation). If you want your class to behave like a JFrame, consider extending it, if you want to use a JFrame, then compose your class of one, not both (at least not in this case).
Lastly, to get rid of the previous JFrame you could call dispose() on the it. That being said, the approach usually is to use the Card Layout. This would allow you to have 1 frame with multiple content.
Sorry for the long post, but please consider re factoring as per the above prior to continuing.

You can use the setVisible property to 'true' or 'false'.

JAVA - Can't add Text Field and Button to container

I'm trying to do a little program that use some buttons and text field.
I was able to create window with JPanel but don't have idea how to add button and text field
The code I'm using is:
public UI() {
sprites = new HashMap();
// spriteCache = stage.getSpriteCache();
JFrame okno = new JFrame ("VoLTE Script");
setBounds(0,0,SZEROKOSC,WYSOKOSC);
JPanel panel = (JPanel)okno.getContentPane();
panel.setLayout (null);
panel.add(this);
okno.setBounds(0,0,800,600);
okno.setVisible(true);
JTextField pole = new JTextField(10);
JButton przycisk = new JButton("teasda");
przycisk.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(300, 350));
przycisk.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
panel.add(przycisk);
przycisk.setVisible(true);
pole.setBounds (300,300,200,200);
pole.setLayout(null);
pole.setVisible(true);
panel.add(pole);
okno.addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter(){
public void windowClosing (WindowEvent e){
System.exit(0);
}
});
okno.setResizable(false);
createBufferStrategy(2);
strategia=getBufferStrategy();
requestFocus();
// addKeyListener(this);
// addMouseListener(this);
}

You need to use the layout properly, when using border layout you need to tell it which border to use (, BorderLayout.NORTH or something), check out the tutorials at oracles page.
P.S. Think of how your naming your fields etc. Naming something "przycisk" just gives me a reason not to read the code further.

Thank You for help and sorry for Polish names(fixed already).
I was able to add Text Area with scroll.
Looks like problem was in panel.add(this); putted before button and text field.
From my understanding if panel.add(this) is set before panel.add(pole); then panel.add(this) is set in front and pole is added but not seen.
Below my actual working code:
...
public UI() {
sprites = new HashMap();
// spriteCache = stage.getSpriteCache();
JFrame okno = new JFrame ("VoLTE Script");
setBounds(0,0,WIDTH,HEIGHT);
JPanel panel = (JPanel)okno.getContentPane();
panel.setLayout (null);
okno.setBounds(0,0,800,600);
okno.setVisible(true);
JTextArea pole = new JTextArea();
pole.setLayout(null);
pole.setLineWrap(true);
//pole.setBackground(Color.BLACK);
pole.setEditable(false);
JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane(pole);
scroll.setBounds(25,250,500,300);
scroll.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(
JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS);
panel.add(scroll);
panel.add(this);
okno.addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter(){
public void windowClosing (WindowEvent e){
System.exit(0);
}
});
okno.setResizable(false);
createBufferStrategy(2);
strategia=getBufferStrategy();
requestFocus();
// addKeyListener(this);
addMouseListener(this);
}
...

This code is from this site: Example of Java GUI
//Imports are listed in full to show what's being used
//could just import javax.swing.* and java.awt.* etc..
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JComboBox;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JList;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
public class GuiApp1 {
//Note: Typically the main method will be in a
//separate class. As this is a simple one class
//example it's all in the one class.
public static void main(String[] args) {
new GuiApp1();
}
public GuiApp1()
{
JFrame guiFrame = new JFrame();
//make sure the program exits when the frame closes
guiFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
guiFrame.setTitle("Example GUI");
guiFrame.setSize(300,250);
//This will center the JFrame in the middle of the screen
guiFrame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
//Options for the JComboBox
String[] fruitOptions = {"Apple", "Apricot", "Banana"
,"Cherry", "Date", "Kiwi", "Orange", "Pear", "Strawberry"};
//Options for the JList
String[] vegOptions = {"Asparagus", "Beans", "Broccoli", "Cabbage"
, "Carrot", "Celery", "Cucumber", "Leek", "Mushroom"
, "Pepper", "Radish", "Shallot", "Spinach", "Swede"
, "Turnip"};
//The first JPanel contains a JLabel and JCombobox
final JPanel comboPanel = new JPanel();
JLabel comboLbl = new JLabel("Fruits:");
JComboBox fruits = new JComboBox(fruitOptions);
comboPanel.add(comboLbl);
comboPanel.add(fruits);
//Create the second JPanel. Add a JLabel and JList and
//make use the JPanel is not visible.
final JPanel listPanel = new JPanel();
listPanel.setVisible(false);
JLabel listLbl = new JLabel("Vegetables:");
JList vegs = new JList(vegOptions);
vegs.setLayoutOrientation(JList.HORIZONTAL_WRAP);
listPanel.add(listLbl);
listPanel.add(vegs);
JButton vegFruitBut = new JButton( "Fruit or Veg");
//The ActionListener class is used to handle the
//event that happens when the user clicks the button.
//As there is not a lot that needs to happen we can
//define an anonymous inner class to make the code simpler.
vegFruitBut.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
{
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
{
//When the fruit of veg button is pressed
//the setVisible value of the listPanel and
//comboPanel is switched from true to
//value or vice versa.
listPanel.setVisible(!listPanel.isVisible());
comboPanel.setVisible(!comboPanel.isVisible());
}
});
//The JFrame uses the BorderLayout layout manager.
//Put the two JPanels and JButton in different areas.
guiFrame.add(comboPanel, BorderLayout.NORTH);
guiFrame.add(listPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
guiFrame.add(vegFruitBut,BorderLayout.SOUTH);
//make sure the JFrame is visible
guiFrame.setVisible(true);
}
}
For the future i will recommend you to use the extends JFrame so you can only write a gui like this without initialize a JFrame:
public class CalculatorGUI extends JFrame {
public CalculatorGUI() {
setTitle("Calculator");
setBounds(300, 300, 220, 200);
}}
I suggest you check out a couple of tutorials about how to create a Java Gui or sth.

