Develop Reference

Can I use multiple grids?

I am trying to figure out the layout for this(the rest of the code is in the early stages) but for this block, I am trying to figure out the best(and doable) way to format it. I want it to be an 8x8 grid that I will eventually populate with the treasure/empty buttons but I also need a title up top as well as some labels and text on the left. I am unsure if I am able to do multiple grids but what I did below is try to create a 1x2 grid and then place two other grids inside, one with the info on the left(3x2), and another with the 8x8 grid for the buttons. I know it's not close to what it needs to be but none of the grids are showing up at all(it's just putting the title and then one column with 8 rows) and I wanna know if I'm even on any sort of right track, or if I'm just making things up at this point. Any tips would be appreciated, or resources about possibly nesting the grids? I can't find anything in my book about That specifically.
private void buildPanel()
{
// Create labels to display the
treasuresLeftLabel = new JLabel("Treasures left: ");
treasuresFoundLabel = new JLabel("Treasures found: ");
triesLeftLabel = new JLabel("Tries left: ");
// Create text fields for each label
treasuresLeftTextField = new JTextField(2);
treasuresLeftTextField.setEditable(false);
treasuresLeftTextField.setText(String.valueOf(20-game.getTreasuresFound()));
treasuresFoundTextField = new JTextField(2);
treasuresFoundTextField.setEditable(false);
treasuresFoundTextField.setText(String.valueOf(game.getTreasuresFound()));
triesLeftTextField = new JTextField(2);
triesLeftTextField.setEditable(false);
triesLeftTextField.setText(String.valueOf(game.getTriesLeft()));
emptyButton = new EmptyButton();
emptyButton.addActionListener(new emptyButtonListener());
treasureButton = new TreasureButton();
treasureButton.addActionListener(new treasureButtonListener());
// new JPanel object referenced by panel
panel = new JPanel();
panel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Treasure Hunt"));
// Add a gridlayout to the content pane
panel.setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 2));
panel.setLayout(new GridLayout(3, 2));
panel.add(treasuresLeftLabel);
panel.add(treasuresLeftTextField);
panel.add(treasuresFoundLabel);
panel.add(treasuresFoundTextField);
panel.add(triesLeftLabel);
panel.add(triesLeftTextField);
panel.setLayout(new GridLayout(8, 8));
panel.add(treasureButton);
panel.add(emptyButton);
}

You can't use multiple grids within the same JPanel - one panel, one layout manager.
But you can nest layout managers (and thereby grids) by using nested panels.
For example you could use a BorderLayout for the first panel (containing the title at the top, the info panel on the left and the button panel in the center.
The code to construct those panel then might look like this:
// panel contains the complete UI
panel = new JPanel();
panel.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Treasure Hunt"));
panel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
panel.add(new JLabel("This is the Title"), BorderLayout.PAGE_START);
JPanel infoPanel = new JPanel();
infoPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(3, 2));
infoPanel.add(treasuresLeftLabel);
infoPanel.add(treasuresLeftTextField);
infoPanel.add(treasuresFoundLabel);
infoPanel.add(treasuresFoundTextField);
infoPanel.add(triesLeftLabel);
infoPanel.add(triesLeftTextField);
panel.add(infoPanel, BorderLayout.LINE_START);
JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel();
buttonPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(8, 8));
buttonPanel.add(treasureButton);
buttonPanel.add(emptyButton);
for (int i = 0; i < 62; i++) {
buttonPanel.add(new JButton(String.format("%02d", i)));
}
panel.add(buttonPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);

How to fill Cells of GridbagLayout with the controls in Swing?

