Develop Reference

How to create multiple JPanels with JTextField input?

I am currently working on my school project to practice vocabulary, I have a method in my GUI that creates new vocabulary and the name of the list, I wanted to create a button that adds more Panels with input fields just this prototype image.
My idea is that when the user clicks
AddMoreButton it will add one JPanel just like P Panel, then the user can write vocabulary to send it to my database, is it possible to create something that?, I tried looping the P panel but it did not not change, any help would be appreciated.
private JPanel SetUpCreate() {
JPanel createPanel = new JPanel();
nameListInput = new JTextField(INPUT_FIELD_WIDTH);
termInput = new JTextField(INPUT_FIELD_WIDTH);
defintionInput = new JTextField(INPUT_FIELD_WIDTH);
p = new JPanel();
doneCreate = new JButton("Done");
doneCreate.addActionListener(new DoneCreateButtonAction());
addMoreButton = new JButton("Add");
addMoreButton.addActionListener(new AddMorePanelsListener());
p.setBorder(new BevelBorder(BevelBorder.RAISED));
p.add(termInput);
p.add(defintionInput);
JScrollPane pane = new JScrollPane(p);
createPanel.add(nameListInput);
createPanel.add(p);
createPanel.add(pane);
createPanel.add(doneCreate);
return createPanel;
}
private class DoneCreateButtonAction implements ActionListener {
public DoneCreateButtonAction() {
super();
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
String namelist = nameListInput.getText();
String termglosa = termInput.getText();
String defintionglosa = defintionInput.getText();
try {
if (model.createWordList(namelist) && (model.createGlosa(termglosa, defintionglosa))) {
cl.show(cardPanel, "home");
}
} catch (IOException e1) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frame, "skapelsen av listan fungerar ej.");
}
}
}
private class AddMoreButtonAction implements ActionListener {
public AddMoreButtonAction() {
super();
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
}
}

What I understand from your question is that you want to add another panel every time the user clicks the Add button and the panel to add contains fields for entering a word and its definition.
I see JScrollPane appears in the code you posted in your question. I think this is the correct implementation. In the below code, every time the user clicks the Add button I create a panel that contains the fields for a single word definition. This newly created panel is added to an existing panel that uses GridLayout with one column. Hence every time a new word definition panel is added, it is placed directly below the last word panel that was added and this GridLayout panel is placed inside a JScrollPane. Hence every time a word definition panel is added, the GridLayout panel height increases and the JScrollPane adjusts accordingly.
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
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.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.WindowConstants;
public class MorPanel implements ActionListener, Runnable {
private static final String ADD = "Add";
private JFrame frame;
private JPanel vocabularyPanel;
#Override
public void run() {
showGui();
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent actionEvent) {
String actionCommand = actionEvent.getActionCommand();
switch (actionCommand) {
case ADD:
vocabularyPanel.add(createWordPanel());
vocabularyPanel.revalidate();
vocabularyPanel.repaint();
break;
default:
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frame,
actionCommand,
"Unhandled",
JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
}
}
public JButton createButton(String text) {
JButton button = new JButton(text);
button.addActionListener(this);
return button;
}
public JPanel createButtonsPanel() {
JPanel buttonsPanel = new JPanel();
buttonsPanel.add(createButton(ADD));
return buttonsPanel;
}
private JScrollPane createMainPanel() {
vocabularyPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0, 1));
vocabularyPanel.add(createWordPanel());
JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(vocabularyPanel);
return scrollPane;
}
private JPanel createWordPanel() {
JPanel wordPanel = new JPanel();
JLabel wordLabel = new JLabel("Enter Term");
JTextField wordTextField = new JTextField(10);
JLabel definitionLabel = new JLabel("Enter Term Definition");
JTextField definitionTextField = new JTextField(10);
wordPanel.add(wordLabel);
wordPanel.add(wordTextField);
wordPanel.add(definitionLabel);
wordPanel.add(definitionTextField);
return wordPanel;
}
private void showGui() {
frame = new JFrame("Vocabulary");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(createMainPanel(), BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.add(createButtonsPanel(), BorderLayout.PAGE_END);
frame.setSize(480, 200);
frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new MorPanel());
}
}