JPanels not added to JTabbedPane

For my homework extra credit I am creating a JTabbedPane and adding two Jpanels. I feel like I am very close, but it still does not compile. When I run it, both JPanels open, but the JTabbedPane does not. I get a lot of Unknown Source errors. I suspect that at this point my issue in in the JPanels themselves because they started out being JFrames and I have tried (unsuccessfully I think) to convert the JFrames to JPanels.
JTabbedPaneAssignment is supposed to create the JTabbedPane and populate the two panes with the apps DayGui on one tab and OfficeAreaCalculator on the other. I only include the JTabbedPaneAssignment and DayGui classes here. I apologize if its too much code, I have trimmed off a lot of what I consider extraneous, but there may still be too much.
Here is the calling class JTabbedPaneAssignment
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class JTabbedPaneAssignment extends JPanel
{
public JTabbedPaneAssignment()
{
//super(new GridLayout(1, 1));
JTabbedPane tabbedPane = new JTabbedPane();
DayGui pnlDay = new DayGui();
OfficeAreaCalculator pnlOffice = new OfficeAreaCalculator ();
this.add(tabbedPane);
JPanel panel1 = new JPanel();
JPanel panel2 = new JPanel();
tabbedPane.add(panel1,"First panel");
tabbedPane.add(panel2,"Second panel");
//JComponent panel1 = makeTextPanel("Pane #1");
panel1.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(300, 150));
tabbedPane.addTab("DayGui", panel1);
tabbedPane.setMnemonicAt(0, KeyEvent.VK_1);
//JComponent panel2 = makeTextPanel("Pane #2");
panel2.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(410, 50));
tabbedPane.addTab("OfficeAreaCalculator", panel2);
tabbedPane.setMnemonicAt(1, KeyEvent.VK_2);
add(tabbedPane);
}
protected JComponent makeTextPanel(String text)
{
JPanel panel = new JPanel(false);
JLabel filler = new JLabel(text);
filler.setHorizontalAlignment(JLabel.CENTER);
panel.setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 1));
panel.add(filler);
return panel;
}
// Create JTabbedPane
private static void createAndShowGUI()
{
// Create and set up the window.
JFrame frame = new JFrame("JTabbedPane");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(new JTabbedPaneAssignment(), BorderLayout.CENTER);
JTabbedPane DayGui = new JTabbedPane();
JTabbedPane OfficeAreaCalculator = new JTabbedPane();
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
}
Here is DayGui class. It started out as a JFrame, but I am trying to convert it to a JPanel. I think my issue is in this section of code, but I don't know
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
//public class DayGui extends JPanel
public class DayGui extends JPanel
{
private JPanel dayPanel;
private JButton cmdGood;
private JButton cmdBad;
public DayGui()
{
//dayPanel = new JPanel("Messages");
cmdGood = new JButton("Good");
cmdBad = new JButton("Bad");
Container c = dayPanel.getRootPane();
c.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
c.add(cmdGood);
c.add(cmdBad);
dayPanel.setSize(300, 150);
ButtonsHandler bhandler = new ButtonsHandler();
cmdGood.addActionListener(bhandler);
cmdBad.addActionListener(bhandler);
dayPanel.setVisible(true);
dayPanel.getRootPane().setBackground(Color.CYAN);
}
class ButtonsHandler implements ActionListener
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
if (e.getSource() == cmdGood)
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Today is a good day!",
"Event Handler Message",
JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
if (e.getSource() == cmdBad)
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Today is a bad day!",
"Event Handler Message",
JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
}
}
}