I need to design a swing GUI which has a JFrame with a Menu on top and another main panel having three more panels in center and a separate panel in the bottom of the panel. The required design of the UI is as below
But when I run my swing application I get the output like this (all the panels are packed in the center of the window)
Below is my code
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class FrontEndView {
private JFrame mainFrame;
private JPanel mainPanel,subPanelUp,subPanelDown,panelLeft,panelRight,panelCenter,panelDown;
private JScrollPane scrollPane;
private JList logViewList;
private JPanel panel1;
public FrontEndView(){
this.prepareGUI();
}
public void prepareGUI(){
mainFrame=new JFrame("GUI");
Toolkit tk = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit();
int xSize = ((int) tk.getScreenSize().getWidth());
int ySize = ((int) tk.getScreenSize().getHeight());
mainFrame.setSize(xSize,ySize);
mainFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
mainFrame.setResizable(true);
mainFrame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
mainPanel=new JPanel();
mainPanel.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
mainPanel.setComponentOrientation(ComponentOrientation.LEFT_TO_RIGHT);
GridBagConstraints gridbagConstMain = new GridBagConstraints();
GridBagConstraints gridbagConstSub = new GridBagConstraints();
subPanelUp=new JPanel();
subPanelUp.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
subPanelUp.setComponentOrientation(ComponentOrientation.LEFT_TO_RIGHT);
panelLeft=new JPanel();
panelLeft.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Message Defs"));
gridbagConstSub.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
gridbagConstSub.weightx = 0.5;
gridbagConstSub.gridx = 0;
gridbagConstSub.gridy = 0;
subPanelUp.add(panelLeft, gridbagConstSub);
panelCenter=new JPanel();
panelCenter.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Main Workspace"));
gridbagConstSub.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
gridbagConstSub.weightx = 0.5;
gridbagConstSub.gridx = 1;
gridbagConstSub.gridy = 0;
subPanelUp.add(panelCenter, gridbagConstSub);
panelRight=new JPanel();
panelRight.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Script Viewer"));
gridbagConstSub.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
gridbagConstSub.weightx = 0.5;
gridbagConstSub.gridx = 2;
gridbagConstSub.gridy = 0;
subPanelUp.add(panelRight, gridbagConstSub);
mainPanel.add(subPanelUp,gridbagConstMain);
subPanelDown=new JPanel();
subPanelDown.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
panelDown=new JPanel();
panelDown.setBorder(BorderFactory.createTitledBorder("Log View"));
logViewList= new JList();
panelDown.add(logViewList);
gridbagConstSub.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
//gridbagConst.ipady=20;
//gridbagConst.weightx = 0.0;
gridbagConstSub.gridwidth = 5;
gridbagConstSub.gridx = 0;
gridbagConstSub.gridy = 0;
subPanelDown.add(panelDown,BorderLayout.PAGE_END);
mainPanel.add(subPanelDown, gridbagConstSub);
scrollPane=new JScrollPane(mainPanel,ScrollPaneConstants.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED,ScrollPaneConstants.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED);
mainFrame.add(scrollPane);
mainFrame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args){
FrontEndView frontEnd = new FrontEndView();
}
}
I want to fill the GridBagLayout's cells with the relevant panel/control it holds as shown in the design and also each panel should have its controls filled inside (I need to add a JList inside the panelDown whose size should be the size of the panelDown JPanel).Simply I don't need any extra space visible in my JFrame. Please guide me on what is missing in my code.

