Develop Reference

How to have a JButton that moves as I scroll on the frame?

I have a Panel which I have made scrollable in my frame.
What I need is to add a button that stays fixed in the lower right corner even when I scroll.
I'm new to Java Swing so would appreciate all and any help that I can get.
mainPanel = new SimulationPanel(); //class SimulationPanel extends JPanel
//making mainPanel scrollable
mainPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(((int)(WIDTH*1.2)), HEIGHT));
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(mainPanel);
scrollPane.setViewportView(mainPanel);
// Settings for JFrame
Dimension screenSize = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize();
frame = new JFrame("Warehouse Simulator");
frame.setContentPane(scrollPane);
frame.setSize(screenSize.width, screenSize.height);
frame.setResizable(true);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setVisible(true);

I would use nested panels with the outer one be with BorderLayout. Then one with FlowLayout and align FlowLayout.RIGHT and the button inside it.
public class Example extends JFrame {
public Example() {
super("");
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea(10000, 0);
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(textArea);
add(scrollPane, BorderLayout.CENTER);
JButton button = new JButton("button");
JPanel panelWithButton = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.RIGHT));
panelWithButton.add(button);
add(panelWithButton, BorderLayout.PAGE_END);
setLocationByPlatform(true);
pack();
setSize(600, 600);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> {
new Example().setVisible(true);
});
}
}
Result:

I would go for a BoxLayout. Add another panel (metaPanel) in which your first put your scrollingPanel, and then you add a button. Instead of usgin scrollingPanel as contentPane, you use metaPanel. Example (the example works, but you need to modify it to make the interface look nice):
JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(mainPanel);
scrollPane.setViewportView(mainPanel);
JPanel metaPanel = new JPanel();
BoxLayout boxlayout = new BoxLayout(metaPanel, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS);
metaPanel.setLayout(boxlayout);
metaPanel.add(scrollPane);
metaPanel.add(new JButton("button"));
// Settings for JFrame
frame = new JFrame("Warehouse Simulator");
frame.setContentPane(metaPanel); // Put metaPanel here
frame.setSize(500, 300);
frame.setResizable(true);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setVisible(true);

BoxLayout only showing last component added

Looked at some previous posts pertaining to my subject but too no avail.
Trying to align components using BoxLayout but I cannot get it to work. I have tinkered with it for some time now with different results but I can't figure it out. I have used the default FlowLayout with no problems, I am trying to learn and expand my knowledge and BoxLayout will be better for my program. I want everything to stay in alignment if the User resizes their application window. I've adjusted all the sizes this way after just trying to get it to work and failing.
package GUI;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
/**
* Created by Thunderfoot on 7/31/2016. Keep Growing!
* Graphical User Interface
* Needs 3 JPanels(Text area + scroll pane)(2 Buttons) (1 Button), a JTextArea, JScrollPane, and 3 JButtons
*/
public class PrimaryFrame extends JFrame {
//Class variables
private static JPanel panel1, panel2, panel3;
public static JTextArea output;
//Constructor
public PrimaryFrame() {
//Frame component attributes
final Dimension FRAME_SIZE = new Dimension(400, 400);
final Dimension PANEL1_SIZE = new Dimension(400, 250);
final Dimension PANEL2_SIZE = new Dimension(400, 40);
final Dimension PANEL3_SIZE = new Dimension(400, 40);
//JFrame is PrimaryFrame
setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setPreferredSize(FRAME_SIZE);
setMaximumSize(FRAME_SIZE);
setTitle("Fighting Game");
//JPanel for Text
panel1 = new JPanel();
panel1.setLayout(new BoxLayout(panel1, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
panel1.setMinimumSize(PANEL1_SIZE);
panel1.setPreferredSize(PANEL1_SIZE);
panel1.setMaximumSize(PANEL1_SIZE);
panel1.setBackground(Color.BLACK);
//JPanel for Attack and Kick Buttons
panel2 = new JPanel();
panel2.setLayout(new BoxLayout(panel2, BoxLayout.LINE_AXIS));
panel2.setMinimumSize(PANEL2_SIZE);
panel2.setPreferredSize(PANEL2_SIZE);
panel2.setMaximumSize(PANEL2_SIZE);
panel2.setBackground(Color.BLUE);
//JPanel for Power Attack Button
panel3 = new JPanel();
panel3.setLayout(new BoxLayout(panel3, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
panel3.setMinimumSize(PANEL3_SIZE);
panel3.setPreferredSize(PANEL3_SIZE);
panel3.setMaximumSize(PANEL3_SIZE);
panel3.setBackground(Color.ORANGE);
panel3.add(Box.createHorizontalGlue());
panel3.add(Box.createVerticalGlue());
//JTextArea & JScrollPane
output = new JTextArea();
output.setEditable(false);
JScrollPane outputScroller = new JScrollPane(output, ScrollPaneConstants.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED, ScrollPaneConstants.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_NEVER);
outputScroller.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(375, 250));
outputScroller.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.RED));
panel1.add(outputScroller);
panel1.add(Box.createHorizontalGlue());
panel1.add(Box.createVerticalGlue());
//Attack Button
JButton attackButton = new JButton(" ATTACK ");
attackButton.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(75, 30));
attackButton.setBorderPainted(true);
//Kick Button
JButton kickButton = new JButton(" KICK ");
kickButton.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(75, 30));
kickButton.setBorderPainted(true);
//Add components
panel2.add(attackButton);
panel2.add(Box.createHorizontalGlue());
panel2.add(Box.createVerticalGlue());
panel2.add(kickButton);
panel2.add(Box.createHorizontalGlue());
panel2.add(Box.createVerticalGlue());
//Power Attack Button
JButton powAttButton = new JButton(" POWER ATTACK ");
powAttButton.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(150, 30));
powAttButton.setBorderPainted(true);
panel3.add(powAttButton);
panel3.add(Box.createHorizontalGlue());
}
public void buildGUI() {
//Add components and build GUI Frame
this.add(panel3);
this.add(panel2);
this.add(panel1);
//Set attributes
//Pack components together inside of frame
pack();
//Center of screen
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
//Make frame visible
setVisible(true);
}
}