You have been very ambiguous with your question, and you've posted way more code than anyone here has time to trawl through.
I've made a very small but working JTabbedPane example for you to see the smallest amount of work you need to get it working.
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTabbedPane;
public class JTabbedPaneExample extends JFrame{
public JTabbedPaneExample(String title){
super(title);
setSize(800,600);
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
JTabbedPane tabbedPane = new JTabbedPane();
JPanel panelOne = new JPanel();
JPanel panelTwo = new JPanel();
tabbedPane.add(panelOne,"First panel");
tabbedPane.add(panelTwo,"Second panel");
add(tabbedPane);
}
public static void main(String[] args){
new JTabbedPaneExample("JTP Example").setVisible(true);
}
}
Then running, this code looks like:
If you repeat the same process in your code, and you've still got errors, then the problem is not with your JTabbedPane, but something else.

Okay, here goes a second time. Now you've got the DayGui class up, we notice that you're trying to use dayPanel before you've initialised it. i.e. nowhere do you say dayPanel = new JPanel();. This resulted in a NullPointerException being thrown in your code, screwing up your normal course of exection. Fix this and your DayGui class would run fine at runtime.
Among your codebase, you also do some very funky things, namely start using something but never getting around to finishing it up. An example of this is you extending JPanel, but resorting to using a member variable of type JPanel to do the rest of the work. The suggestion is to scrap the instance variable all together and use the methods you've inherited from extending JPanel.
Now lets move onto your JTabbedPaneAssignment class. Although not terrible, the code is not very readable and it repeats itself in many places (adding your tabbedpanel multiple times). If you were to take this code further into a larger project, maintenance and debugging would quickly become a problem.
For the purposes of showing you how much clutter you had in your code, I've quickly rewritten your provided code to be compilable, and should roughly do what you're working on.
JTabbedPaneAssignment:
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTabbedPane;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class JTabbedPaneAssignment extends JPanel
{
public JTabbedPaneAssignment()
{
final JTabbedPane tabbedPane = new JTabbedPane();
final DayPanel dayPanel = new DayPanel();
final JPanel officePanel = new JPanel();
tabbedPane.add("DayGui", dayPanel);
tabbedPane.setMnemonicAt(0, KeyEvent.VK_1);
tabbedPane.add("OfficeAreaCalculator", officePanel);
tabbedPane.setMnemonicAt(1, KeyEvent.VK_2);
add(tabbedPane);
}
// Create JTabbedPane
private static void createAndShowGUI()
{
// Create and set up the window.
JFrame frame = new JFrame("JTabbedPane");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(new JTabbedPaneAssignment(), BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
}
DayGui - renamed as DayPanel:
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class DayPanel extends JPanel {
public DayPanel() {
super();
setBackground(Color.CYAN);
final JButton goodButton = new JButton("Good");
final JButton badButton = new JButton("Bad");
ActionListener listener = new DayPanel.ButtonsHandler();
goodButton.addActionListener(listener);
badButton.addActionListener(listener);
add(goodButton);
add(badButton);
}
class ButtonsHandler implements ActionListener {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
final String command = ((JButton) e.getSource()).getActionCommand();
if (command.equals("Good")) {
showMessage("Today is a good day!");
} else if (command.equals("Bad")) {
showMessage("Today is a bad day!");
}
}
// Show popup message
private void showMessage(String message) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, message,
"Event Handler Message", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
}
}
}
So what is different in these? Basically, I've removed your NullPointerException you were getting in DayGui. Any other changes I've made are with the intention than you try and keep your code clutter free, so you really know what is going on in your code.
Hope this helps.