As your code is not an Minimal Reproducible Example, I cannot provide further assistance than this:
Red part: Your main JPanel with BoxLayout
Green part: another JPanel with your JTextField in it.
Purple part: JScrollPane
Blue parts: custom JPanels with 2 panes in them, one on top for the number, one on the bottom for both JTextFields and icon, so I would say GridBagLayout or BoxLayout + FlowLayout
Orange part: JPanel with GridBagLayout or FlowLayout
Each time you clic on the + icon, you just create a new instance of the custom blue JPanel and that's it.

Java JLabel background color not working?

I'm learning how to create application in Java.
I'm having trouble getting the JLabel to have a background color whilst the JPanel is white, behind it. Also, is there a way to resize the JPanel to half of what the JFrame is?
Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you.
package PracticeOne;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
public class PracticeOne {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Frame container = new Frame();
Panel box = new Panel();
Label txt = new Label();
box.add(txt);
container.add(box, BorderLayout.CENTER);
}
}
package PracticeOne;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
public class Frame extends JFrame {
/**
*
*/
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
Frame(){
this.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
this.setSize(500, 500);
this.setVisible(true);
this.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
this.setTitle("Testing this out");
}
}
package PracticeOne;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class Panel extends JPanel {
/**
*
*/
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
public Dimension d = new Dimension(100,100);
Panel(){
this.setSize(d);
this.setAlignmentX(CENTER_ALIGNMENT);
this.setBackground(Color.WHITE);
}
}
package PracticeOne;
import java.awt.Color;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
public class Label extends JLabel {
/**
*
*/
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
Label(){
this.setSize(50, 50);
this.setText("ya boy is working here");
this.setForeground(Color.BLACK);
this.setBackground(Color.ORANGE);
}
}

I'm having trouble getting the JLabel to have a background color whilst the JPanel is white
You need to call setOpaque(true); in your JLabel
Also, is there a way to resize the JPanel to half of what the JFrame is?
You could use a GridLayout, and place 2 JPanels in it, that way, you're going to have 2 JPanels using half the size of your JFrame each.
Also, rename your classes, Panel belongs to the name of a class in AWT, same for Frame and Label, this might confuse your (and whoever reads your code).
Never extend JFrame, instead build your GUI based on JPanels. See extends JFrame vs creating it inside of class and The use of multiple JFrames, Good / Bad practice? The general consensus says it's bad.
Also you should also check Should I avoid the use of setPreferred|Maximum|MinimumSize() in Swing? Again, yes, you should and instead override the getPreferredSize() method.
Don't forget to place your program on the Event Dispatch Thread (EDT) by changing your main() method as follows:
public static void main(String[] args) {
//Java 8 with lambda expressions
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() ->
//Your code here
);
//Java 7 and below (Or 8 without lambda expressions)
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
//Your code here
});
}
Now, with all the above recommendations, your code should now look like this:
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Container;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import javax.swing.BorderFactory;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class HalfSizePanelWithLabelInDifferentColor {
private JFrame frame;
private Container contentPane;
private JPanel pane;
private JPanel pane2;
private JLabel label;
private static final Dimension dim = new Dimension(100, 100);
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> new HalfSizePanelWithLabelInDifferentColor().createAndShowGui());
}
public void createAndShowGui() {
frame = new JFrame(getClass().getSimpleName());
contentPane = frame.getContentPane();
pane = new JPanel() {
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return dim;
}
};
pane2 = new JPanel();
pane.setOpaque(false);
pane2.setOpaque(false);
pane.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.RED));
pane2.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.BLUE));
label = new JLabel("Hello World!");
label.setBackground(Color.GREEN);
label.setOpaque(true);
contentPane.setLayout(new GridLayout(2, 1));
pane.add(label);
contentPane.add(pane);
contentPane.add(pane2);
contentPane.setBackground(Color.WHITE);
frame.setContentPane(contentPane);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
}
And your output would be like this:
Note that I added some colored borders to show where a pane starts and ends and where the other one starts and ends