I would suggest you can use nested panels with different layout managers to solve the problem.
The default layout of a frame is a BorderLayout.
So you could create a panel and add it to the PAGE_END so it displays the entire width at the bottom.
Then you can create another panel that uses a GridLayout. You can then add 3 child panels to this panel and each panel can use its own layout. Then you add this panel to the CENTER of the frame. As the frame size changes the extra spaces will be allocated to the CENTER so the panels will dynamically grow.
Edit:
Too many panels for me to take the time to understand what is happening
I was suggesting a structure like this:
frame (which by default uses a BorderLayout)
--- CENTER
panel using GrigBagLayout
childPanel1
childPanel2
childPanel3
---- PAGE_END
JScrollPane containing the JList
When you create the JList the basic code would be:
JList list = new JList(...);
list.setVisibleRowCount(5);
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane( list );
There is no need to create a panel just to add the list to another panel. The point of setting the visible row count is to give the JList a fixed height. Scrollbars will then appear in the scroll pane as needed.
Now that the PAGE_END has a fixed height component all the reset of the space will go to the component that you add to the CENTER of the frame.
all the panels are packed in the center of the window)
The panels are displayed at their preferred sizes when you use the GridBagLayout. If the total size of all the panels is less than the size of the scrollpane then they will be in the center. If you want the panels to fill the space available, then I believe you need to use the weightx/y constraints. Read the section from the Swing tutorial on How to Use GridBagLayout which describes all the constraints.
That is why I suggested a GridLayout instead. It will make all the panels the same size and will fill the viewport of the scroll pane without playing with constraints.
mainFrame.add(menubar,BorderLayout.NORTH);
That is not how you add a menubar to the frame.
You should be using:
mainFrame.setJMenuBar(menuBar);
You were told this in your last question. Why did you not listen to the advice??? Why should we take the time to help when you don't pay attention to what is suggested.

Based on your instructions I changed my design in a way all of the outer panels are used with Border Layout and the inner most ones with more controls were used with Grid, GridBag and FlowLayouts based on the requirement. In that way the entire design could be done nicely.
Also if a particular panel within a cell of a layout needs to be expanded, I used the setPreferredSize(new Dimension(int,int)) whenever required.

Resize buttons using Grid Bag Layout

I want to resize my buttons to be the same size and place then in a Panel on a JApplet. I have tried using
public void init() {
// TODO start asynchronous download of heavy resources
JButton btnWestern=new JButton("Western");
JButton btnPop=new JButton("Pop");
GridBagConstraints c4=new GridBagConstraints();
JPanel jPanel1 = new JPanel();
getContentPane().setLayout(new java.awt.GridBagLayout());
jPanel1.setLayout(new java.awt.GridBagLayout());
c4.gridx = 0;
c4.gridy = 0;
c4.insets = new Insets(36, 10, 0, 249);
jPanel1.add(btnWestern, c4);
c4.gridx = 0;
c4.gridy = 1;
c4.insets = new Insets(33, 10, 0, 249);
jPanel1.add(btnPop, c4);
add(jPanel1, new java.awt.GridBagConstraints());
}
When I run, this is what I get
But I noticed that if I change the button text to be the same or have the same length, like
JButton btnWestern=new JButton("Button1");
JButton btnPop=new JButton("Button2");
I get the desired output
What can I do to make sure that even the text of the buttons are not the same length, the buttons are the same size?

I'd suggest reading through the How to Use GridBagLayout tutorial if you haven't already. GridBagLayout is powerful but it is also one of the more complex LayoutManagers available.
I believe you need to set the GridBagConstraints.fill property to get the behavior you desire.
In your case this should be something like
c4.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
Edit (A bit of explanation for the observed behavior) When you use the same text on both buttons, their calculated size ends up being the same, so they are rendered as you want. When you use different size text, the buttons will render in a size that fits the text by default. The default value for GridBagConstraints.fill is GridBagConstraints.NONE which indicates to the LayoutManger to not resize the component. Changing the fill to GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL tells the LayoutManger to resize the component horizontally to fill the display area.