You have to set the Layout of your PrimaryFrame.
I suggest you add an additional line to your buildGUI() method:
public void buildGUI() {
//defines the Layout for the main Frame
this.setLayout(new GridLayout(3,1)) //its up to you wich Layout you use
//Add components and build GUI Frame
this.add(panel3);
this.add(panel2);
this.add(panel1);
//Set attributes
//Pack components together inside of frame
pack();
//Center of screen
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
//Make frame visible
setVisible(true);
}
Notice GridLayout(3,1) will generate a layout with three rows and one column

How to resize a JPanel

I am trying to resize the JPanels but there is a space under it . Here is a link to show :
And this is the code :
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Ex1 extends JFrame{
private JTextArea textarea = new JTextArea ();
private JTextField field = new JTextField ();``
private JButton buton = new JButton ("Trimite");
public Ex1(){
JPanel panel = new JPanel (new BorderLayout(2,2));
JPanel panel1 = new JPanel (new BorderLayout(2,2));
JPanel panel2 = new JPanel (new BorderLayout(2,2));
JLabel label1 = new JLabel ("Mesaje");
JLabel label2 = new JLabel ("Scrieti un mesaj");
panel1.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(350,100));
panel2.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(350,25));
panel1.add(label1, BorderLayout.NORTH);
panel1.add(textarea, BorderLayout.CENTER);
panel2.add(label2, BorderLayout.WEST);
panel2.add(field, BorderLayout.CENTER);
panel2.add(buton, BorderLayout.EAST);
setLayout(new GridLayout(2,1,1,1));
panel.add(panel1, BorderLayout.NORTH);
panel.add(panel2, BorderLayout.CENTER);
add(panel);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame frame = new Ex1();
frame.pack();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}

You are setting a layout for a frame to GridLayout in which all components are given equal size. You have two rows, add(panel) adds the panel to the first row of the grid. The second row is left empty. See How to Use GridLayout.
Comment out setLayout(new GridLayout(2,1,1,1)); and the extra space should go away. When you comment this line the layout of frame's content pane will be BorderLayout. The default layout of the JFrame is BorderLayout. So add(panel); will add the panel to the center of the frame's content pane. As a result the panel should occupy all the available space.
As a side note, avoid setPreferredSize(), usually it is not necessary, see Should I avoid the use of set(Preferred|Maximum|Minimum)Size methods in Java Swing for details.
You can specify the number of rows and columns for a text area and wrap it in the scroll pane, ie:
textArea = new JTextArea(5, 20);
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(textArea);
For more details see How to Use Text Areas
EDIT: example of getPreferredSize()
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Ex1 extends JPanel{
private JTextArea textarea = new JTextArea ();
private JTextField field = new JTextField ();
private JButton buton = new JButton ("Trimite");
public Ex1() {
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
JPanel panel1 = new JPanel (new BorderLayout(2,2));
JPanel panel2 = new JPanel (new BorderLayout(2,2));
JLabel label1 = new JLabel ("Mesaje");
JLabel label2 = new JLabel ("Scrieti un mesaj");
panel1.add(label1, BorderLayout.NORTH);
panel1.add(new JScrollPane(textarea), BorderLayout.CENTER);
panel2.add(label2, BorderLayout.WEST);
panel2.add(field, BorderLayout.CENTER);
panel2.add(buton, BorderLayout.EAST);
add(panel1, BorderLayout.CENTER);
add(panel2, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return new Dimension(350, 300);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Test");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
Ex1 panel = new Ex1();
frame.add(panel);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
}