Java FlowLayout

I am writing some Java code that allows the user to see a frame with JLabel, JTextField and JButton.
I want the JLabel to be called "Count" and I have a problem with FlowLayout.
I want the interface to look like this:
Instead, I have this:
This is my code:
package modul1_Interfate_Grafice;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Exercitiu04 implements ActionListener {
private JFrame frame;
private JLabel labelCount;
private JTextField tfCount;
private JButton buttonCount;
private int count = 0;
public void go() {
frame = new JFrame("Java Counter");
labelCount = new JLabel("Counter");
labelCount.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
frame.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.CENTER, labelCount);
tfCount = new JTextField(count + " ", 10);
tfCount.setEditable(false);
labelCount.add(tfCount);
buttonCount = new JButton("Count");
labelCount.add(buttonCount);
buttonCount.addActionListener(this);
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setSize(350, 150);
frame.setLocation(400, 200);
}
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
count++;
tfCount.setText(count + "");
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Exercitiu04 a = new Exercitiu04();
a.go();
}
}

Solve it.
Instead of labelCount.setLayout(new FlowLayout());` i should have had
frame.setLayout(new FlowLayout());

From description of JLabel class,
JLabel is:
A display area for a short text string or an image, or both.
But here: labelCount.add(tfCount) and here labelCount.add(buttonCount) you're trying to put a textfield and a button into a label. In this case, positions of button and textfield are controlled by FlowLayout but position of the text in the label is not.
Instead of this, you should put all of your elements in common JPanel, like this:
...
frame = new JFrame("Java Counter");
frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
JPanel wrapper = new JPanel(); // JPanel has FlowLayout by default
labelCount = new JLabel("Counter");
labelCount.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
wrapper.add(labelCount);
tfCount = new JTextField(count + " ", 10);
tfCount.setEditable(false);
wrapper.add(tfCount);
buttonCount = new JButton("Count");
buttonCount.addActionListener(this);
wrapper.add(buttonCount);
frame.add(BorderLayout.CENTER, wrapper);
...
And, like MasterBlaster said, you should put swing methods in EDT.

There are only two things you should know about FlowLayout:
a) It is a default layout manager of the JPanel component
b) It is good for nothing.
This trivial layout cannot be achieved with FlowLayout.
When doing layouts in Swing, you should familiarize yourself
with some powerful layout managers. I recommend MigLayout and
GroupLayout.
package com.zetcode;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import net.miginfocom.swing.MigLayout;
/*
Simple UI with a MigLayout manager.
Author Jan Bodnar
Website zetcode.com
*/
public class MigLayoutCounterEx extends JFrame {
public MigLayoutCounterEx() {
initUI();
}
private void initUI() {
JLabel lbl = new JLabel("Counter");
JTextField field = new JTextField(10);
JButton btn = new JButton("Count");
createLayout(lbl, field, btn);
setTitle("Java Counter");
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
private void createLayout(JComponent... arg) {
setLayout(new MigLayout());
add(arg[0]);
add(arg[1]);
add(arg[2]);
pack();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> {
MigLayoutCounterEx ex = new MigLayoutCounterEx();
ex.setVisible(true);
});
}
}
The example is trivial. You just put the three components into the
cells.
Screenshot:

You shouldn't use setSize when dealing with FlowLayout. Instead use pack(). It makes the window just about big enough to fit all your components in. That should tidy things up for you