Controlling textbox height in a Java Swing layout

I have a form, and when it renders using pack, the textboxes have a nice default height. But when I resize it - or in this case, if I override getPreferredSize to make it larger on startup - the textboxes resize proportionally.
I keep going in circles trying to understand the layout manager classes... the related questions that are coming up seem like they're really close, but I'm just not following them!
In the class below, if I comment out the getPreferredSize overload, the textboxes are sized by the system to be "just right". Add getPreferredSize back, or resize manually, and the textbox proportions expand/contract with the form. There's got to be something simple I'm missing!
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.TitledBorder;
public class TestTextBox extends JFrame {
private JTextField jtfRate = new JTextField();//jtfAnnualInterestRate
private JButton jbtComputeLoan = new JButton("Compute Sentence");
// Constructor buids the panel
public TestTextBox() {
// a panel with the fields
JPanel p1 = new JPanel(new GridLayout(5, 2));
p1.add(new JLabel("Annual Interest Rate"));
p1.add(jtfRate);
p1.setBorder(new TitledBorder("This is a border with enough text that I want to see it"));
// a panel with the button
JPanel p2 = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.CENTER));
p2.add(jbtComputeLoan);
// Put the panels on the frame
add(p1, BorderLayout.CENTER);
add(p2, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
// This will help Pack to pack it up better
return new Dimension(600, 300);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
TestTextBox jailCell = new TestTextBox();
jailCell.pack(); // Arrange controls compactly based on their properties
jailCell.setTitle("Calculate your Sentence");
jailCell.setLocationRelativeTo(null); // sure, center it, whatever
jailCell.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
jailCell.setVisible(true);
}
}
Obviously, this is a case for a GUI layout tool. But this isn't production code, this is a Java class in which I'm trying my best to learn why it works - that way I'll know what the GUI tools are doing.
Update: Thanks to the answer I got, I was able to figure out the basics of the GridBag. It seems pretty closely related to HTML <table>s. It took much longer than it should have, mostly because I kept forgetting , c); to apply the GridBagConstraints to the control! Here's a sample of what the relatively simple add above turned into:
GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
c.gridx = 0;
c.gridy = 0;
p1.add(new JLabel("Annual Interest Rate"), c);
c = new GridBagConstraints();
c.fill = GridBagConstraints.HORIZONTAL;
c.gridx = 1;
c.gridy = 0;
c.weightx = 0.25;
p1.add(jtfRate, c);

The default behaviour of GridLayout is to provide each component with equal amounts of available space. This means, as you make the component larger, they will get bigger, as you make it smaller, the will get smaller.
You could use a GridBagLayout instead, which will allow you to layout your components in a grid pattern but control how much of the cell they should occupy...
Take a look at How to use GridBagLayout for more details...

Java GridBagLayout + Absolute Layout

I am trying to make a 3 column layout, in each column i want to be able to absolute position labels and textboxes.
Problem is that my label (jLabel2) never even gets displayed..
Here is my code:
/**
* Top JPanel (Top)
*/
JPanel pnlTop = new JPanel();
pnlTop.setBackground(new java.awt.Color(223, 223, 217));
pnlTop.setBorder(BorderFactory.createMatteBorder(0, 0, 1, 0, new java.awt.Color(173, 173, 166)));
c.gridx = 0;
c.gridy = 0;
c.gridwidth = 5; // five rows
c.gridheight = 1; // one column
c.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
//c.weighty = 0.04;
add(pnlTop, c);
/**
* Top JPanel Content (Here is where i want to put absolute content)
*/
JPanel pnlTopContent = new JPanel();
pnlTopContent.setLayout(null);
jLabel2.setFont(new java.awt.Font("Lucida Grande", 1, 16)); // NOI18N
jLabel2.setText("Hello");
jLabel2.setLocation(150, 50);
pnlTopContent.add(jLabel2);
pnlTop.add(pnlTopContent);
Any ideas what i am doing wrong?

Then its showing but not in the right place
What does "right place" mean to you? Why are you even adding you label to a second panel? Why not just add the label directly to the pnlTopContent?
GridBagLayout has a constraint that allows you to position the component right/left/center of the column. Read the section from the Swing tutorial on How to Use GridBagLayout. You might want to start with the anchor constraint.

Use layout manager for pnlTopContent. Which one is right depends on what you want. Even the default FlowLayout might work. If you want to center the label, you can for example use FlowLayout with center alignment:
pnlTopContent.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.CENTER));