You need to resize the JFrame not the JPanel. Try:
this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(350, 25);// in Ex1
Or in your main method:
frame.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(350, 25);

Adding buttons and scrollable panel to a tab - Java

I'm trying to build a Java GUI where among other things there will be several tabs.
In one of the tabs I want to have both a scrollable JTextArea, and also some buttons at the top/bottom that interacts with the JTextArea. I can't figure out how to get both into the same tab, I'm either getting the buttons and a non-scrollable jtextarea, or just the scrollable jtextarea. I also don't want to display the button in the other tabs. Here is my code:
private final JTextArea music = new JTextArea();
private final JTextArea button = new JTextArea();
private final JTextArea test = new JTextArea();
private final JTabbedPane tab = new JTabbedPane();
private JTable table;
music.append(newPlaylist.toString());
JFrame frame = new JFrame("GUI");
frame.setTitle("Music File Organiser");
JPanel panel = new JPanel();
panel.setLayout(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.CENTER));
JButton button1 = new JButton("Hello");
JButton button2 = new JButton("Sort by Album Title");
JButton button3 = new JButton("Sort by Track Title");
button1.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {code};
button2.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {code};
button3.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {code};
panel.add(music);
panel.add(button1);
panel.add(button2);
panel.add(button3);
JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane(panel);
JScrollPane scroll2 = new JScrollPane(table);
tab.add("Music Files", scroll);
tab.add("Table", scroll2);
this.add(tab);
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
this.setSize(1200, 1000);
this.setVisible(true);
this.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
The tab in mind is the first one. How do I add buttons to "scroll"? The way I'm trying it here is to add the JTextArea "music" into panel, then adding the buttons to the same panel, then adding the panel to a JScrollPane, and then adding the JScrollPane to tab. Any help would really be appreciated.

Encapsulate your visual elements into child Panels.
JPanel buttonPanel = new JPanel(); //panel for buttons.
buttonPanel.add(button1);
buttonPanel.add(button2);
buttonPanel.add(button3);
JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane(music); //scrollable pane for JTextArea
panel.add(buttonPanel);
panel.add(scroll); //add sub-components to panel for tab
/*here you would add some layout code to fit the panel and scroll into the associated spaces */
tab.add("Music Files", panel); //add panel to tab

You can do something like this:
JPanel tab = new JPanel()
JPanel tabWithButtons = new JPanel()
JPanel tabWithScrollPanel = new JPanel()
tab.add(tabWithScrollPanel)
tab.add(tabWithButtons)
IMO this is better way, because I assume that buttons shouldn't be included in JScrollPane and they should be visible all the time
Of course, you have to add all elements to proper JPanels.
Also, you can try with width/height settings of panel which contains all your elements, maybe ScrollArea panel is to big?

drag and drop of jcomponents in java in rum time

I can do this:
I have a JFrame with 2 JPanel objects. In the panel on the left, I want to put the components of Java Swing useful for the construction of an user interface. The panel on the right is empty.
On run-time, my user should to be able to copy with drag and drop drag from one panel to another the selected component. But the copied component on the right panel, can be moved or deleted.
I have created the panel, but I don't know if is better inserire the component as image, label or true component.. and how to make this possible..
This is my panel for the customization.. I have to insert the component in the JTabbedPane in the PanelSx..
public class Customize extends JFrame {
private JPanel panelSx, panelCx, panelMobile;
private JButton buttonSave;
private TabbedPaneComponents tpc;
public Customize(){
Container c = getContentPane();
c.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
setResizable(true);
setTitle("Design Preview");
setSize(800, 650);
setLocation(250,50);
panelSx = new JPanel();
panelSx.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(300, 200));
panelSx.setOpaque(true);
panelSx.setBackground(Color.RED.darker());
panelCx = new JPanel();
panelCx.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 200));
panelCx.setOpaque(true);
panelCx.setBackground(Color.BLUE);
// display panel
panelMobile = new JPanel();
panelMobile.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(300,500));
panelMobile.setOpaque(true);
panelMobile.setBackground(Color.PINK.darker());
panelMobile.setFocusable(false);
buttonSave = new JButton("Save");
panelCx.add(panelMobile);
c.add(panelSx, BorderLayout.WEST);
c.add(panelCx, BorderLayout.CENTER);
tpc = new TabbedPaneComponents();
panelSx.add(tpc);
}
}
public class TabbedPaneComponents extends JTabbedPane{
private JPanel panel1,panel2,panel3;
public TabbedPaneComponents(){
panel1 = new JPanel();
panel1.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200,300));
addTab("Form Widgets", panel1);
panel1 = new JPanel();
panel1.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200,300));
addTab("Text Field", panel2);
panel1 = new JPanel();
panel1.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200,300));
addTab("Other", panel3);
}
}

I would have to suggest using a JToolBar because of it's built in drag'n'drop features. I would put the component inside of the toolbar.