How to reference JFrame

I have a problem which is most likely "simple" however I can't figure it out. I am trying to reference my current JFrame so that I can dispose of it, and create a new one, thus "resetting" the program, however I and having trouble figuring out how to reference the JFrame, I have tried, super, this and getParent(), but none of the seem to work. Thanks for any / all help. ^^
Here is my code:
Main Class, just sets up the Jframe and calls the class that creates everything:
public static void main(String args[]) {
JFrame window = new JFrame();
Director director = new Director(window, args);
window.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
window.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
window.pack();
window.setVisible(true);
}
}
Class the creates everything:
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.ButtonGroup;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JRadioButton;
public class Director extends JFrame implements CollisionListener {
private BrickWall wall;
private JLabel gameTitle, gameScore, gameLives;
private JPanel controlPanel;
private JButton reset, quit;
private JRadioButton hard, normal, easy;
private int score = 6, lives = 5;
private ButtonGroup difficulty;
public Director(JFrame window, String[] args) {
window.getContentPane().add(makeGamePanel(), BorderLayout.CENTER);
window.getContentPane().add(gameControlPanel(), BorderLayout.NORTH);
}
public void collisionDetected(CollisionEvent e) {
wall.setBrick(e.getRow(), e.getColumn(), null);
}
private JComponent makeGamePanel() {
wall = new BrickWall();
wall.addCollisionListener(this);
wall.buildWall(3, 6, 1, wall.getColumns(), Color.GRAY);
return wall;
}
// Reset method I'm trying to dispose of the JFrame in.
private void reset() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.getContentPane().add(makeGamePanel(), BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.getContentPane().add(gameControlPanel(), BorderLayout.NORTH);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
private JComponent gameControlPanel() {
// CONTROL PANEL PANEL!
controlPanel = new JPanel();
gameTitle = new JLabel("Brickles");
gameScore = new JLabel("Score:" + " " + score);
gameLives = new JLabel("Lives:" + " " + lives);
reset = new JButton("Reset");
quit = new JButton("Quit");
hard = new JRadioButton("Hard", false);
normal = new JRadioButton("Normal", true);
easy = new JRadioButton("Easy", false);
difficulty = new ButtonGroup();
difficulty.add(hard);
difficulty.add(normal);
difficulty.add(easy);
controlPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(4, 2));
controlPanel.add(gameTitle);
controlPanel.add(gameScore);
controlPanel.add(hard);
controlPanel.add(gameLives);
controlPanel.add(normal);
controlPanel.add(reset);
controlPanel.add(easy);
controlPanel.add(quit);
// Action Listener, where I'm caling the reset method.
reset.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
reset();
}
});
return controlPanel;
}
}

You can refer to the "outer this" from a nested class with the following syntax:
reset.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
Director.this.reset();
}
});

Yes, you can refer to the outer class by specifying it with the class name as noted in DSquare's good answer (1+ to it), but I urge you not to fling JFrame's at the user as you're program is trying to do. I recommend:
Instead of opening and closing multiple JFrames, use only one JFrame as the main application's window.
If you need helper windows, such as modal windows to get critical information that is absolutely needed, before the program can progress, use modal dialogs such as JDialogs or JOptionPanes.
If you need to swap GUI's, instead of swapping JFrames, swap "views" inside the JFrame via a CardLayout.
Gear your code towards creating these JPanel views and not JFrames as it will make your Swing GUI's much more flexible and portable.