When I run it, both JPanels open, but the JTabbedPane does not. I get
a lot of Unknown Source errors.
Well, based on your code and your import section:
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
This lines won't compile (unless DayGUI and OfficeAreaCalculator classes are in the same package than your JTabbedPaneAssignment class):
DayGui pnlDay = new DayGui();
OfficeAreaCalculator pnlOffice = new OfficeAreaCalculator ();
This is the only error I've got trying to compile and run your example. I changed lines below:
tabbedPane.addTab( "DayGui", new JPanel());
tabbedPane.addTab("Office Calculator", new JPanel());
And it worked like a charm.
Update
Based on your recent edit (adding your DayGui class, thank you) you have couple of mistakes in your code.
DayGui : this class extends of JPanel so you need to add your components directly on this class, you don't need this panel:
private JPanel dayPanel;
You need to set the layout manager, buttons and background directly on DayGuiclass, like this:
public DayGui() {
cmdGood = new JButton("Good");
cmdBad = new JButton("Bad");
setLayout(new FlowLayout());
add(cmdGood);
add(cmdBad);
setSize(300, 150);
ButtonsHandler bhandler = new ButtonsHandler();
cmdGood.addActionListener(bhandler);
cmdBad.addActionListener(bhandler);
setBackground(Color.CYAN);
}
JTabbedPaneAssignment : I think you're trying to add panel1 and panel2 as tabs but you use add method instead addTab:
JPanel panel1 = new JPanel();
JPanel panel2 = new JPanel();
tabbedPane.add(panel1,"First panel");
tabbedPane.add(panel2,"Second panel");
Also this line:
tabbedPane.addTab("DayGui", panel1);
Should be:
tabbedPane.addTab("DayGui", pnlDay);
Finally in this line you are adding panel2 for a second time and that's not correct:
tabbedPane.addTab("OfficeAreaCalculator", panel2); //I'd comment this line
If you make suggested changes you'll see something like this (BTW the CYAN color almost made me blind :P):
Hope this be helpful and sorry for the extension.

JFrame inside another JFrame

I have a game of chess.
I have written 3 classes.
1st if for game. (chessboard, pieces, and so on)
And another one is for menu. (buttons like new, open, set time)
Both of them use JFrame.
I would like to put both classes mentioned above into the 3rd class. For example the Game window would be on the left, and the menu on the right.
The third class would also show the whole app by JFrame.
How to do that?

You can't put one JFrame inside another. You have a couple of design choices here. You can change your JFrames to JPanels. This is probably the easiest change. On the other hand, you can look at using Internal Frames instead.

In your case i suggest you to use JInternalFrame which can be added inside Jframe try out this code i hope it will work:
package demo;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JInternalFrame;
public class Demo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame jf=new JFrame();
jf.setLayout(null);
jf.setSize(1280, 720);
jf.setVisible(true);
jf.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
JInternalFrame jInternalFrame=new JInternalFrame();
jInternalFrame.setLocation(100, 100);
jInternalFrame.setSize(500, 300);
jInternalFrame.setTitle("Internal frame");
jInternalFrame.setVisible(true);
jInternalFrame.setClosable(true);
jInternalFrame.setResizable(true);
jf.add(jInternalFrame);
jf.repaint();
}
}

You can use JPanels for that. It's easier that way... use a JFrame for the main window and for menu items use a JPanel inside it. Search for tutorials on JPanel usage.

The best thing to do would be to leave the outer frame as it is and change the inner contents to JPanels. When I wrote Chess, I had an outer frame which extended JFrame, and inner panel that extended JPanel on which I placed the board. The board itself was comprised of 64 JButtons.
Given your description, I think this would be a good starting point:
package data_structures;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
#SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class Chess extends JFrame implements ActionListener {
private JButton[][] tiles;
public Chess() {
setTitle("Chess");
setSize(500, 500);
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setVisible(true);
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
JPanel board = new JPanel();
board.setLayout(new GridLayout(8, 8));
tiles = new JButton[8][8];
for(int y = 0; y < tiles.length; y++) {
for(int x = 0; x < tiles[y].length; x++) {
tiles[x][y] = new JButton();
tiles[x][y].setActionCommand(x + " " + y);
tiles[x][y].addActionListener(this);
board.add(tiles[x][y]);
}
}
add(board, BorderLayout.CENTER);
JPanel options = new JPanel();
options.setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 3));
JButton newGame = new JButton("New");
newGame.addActionListener(this);
options.add(newGame);
JButton openGame = new JButton("Open");
openGame.addActionListener(this);
options.add(openGame);
JButton setTime = new JButton("Set Time");
setTime.addActionListener(this);
options.add(setTime);
add(options, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
revalidate();
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
String command = event.getActionCommand();
System.out.println(command);
revalidate();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
new Chess();
}
}
Also, a word of warning:
Fully implementing the logic of Chess is very difficult, no matter what you do for the graphics.
Hope this helps!

I guess that's what you want to do.
public class OuterFrame extends JFrame {
public static void main(String[] args) {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
OuterFrame outerFrame = new OuterFrame();
outerFrame.setVisible(true);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
}
public OuterFrame() {
JFrame innerFrame = new JFrame();
innerFrame.setVisible(true);
}
}
You have a MainFrame (OuterFrame), and you create it. But, you create a JFrame inside this MainFrame. That's not a beautiful thing to do, but it's certainly a way of opening a "JFrame inside the other". This will give you two "windows" on the screen. You could create countless JFrames inside the MainFrame.