change jlabel with method

I am writing a small program that converts files, and I wanted to have a box pop up that asks the user to please wait while the program loops through and converts all the relevant files, but I am running into a small problem. The box that pops up should have a JLabel and a JButton, while the user is "waiting" I wanted to display a message that says please wait, and a disabled "OK" JButton, and then when its finished I wanted to set the text of the JLabel to let them know that It successfully converted their files, and give them a count of how many files were converted. (I wrote a method called alert that sets the text of the label and enables the button.) The problem is That while the program is running, the box is empty, the Label and the Button are not visible, when it finishes, label appears with the final text that I want and the button appears enabled. I am not sure exactly what is going on, I tried changing the modifiers of the JLabel and JButton several times but I cant seem to get it to work correctly. Here is the code for the box that pops up, any help is greatly appricated.
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class PleaseWait extends javax.swing.JFrame{
private static final int height = 125;
private static final int width = 350;
final static JLabel converting = new JLabel("Please Wait while I convert your files");
private static JButton OK = new JButton("OK");
public PleaseWait(){
// creates the main window //
JFrame mainWindow = new JFrame();
mainWindow.setTitle("Chill For A Sec");
mainWindow.setSize(width, height);
mainWindow.setDefaultCloseOperation(DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
// creates the layouts//
JPanel mainLayout = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
JPanel textLayout = new JPanel(new FlowLayout());
JPanel buttonLayout = new JPanel(new FlowLayout());
// Sets Text //
converting.setText("Please wait while I convert your files");
// disables button //
OK.setEnabled(false);
// adds to the layouts //
textLayout.add(converting);
buttonLayout.add(OK);
mainLayout.add(textLayout, BorderLayout.CENTER);
mainLayout.add(buttonLayout, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
// adds to the frame //
mainWindow.add(mainLayout);
// sets everything visible //
mainWindow.setVisible(true);
}
public static void alert(){
OK.setEnabled(true);
String total = String.valueOf(Convert.result());
converting.setText("Sucsess! " + total + " files Converted");
}
}

Okay here's the issue. You are extending the JFrame . That means your class IS a JFrame.
When you create the PleaseWait frame you don't do anything to it. This is the empty box you are seeing. You are instead creating a different JFrame in your constructor. Remove your mainWindow and instead just use this. Now all of your components will be added to your PleaseWait object. That should fix your blank box issue.

You need an application to create your frame first. This is a simple example of such application.
import javax.swing.UIManager;
import java.awt.*;
public class Application {
boolean packFrame = false;
//Construct the application
public Application() {
PleaseWait frame = new PleaseWait();
//Validate frames that have preset sizes
//Pack frames that have useful preferred size info, e.g. from their layout
if (packFrame) {
frame.pack();
}
else {
frame.validate();
}
//Center the window
Dimension screenSize = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize();
Dimension frameSize = frame.getSize();
if (frameSize.height > screenSize.height) {
frameSize.height = screenSize.height;
}
if (frameSize.width > screenSize.width) {
frameSize.width = screenSize.width;
}
frame.setLocation((screenSize.width - frameSize.width) / 2, (screenSize.height - frameSize.height) / 2);
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.convert();
}
//Main method
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
}
catch(Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
new Application();
}
}
You have to slightly modify your frame to add controls to the content pane. You can do some work after frame is created, then call alert.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class PleaseWait extends JFrame {
private static final int height = 125;
private static final int width = 350;
final static JLabel converting = new JLabel();
private static JButton OK = new JButton("OK");
BorderLayout borderLayout1 = new BorderLayout();
JPanel contentPane;
int count;
public PleaseWait(){
contentPane = (JPanel)this.getContentPane();
contentPane.setLayout(borderLayout1);
this.setSize(new Dimension(width, height));
this.setTitle("Chill For A Sec");
this.setDefaultCloseOperation(DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
// creates the layouts//
JPanel mainLayout = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
JPanel textLayout = new JPanel(new FlowLayout());
JPanel buttonLayout = new JPanel(new FlowLayout());
// Sets Text //
converting.setText("Please wait while I convert your files");
// disables button //
OK.setEnabled(false);
OK.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
System.exit(0);
}
});
// adds to the layouts //
textLayout.add(converting);
buttonLayout.add(OK);
mainLayout.add(textLayout, BorderLayout.CENTER);
mainLayout.add(buttonLayout, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
// adds to the frame //
contentPane.add(mainLayout);
}
public void convert(){
count = 0;
for (int i = 0; i <10; i++){
System.out.println("Copy "+i);
try {
Thread.sleep(1000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
}
count++;
}
alert();
}
public void alert(){
OK.setEnabled(true);
// String total = String.valueOf(Convert.result());
converting.setText("Sucsess! " + count + " files Converted");
}
}